Pere David's Deer

A Pere David Deer taken in Margam park today. I finally managed to get out of the house and take some shots of deer. Santa brought me a nice new 1.4x extender III and I've been itching to give it a try. But what with weeks of torrential rain, gale force winds and work pressures I've been going stir crazy!

Techs: Canon 7D, EF 300mm f/4L IS, tripod, gimbal head and muscle cramp in left calf. Aperture priority mode, -1/3 EV, ISO400, 1/800sec, f/4. Processed in CS5, NR with Nik Dfine. Fullframe.

I eventually twigged and dropped the ISO on later shots!

C's and C's warmly welcomed as always.

Thanks.

Hi Paul I would crop in more.

Phil.

I agree with Phil.
Crop to give the head more impact. Would suggest more space one the left if you do crop, so the head is looking "into " the shot.
Others will not agree - just my personal view.
JohnR

Hello Paul, looks as if you took this from up the top of the park so I can fully sympatise with the 'cramp' it can certainly be a bit of a climb when carrying kit. I remember, a good few years back, taking some transparencies of these with the delightful Port Talbot steelworks as a backdrop ! How romantic is that
A bit of an awkward crop on this one, I agree the current crop is not ideal (no room for legs etc) but I don't think taking anything away from it will improve it. At least you have the oof foliage at bottom to help out.

I agree with Phil and John about the cropping. On the positive side, I do like the lighting, the sharpness and the background.

David

Thanks guys, your comments on the crop have given me food for thought. Unusually these deer were coming way to close for my 300 prime. I should have packed the 70-200! I tried turning on the "AF point expansion" custom function on the 7D and I must say it makes sharp pictures more consistent. Why Canon decided to disable it by default I can't understand . Yes it was at the top of the park Robert, I certainly wish I had a carbon tripod and left the battery grip in the car now! Thanks for looking and commenting everyone.

I agree with John on the crop

Bob

Another vote for a tighter crop.

Nice on Paul

I would be tempted to leave as is. However you crop will leave a portion of the deer unless you go really close in on the head and antlers. The image is sharp the light is great and the BG is also great. Never seen these before and they are a bit strange looking. At the end of the day if you are happy with the image then that's all that really matters.

Nick.

I like the compostion, nice walking into the frame, wonderful colours and detail