Posted by Paul Thomas on September 28, 2009 at 2:23 PM
Taken on Cannock Chase a couple of early mornings ago. Shot through foreground grass stems which has serendipitously given a soft focus feel which I rather like. I've deliberately kept the image under-sharpened so as not to lose the effect. I have thought about a variety of crops but at the moment I like the full-sized image because that, in effect, is what nature gave me.
E-520, 300/f2.8 + 2x TC, ISO 800, 1/200 @ f5.6, full frame
Paul
Posted by jack chapman on September 28, 2009 at 2:53 PM
the foreground and pose really make this image for me, lovely shot
Posted by David Sewell on September 28, 2009 at 4:03 PM
The treatment is good, but that copyright notice is a bit too intrusive for my liking.
Posted by Mark Davies on September 28, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Those Chase deer aint easy .I know. However this image does suffer with a lot of noise especially around the ears and head . A little better processing perhaps? Comp doesn't appeal to me either and I agree about the copyright too. Nice idea .
Posted by Lee Newman on September 28, 2009 at 7:10 PM
This is a very nice looking image Paul. the soft focus effect has worked very well here.
Lee
Posted by Chris O'Reilly on September 29, 2009 at 4:16 AM
Hi Paul
Congrats on capturing a wild red deer, you must be proud!
I'd echo Mark and Maggie's observations and add that the vegetation obscuring the deer's right eye has rendered it a little too soft. Still, as you say, it is what nature gave you - hopefully you'll be given a little more next time.
See you at Bradgate?
Cheers,
Chris
Posted by Andy Shepherd on September 29, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Would like to see a different crop on this one Paul, maybe with the deer more to the righthand side.
Andy...
Posted by Paul Thomas on September 29, 2009 at 4:01 PM
Chris, I've been photographing the wild Red Deer on Cannock Chase for quite a few years, certainly before I joined this forum. I've amassed quite a portfolio of photos taken at various times of the year. Bradgate? Nope. If I get a sudden urge to do some pet photography I'll photograph the neighbours cat and save myself a couple of gallons of fuel.
Andy, thanks for the cropping suggestion.
Paul
Posted by Graeme Lee on September 29, 2009 at 7:13 PM
It doesn't look too different to the deers shot at Bradgate, in fact looks exactly the same Just goes to show
Posted by Guy Rogers on September 30, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Hello Paul.
Love the way you have captured this and the way the deer is looking at you and I dont mind the soft focus as I think mit kind of adds to it.
Like you I live right on Cannock Chase and also have a good surply of Red, Fallow and a very poor surply of muntjac ( one ) images form the chase. But I think Greame as a good point that images taken at Bradgate can look just like the ones from the Chase. It might be easier to get a photo at Bradgate, but I still find it just as hard to get the really good ones as the deer can just go into the areas we cannot. The deer on the Chase might be a little more wild than the ones at Bradgate but I know many areas were you can go and almost pat them on the head. For me any way if the ones at bradgate are pets in your eye so are the ones on the Chase, but they just have a bigger playing area.
Posted by Paul Thomas on September 30, 2009 at 5:24 PM
Graeme, Guy,
You just don't get it do you? Wildlife photography involves photographing animals which are wild. It's a good job you two don't work for The BBC else we'd have Big Cat Diary filmed at Longleat. After all, they're still lios aren't they? Stick to your pets if that's what feeds your egos. Guy I'll look forward to seeing your photo of someone patting a wild Red Deer on the head on Cannock Chase.
Posted by Graeme Lee on September 30, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Not dissimilar to Gigrin then? I do get it Paul. You just make me laugh
Posted by Danny Green on September 30, 2009 at 8:16 PM
Hello Paul
I am sorry but this doesn't quite work for me it is too central and the noise in the final image lets it down a little, its a great idea and I do like the look she has given you. I don't get this Bradgate thing with you Paul are you saying that they are easy because I have spent the past twenty years going here and I can asure you they are not easy, I have worked with wild deer and the ones at Bradgate and I use the same skills on both. Maybe you should come down and I will show you around and I am sure it will improve your own portfolio.
Danny
Posted by eric weight on October 1, 2009 at 12:54 AM
I can see where you are coming from Paul, but I would suggest that the boundaries of what is wild and what isn't are far more blurred than you are inclined to admit. I could suggest that Big Cat Diary is about big cats that aren't as wild as they might be, but habituated to the close proximity of tourists.
Anyway an interesting interpretation. Eric
Posted by Paul Thomas on October 1, 2009 at 10:42 AM
Danny,
I've photographed at Bradgate on a number of occasions. Compared to the wild, it's easy. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and photograph some of the Reds on Cannock Chase?
Eric,
Animals don't react to people in vehicles in the same way as they do to people on foot so you need to be careful when talking about habituation. I doubt it would have been safe to get out of that vehicle! I'm not sure if BCD is filmed close to the tourist routes. I'd imagine that they'd want to get off the beaten track as much as possible.
Posted by Danny Green on October 2, 2009 at 9:18 AM
Hello Paul
I can't see the point because it just looks like Bradgate Park if I was going to do wild red deer I would try in Scotland because that way I could place them in a different environment. I still think you are missing the point about Bradgate and thats the potential of the place and the opportunties it offers. Looking at your images from Cannock just doesn't inspire me to try whether that is the location for the deer or just your own methods I don't know. Maybe it is me that needs to look at Cannock.
Danny
Posted by Mark Davies on October 2, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Hi Paul, I too live on Cannock Chase and I mean on Cannock Chase . The reds at Bradgate are just as hard to do than at the Chase .The big benefit for me is the open spaces and the backdrops at Bradgate .The Fallows ,as Guy says, are just as friendly and easily approached if you know where to look at Cannock , a little more skittish perhaps but still easily photographed . .Having 'done ' Bradgate on many an occassion the fallows are more open and human friendly but I wouldn't go so far as to say domesticated or captive . Yes the fallows at Cannock have far more room and far more cover but are difficult to get in the right setting as you are no doubt aware . In Danny's defence , if he ever needed any, he has seen Cannock Chase and the environment in which they live and I agree with him Bradgate is far superior . The locations of the reds at Cannock isn't a secret for us locals , I get the sods in the back yard all the while , but I choose to go to Bradgate because of the aestetics , the landscape they live in and the quality of the deer there . I dont remember seeing a 14 pointer at Cannock in many a year.
As to your tacit suggestion that the Bradgate deer are pets , bunkum .
The fallows at Cannock are hard ...but only to get in the right setting ,getting a picture of one is a piece of cake.....
Take the nits and move on .
Discussion
17 repliesE-520, 300/f2.8 + 2x TC, ISO 800, 1/200 @ f5.6, full frame
Paul
David
Lee
Congrats on capturing a wild red deer, you must be proud!
I'd echo Mark and Maggie's observations and add that the vegetation obscuring the deer's right eye has rendered it a little too soft. Still, as you say, it is what nature gave you - hopefully you'll be given a little more next time.
See you at Bradgate?
Cheers,
Chris
Would like to see a different crop on this one Paul, maybe with the deer more to the righthand side.
Andy...
Andy, thanks for the cropping suggestion.
Paul
Love the way you have captured this and the way the deer is looking at you and I dont mind the soft focus as I think mit kind of adds to it.
Like you I live right on Cannock Chase and also have a good surply of Red, Fallow and a very poor surply of muntjac ( one ) images form the chase. But I think Greame as a good point that images taken at Bradgate can look just like the ones from the Chase. It might be easier to get a photo at Bradgate, but I still find it just as hard to get the really good ones as the deer can just go into the areas we cannot. The deer on the Chase might be a little more wild than the ones at Bradgate but I know many areas were you can go and almost pat them on the head. For me any way if the ones at bradgate are pets in your eye so are the ones on the Chase, but they just have a bigger playing area.
You just don't get it do you? Wildlife photography involves photographing animals which are wild. It's a good job you two don't work for The BBC else we'd have Big Cat Diary filmed at Longleat. After all, they're still lios aren't they? Stick to your pets if that's what feeds your egos. Guy I'll look forward to seeing your photo of someone patting a wild Red Deer on the head on Cannock Chase.
I am sorry but this doesn't quite work for me it is too central and the noise in the final image lets it down a little, its a great idea and I do like the look she has given you. I don't get this Bradgate thing with you Paul are you saying that they are easy because I have spent the past twenty years going here and I can asure you they are not easy, I have worked with wild deer and the ones at Bradgate and I use the same skills on both. Maybe you should come down and I will show you around and I am sure it will improve your own portfolio.
Danny
Anyway an interesting interpretation.
I've photographed at Bradgate on a number of occasions. Compared to the wild, it's easy. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and photograph some of the Reds on Cannock Chase?
Eric,
Animals don't react to people in vehicles in the same way as they do to people on foot so you need to be careful when talking about habituation. I doubt it would have been safe to get out of that vehicle! I'm not sure if BCD is filmed close to the tourist routes. I'd imagine that they'd want to get off the beaten track as much as possible.
I can't see the point because it just looks like Bradgate Park if I was going to do wild red deer I would try in Scotland because that way I could place them in a different environment. I still think you are missing the point about Bradgate and thats the potential of the place and the opportunties it offers. Looking at your images from Cannock just doesn't inspire me to try whether that is the location for the deer or just your own methods I don't know. Maybe it is me that needs to look at Cannock.
Danny
As to your tacit suggestion that the Bradgate deer are pets , bunkum .
The fallows at Cannock are hard ...but only to get in the right setting ,getting a picture of one is a piece of cake.....
Take the nits and move on .