Close-up pronghorn

[D. Robert Franz]

Been working on pronghorn of late. This nice buck was far more concerned with another buck than with me sitting in my vehicle and approached to nearly MFD. For framing this was about all I could do. Afterwords I switched to a 300mm for some different comps. The light was diffused sun through heave smoke giving it a bit of a challenging color balance

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: +1/3
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Lens: EF 800mm F5.6L IS

[dankearl]

Very nice portrait. Sharp, nice Bg.
You may want to comment on others now and then.

[Hilary Hann]

I love pronghorns and find that this is a nice, clean portrait.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice portrait with good detail. Good set of vertical horns on this buck and the little tear in the ear gives him some character. Color cast looks a touch greenish-gray, would expect more yellow-red, but having shot in similar conditions can't say this looks unrealistic.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dale, great to see you posting again, lovely portrait.

Simple, clean, good detail, killer BKG, well composed, just works IMHO.


Color cast looks a touch greenish-gray,

Steve are you referring to the coat along the body of the subject?

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Great sharp portrait here Dale. Love these guys.
I see what Steve C is referring to...might warm up the side of the body and the antlers a tad?

[Andrew Merwin]

Great detail in the horns & face. It looks like the right horn as compared to the left (viewer's right & left) was broken. I also wonder about the right ear. Do you think that injury was cause by a bullet?
Color looks about right to my eye.

[Steve Canuel]

@ Steve K.
Yes, mostly on the body but also on the horns. Same tone as the BG though so it's possible I'm just seeing the BG tone throughout. As I mentioned, I've shot in some similar, smoke filtered conditions that I got some weird color casts. Couldn't ever decide to go with what the camera captured or what I thought it should look like.
@ Andrew
Didn't notice at first but that hole does have a pretty circular shape. If it was a bullet, and based on what hunting friends have told me about body shots to take these guys, someone needs to go to the range!

[D. Robert Franz]

Is possible that the hole in the ear was caused by a bullet.... Barbed wire is a likely candidate as well since they always craw under fences sometines a great speed... Getting the colors right on this image was a nightmare and I'm not sure I like what I have.

[Steve Kaluski]

Dale/Steve having read the comments again, especially Steve's, I can clearly see where he is coming from, having made my initial comments on the laptop. However when I tried to download the image it is very saturated, primarily due to the file having an Untagged profile not sRGB, but... Just a thought Dale, as I am full aware of your knowledge on colour, but have you looked at adjusting in Selective colour the Magenta/black in the Red channel, ditto Yellow /Black in the Yellow channel and perhaps Magenta in the White? Not ideal on this file, but it might help on the original. I also looked at using the Green Channel of the RGB as a B/W adjustment layer for the horns. It seems to neutralise the colour and being B/W, adds a little more contrast. If you are happy and wish to see my direction Dale let me know and I can post.

Good luck and totally agree, a tricky one. :w3

Steve