Fallow deer

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hand held, Canon 1DX Canon 100-400L IS II & 1.4TCIII Auto ISO 5000 Manual Exposure 1/1000 sec f8. Image taken at a local park, all C&C welcome.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jon - This is a tough one. I like the pose and the turn to camera but I find the subject competing with the varied colors and brightness of the bg. I also find the faint, oof, taller grasses in front of the deer distracting. Unfortunately, I also think the detail has been affected by the high ISO. Sorry, let's see what others say.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Rachel - I have no issues with your critique, I really do appreciate genuine comments and I must admit I agree with what you say.
I posted the image because for some reason it just seemed to be evocative of a gentle autumn day. I thought the young buck looked quite handsome in the colourful surroundings...but yes, it is not a show stopper by any means, it is as you indicate a bit busy, but I kinda like it.

[Rachel Hollander]

, but I kinda like it.

Jon, in the end that's all that really matters:S3:

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon what a sweet looking deer .....
Well i agree with Rachel´s critique as all is being very uniform , but i have a solution that might work for you or others , you might try yourself as i could only work on the low res file and i am now a bit lazy :tinysmile_shy_t:.
Just process two versions , just develop the BG and the Deer/FG differently in DPP and combine them in PS , i guess this will work quite well ....... in theory :bg3: at least i would give it a shot . I would keep the Deer and the FG light and the BG dark , but i would watch for the blues Jon a bit too intense for my taste .

I think it is worth to play a bit as i like the Deer and the FG are looking not too bad , it is just the BG making looking too uniform

TFS Andreas

[haseeb badar]

Hi Jon -- As you said the deer is looking Handsome and that is what i like the most , yes the FG is bit to distracting but the colours in the BG are making this look lovely . The color tones a bit too cool for me also which you can fix pretty easily .
TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andreas Haseeb yes I see the blues - a bit cold, I will have a look at a dual raw conversion.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, I guess it's getting to that time of year, the rutting season.

I like your thinking and the colours, but double processing to build the image I feel would be the way to go. The light does seem rather even and I might be tempted to darken both FG & BKG to give more prominence to the subject. At ISO5000 yes there will be some IQ lost, but this is where, IMHO, some PP management comes into play to take this into account. Just to tighten things up I might suggest a little off both sides but leaving the subject off centre?

TFS
Steve