Mule Deer Buck in Velvet

[Jamie Douglas]

Not quite as exciting as some of the African species I see in previous posts nor as majestic as a white tailed buck or red deer stag, but the mule deer is still an impressive beast to admire and photograph. This fella was foraging early morning on the road side grass of an old forest road and was the primary reason I was late to the lake where I photographed the loon I posted here last week. Darn buck.
C&C welcome and expected :cheers:

Canon 1D4 w/ 400mm F5.6 tripod mounted on wimberley head @ F5.6, 1/320, ISO1600 - Loving the 1D4.

Web version here... http://jamiedouglasphotography.com/p646954356/h409e3e58#h409e3e58

Thanks

Jamie

4 months into parenting and finally starting to find a balance.

[Ken Watkins]

Jamie,

Well I certainly would have stopped for this, I love all type of Antelope/Deer and to me they are just as spectacular as any of the Big 5 or any of the Bears.

Got to love that tongue, and beautiful surroundings,your other version is even better.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hy Jamie, looks like things are picking up, nice one.

Good to know you are enjoying the MKIV, and when set-up correctly bingo! Perhaps a 'little' tight in frame for me, but the FG flowers add to the scene nicely and I like the way they slope up. Just watch the Blue coming through in small parts on the head. Good detain, structure & form in the head. If I get a chance today will take a more closer look at the image for you, do you still need to talk at the weekend?

All the best.
Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jamie, OK to the deer I would suggest:

- Adding some Curve at a % using a mask
- Upping the Blacks a fraction in the Neutrals & Blacks
- A hint of Contrast, but mask the eye & nose or any really darker areas
- Another round of some selective USM

The BKG
- Add a channel layer mask to up the colour to add more depth so the subject pops a bit more, but leave the FG as is.

Hope this helps.

Cheers. :wave:

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jamie - glad to hear fatherhood is going well and that you are finding more balance now. Hope to see you posting more often. Nice pose and comp here with good sharpness. I like the habitat too. I'm sure Steve's suggestions will take it up a notch. I would consider dropping the reds on the deer a bit. It seems to me when I've seen mule deer that they tend to be more brown and this has some strong reds coming through.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jamie,
nicely framed deer image , a bit tight maybe, but no big deal.
Like the colors in general, but would drop down the magenta in the reds.The flowers adding nicely in the greens.
For contrast and sharpness i go with Steve, will help to improve, i have my experiences with Mr Detail. Mostly they work :bg3:.

Good to hear you are happy with your parentship and your toy.

Cheers Andreas

[Jamie Douglas]

I am just stopping by quickly to say thank you for the feedback and I'll have a tweak about with the PSD file tonight and share it.

Mr Detail, I got your email and sent a reply, thank you Sir.

Rachel, I agree and thought someone would comment on the fur tone. I had trouble balancing it in PS so let me take another look this evening.

Thanks

Jamie

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely capture, Jamie. A tad tight on the bottom and right. Agree with a little tweaking on the coat and boosting the deer just a tad. Love the wildflowers.

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi folks, well I got home this evening and realised I had overwritten the PSD file with a 768px web version :e3 but luckily my back up drive had a saved version that contained almost 80% of the work I had done to the RAW file. I have spent a good hour and a bit this evening trying to edit the file and bring it up to par and then some with the original post.

I took into a count a few of your suggestions...

Reduced the red in the fur more so towards the rump.
Applied more contrast than the OP
Ran another round of USM for this repost.

As you can imagine I am a tad frustrated I lost my PSD file and need to step away from this for the evening. Let me know what you think. It lacks punch IMO as posted and it's starting to look overworked in PS so I'll come back to it tomorrow.

Thanks everyone

Jamie

[Ken Watkins]

Jamie,

I too have done the same thing most disastrously on images from the Mara, so you are not alone. I now back up everything even rubbish directly from my portable back up to my server.

Now regarding the re-post, as it stands I actually prefer the original post. I have never seen a Mule Deer in real life so find commenting on the redness of the fur a little difficult, looking at Steve Canuel's images of this animal, perhaps it does need a little less red but that is about all.

I also agree that it is now beginning to look over-processed and less natural.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Jamie, always good to back-up stuff, but appreciate things like this do happen, but you won't make the same mistake again.:w3

Agree with you, it does look flat and therefore I would look to add the Opacity Curve & Blacks/Neutrals, sharpness looks better. I would hold fire and revisit the file in a weeks time with a fresh pair of eyes. Often the image is better too.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Jamie, nice buck and glad you are enjoying the boy and the toy :w3
I like the OP more, but let's see if you can revisit this with fresh eyes a bit later. :bg3:

[Steve Canuel]

OP for me. Color looks accurate. Around here, Summer coats are reddish changing towards tan/grey as the Fall/Winter approaches.

[Jamie Douglas]

OP for me. Color looks accurate. Around here, Summer coats are reddish changing towards tan/grey as the Fall/Winter approaches.

Thanks Steve, I have reworked this and came up with a balance between the two leaning more so towards the original post. The coats are a reddish colour at the moment but the OP was maybe just a tad over saturated.

Thanks for stopping by and helping to clarify things for me.

Jamie