Fallow Doe,from a baited hide

[Stuart Philpott]

A fallow doe approaching the hide shame about the diagonal branches not much I could do really. Focus point just off the right ear. Canon 1Div 300f/2.8 is plus 1.4 extiii iso 2000 TV 1/200 f/4 fullframe Processing in in DPP picture style fine detail WB adjusted using eye dropper gamma adjustment . Some adjustment in the colour palette

Thanks so much for all the time, kindness, advice and patience shown towards me and the comments on my previous posts here:cheers:

take care

Stu

[Mark Needham]

Hi Stu -- Nice pose captured here with the head-on angle and leg up. I agree with your self-critique about the diagonal branch bisecting the ear. Also, the deer seems to be leaning to the left as though it is about to fall out of the frame. I would rotate, lighten the face a bit, and also darken some of the highlights on the right. The image also appears a bit "flat" as you could extract more detail in the animal. Hope this helps!

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Stu -- Nice pose captured here with the head-on angle and leg up. I agree with your self-critique about the diagonal branch bisecting the ear. Also, the deer seems to be leaning to the left as though it is about to fall out of the frame. I would rotate, lighten the face a bit, and also darken some of the highlights on the right. The image also appears a bit "flat" as you could extract more detail in the animal. Hope this helps!

Hi Mark yes you are correct I haven't got the frame level thanks for that I simply hadn't noticed and it's so glaringly obvious once pointed out,thank you. I'm also bothered by the highlights and did play with trying to extract some,but as I wasn't completely happy with my results using the stamp tool in dpp. Mark your thoughts are extremely valuable to me thanks so much for your time,I can't yet impliment much selectively,but these comments are still of huge use going forwards for me.

Take care

Stu

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Mark has covered the critique well. First thing I noticed was the lean. It's a shame the doe approached where that tree was so prominent too. I would try for a higher ss in the field especially with moving subjects. Keep them coming.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Stu a good capture previous comments noted. If using Fine Detail you may need to review sharpening settings, and especially if you used DLO, this one looks good, the other thing of note it boosts contrast so I suspect that is why the head is so dark, I think there is a little more detail to be shown there.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Stu -- I agree with the above comments and also feel that you can do a RP here , implementing those suggestions . TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stu, great to see you pushing and having the confidence to do so the ISO, but just be careful.

Again I think both Jon & Andreas can help you more on the PP with DPP, as it's not software I use. With hindsight I would have removed the 1.4 and just kept tracking the Doe so she at least had passed the branch clipping the ear, just take your time, it's hard, but it's know just when to press that shutter. Although you say the FP was on the ear, but as the Doe was head on, the FP needed to be between the two eyes on the forehead. The head to me appears to be a little soft compared to the chest, I might have a quick look at your file and where you have applied sharpening. F/4 is quite a limited DoF, but obviously you were fighting light, I just wonder if without the 1.4 and shot 2.8 you may have had a better image, albeit SS would be better, but DoF smaller. By rotating the image you will lose image content however I feel you have enough not to harm the overall look and may help?

TFS
Steve

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Stu - Mark has covered the critique well. First thing I noticed was the lean. It's a shame the doe approached where that tree was so prominent too. I would try for a higher ss in the field especially with moving subjects. Keep them coming.

TFS,
Rachel
Hiya ?Rachel thanks for trying to help me mate.At the time I felt I shouldn't go above 2000 iso ,so felt I had pretty much nowhere to go (apart from Steve's suggestion). Andreas has proved to me that I can go higher providing I get my exposure ettr and nailed properly. I guess this thing about uk light and shutter speeds was something I assimilated fairly early on before buying the 1Div,I've always struggled to get those shutter speeds high here,although I have no delusions on my ability I seem to constantly be trying to find always to get higher TV. I also feel my shutter technique is lacking Rachel,room for improvement there methinks,hopefully as our days open up I'll get much more practice time. thanks though everything is slowly being absorbed ,you guys reinforcing all this is a huge help.

Take care

Stu

[Stuart Philpott]

Stu a good capture previous comments noted. If using Fine Detail you may need to review sharpening settings, and especially if you used DLO, this one looks good, the other thing of note it boosts contrast so I suspect that is why the head is so dark, I think there is a little more detail to be shown there.

Jon,I think the dark face is not of my doing,leastways i've just gone back through the frames taken this day her fawn also shows the very dark face,I think it's their actual colour pattern Jon. Mate I'm utterly an open book to the huge help being given ,but am unsure how to proceed with regards to the face because these particular individuals do seem to have a dark face particularly noticable higher on the head.

Jon thanks on the separate help with the colour space:cheers:,yup I've noted when I hit fine detail the unsharp mask changes to 4:1:1 moving downwards I haven't twigged contrast,can you bare with me a bit and talk me through what I could have done sharpening wise. Or maybe better put in light of your actual comments what I should maybe do in the future with another image with regards to your words about reviewing settings of sharpness. Jon I hadn't realized that contrast changes again can you elaborate please. Mate I'm beyond shattered maybe this should be via pm, I dunno, want to stay on topic and not derail.... the only brain cell functioning is the polite one that cares.

At this stage I can't use DLO (just to confirm digital lens optimisation) the 300f/2.8 I believe is unsupported by dpp4 . I might of missed something but noted Andreas couldn't find it either on his programme. I'm sort of wondering if I have to do something like make a download to facilitate this.

To all I feel this is incredibly difficult for you guys i'm presenting raw conversions that you all will do more with in PS I'm also aware there is more to be had and in time am fixated on getting that next step sorted, but feel i'm making life hard for you guys.

Finally can anyone tell me where to look to get a repost out. I cannot find manage attachments when I hit the reply box,i'm sure it's me just being me but damned if I can see it read through the ETL sticky on posting and can't find it there,unsure where to look.

take care Jon thanks so much mate the kindness is never taken for granted

Stu

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Stu, great to see you pushing and having the confidence to do so the ISO, but just be careful.

Again I think both Jon & Andreas can help you more on the PP with DPP, as it's not software I use. With hindsight I would have removed the 1.4 and just kept tracking the Doe so she at least had passed the branch clipping the ear, just take your time, it's hard, but it's know just when to press that shutter. Although you say the FP was on the ear, but as the Doe was head on, the FP needed to be between the two eyes on the forehead. The head to me appears to be a little soft compared to the chest, I might have a quick look at your file and where you have applied sharpening. F/4 is quite a limited DoF, but obviously you were fighting light, I just wonder if without the 1.4 and shot 2.8 you may have had a better image, albeit SS would be better, but DoF smaller. By rotating the image you will lose image content however I feel you have enough not to harm the overall look and may help?

TFS
Steve

Yeah it's a great hindsight comment Steve it has been mused t nice having it reinforced. This is sort of a practice place for me buddy it's quite challenging of me as a photographer:deep shade to sunlight in seconds but I really feel that I'm cheating in someways as I haven't stalked the deer and they are desensitised to folks,this is a world away from the wild fallow I've shown here,that gulf is also reflected in image quality. Part of that practice is also a raft of little birds,so in part the ext is hedging my bets,but it's still a cool point to make:cheers:

Next up dpp I can only sharpen globally, is this where we are starting to tread into PS territory, with regards to what I can do a this time?

Yes tracking is off Steve focus point is below right ear just off the right eye, described poorly by me, essentially my bad on both facets . It's a tight eye to thread the needle Steve next frame she's starting to get **** close to the left oof tree. Not an excuse in anyway just fawn came first and did get lost in part behind that tree as their run snakes so I guess I had to start shooting where I did from my vantage point. Cracking post for me Steve thanks really useful,it will take a while to get this down mate but that's ok the learning is great fun.Will certainly make a repost soon but am not going to get there tonight.Just too early up and too late in to do much other than say thanks to everyone.
best

Stu

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Stu -- I agree with the above comments and also feel that you can do a RP here , implementing those suggestions . TFS !

Thanks Haseeb:5 for your comments,bare with me my friend, life is not much my own ,but i've at least managed my thanks and a couple of questions that might improve that repost

take care

Stu

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Stu , well a nice try in terms of purely DPP editing , just from my view .
For me this is a good example of DPP ´s shortcomings when it is about local adjustments , and this a good example where one needs localized adjustments and/ or double processing .
When using LR you can do at least some localized adjustments with that brushy thing :bg3: also not ideal from my POV , but this is another story .....

When one is only having DPP ..... one is somehow limited and stuck , unless you have the perfect exposure and do not need to work a lot with 1/4 and 3/4 tones . If you need to work on those tonal ranges there is no way around PS from my POV .
For you Stu working on a Win machine , you can try open source PS called " GIMP " is for free and has almost the same features as PS CS 6 , it is not as easy and logical build as PS but it is usable .... better than nothing ..... just a thought .

Regarding the image to me the biggest issue is the missing sharpness on the head , you have more sharpness on the body from my POV .
All other minor flaws are already mentioned .

Yes there is no DLO support for your lens within DPP and i would stay away from DLO anyway unless you have one of the zoom lenses in use .... and stay away from USM within DPP , just use sharpness ..... IMHO .
" Fine detail " is not cranking up the contrast that much ..... i would stick it and just lower the default sharpness to 2 or 3 , going higher is sometimes problematic with a high ISO shot .
" Neutral" is good starting point , but i tend to use more " fine detail" for a bit of punch if the base image allow some punch to start with , you still lower the overall contrast by using the " contrast" slider with a soft hand without lowering the overall image appearance .

Hope my thoughts might be helpful in parts for you ,

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Stu, what I suggest is hunker down on the outskirts of a copse or woodland and try and get the deer out in the open where you have better light and less obstacles to get in the way. I would look to shoot easier subjects to get your eye in, which in turn, are less 'troublesome' when you take it into PP. There is a lot going on within the post and so look to keeping things simple and try not to complicate things, your confidence will grow and you learning quicker.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Stu, what I suggest is hunker down on the outskirts of a copse or woodland and try and get the deer out in the open where you have better light and less obstacles to get in the way. I would look to shoot easier subjects to get your eye in, which in turn, are less 'troublesome' when you take it into PP. There is a lot going on within the post and so look to keeping things simple and try not to complicate things, your confidence will grow and you learning quicker.

I would echo that at a 100 % Steve ..... wise words :cheers:

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Stu , well a nice try in terms of purely DPP editing , just from my view .
For me this is a good example of DPP ´s shortcomings when it is about local adjustments , and this a good example where one needs localized adjustments and/ or double processing .
When using LR you can do at least some localized adjustments with that brushy thing :bg3: also not ideal from my POV , but this is another story .....

When one is only having DPP ..... one is somehow limited and stuck , unless you have the perfect exposure and do not need to work a lot with 1/4 and 3/4 tones . If you need to work on those tonal ranges there is no way around PS from my POV .
For you Stu working on a Win machine , you can try open source PS called " GIMP " is for free and has almost the same features as PS CS 6 , it is not as easy and logical build as PS but it is usable .... better than nothing ..... just a thought .

Regarding the image to me the biggest issue is the missing sharpness on the head , you have more sharpness on the body from my POV .
All other minor flaws are already mentioned .

Yes there is no DLO support for your lens within DPP and i would stay away from DLO anyway unless you have one of the zoom lenses in use .... and stay away from USM within DPP , just use sharpness ..... IMHO .
" Fine detail " is not cranking up the contrast that much ..... i would stick it and just lower the default sharpness to 2 or 3 , going higher is sometimes problematic with a high ISO shot .
" Neutral" is good starting point , but i tend to use more " fine detail" for a bit of punch if the base image allow some punch to start with , you still lower the overall contrast by using the " contrast" slider with a soft hand without lowering the overall image appearance .

Hope my thoughts might be helpful in parts for you ,

TFS Andreas

Andreas,your thoughts are always helpful to me and pondered upon,but more than that mate appreciated. I may not understand it all at first but I'll get there ,eventually:bg3:

Buddy for a long time I felt the full PS was out of reach for me,now I know it's gone over to this monthly way of payment I'm going to get it as soon as I feel ready. I am aware of Gimp (actually started reading tutorials) Andreas and lightroom etc,but I can't see the point in trying to learn something only to have to start over with what is being recommended to me as the best tools for editing ie PS. Frankly, I have more than enough to learn about basic concepts getting DPP right and honing camera skills at the moment anyway. Andreas, consistently, i'm not showing sharp images to you guys these very base things I need to address. Wish I had more time!!!! But yes I'm hoping to have ps in the next two or 3 months if all goes well.

Cheers for the continuing advice on DPP,your video has been watched many times gradually i'm starting to get my head around it all.

Andreas,ok I missed aiming my focus point slightly to the RHS of the right eye,as we look,why is the head less sharp than the body would this possibly be caused by motion blur at the low shutter speed I used in this case?

thanks so much mate:5

Stu

[Stuart Philpott]

Stu, what I suggest is hunker down on the outskirts of a copse or woodland and try and get the deer out in the open where you have better light and less obstacles to get in the way. I would look to shoot easier subjects to get your eye in, which in turn, are less 'troublesome' when you take it into PP. There is a lot going on within the post and so look to keeping things simple and try not to complicate things, your confidence will grow and you learning quicker.

Yeah sound words mate,I guess time is the biggest factor essentially I have a **** good chance of pressing the shutter here maybe less so where I take the wild deer pics,but sure these deer aren't an easy subject, I know i'm asking alot of myself. We will probably join the WWT again shortly mate I know it's mainly birds but the pic rate will go up ,We also have a local spot for gulls. time is scuppering me on a major level mate as the days open up hopefully progress will improve.

Cheers buddy great shout!!
Stu

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hey Stuart - late to the chorus here but just wanted to chime in either way.
Some great advice dished out for improving your field-craft, which I think is essential in nailing these images.
Keep practicing and posting your results!

[Stuart Philpott]

Hey Stuart - late to the chorus here but just wanted to chime in either way.
Some great advice dished out for improving your field-craft, which I think is essential in nailing these images.
Keep practicing and posting your results!

Not as late as me to commenting on some of your incredible art Morkel!!!!!!!!! I simply can't keep up at the moment Morkel. Buddy,could you explain what exactly you mean by field craft please? I'm just curious mate we live on differing sides of the planet but are communicating in a common tongue,which even though it's my native it's one I'm destined to always struggle with.

Morkel i went back a bit and looked at a few dates, I've just moved up from a 550D to this beast of a camera a 1Div,I've never held anything the like of before and the first time I am actually shooting in portrait using those extra buttons,ha that was a strange experience. He he I have just figured I can actually move focus points on the fly ,I'm pretty pleased to have got anything really:bg3: . It's all good Morkel,i'm getting helped beyond what i deserve by amazing artists I want to give something back to but can't other than admiration and that need to be better, almost for them now. We chase a picture at every chance given.But I so wish I had more time to get my head down and graft at this. Life is what it is buddy the grafter will get there if he doesn't the stubborn guy will. But it's all going to be slow and I can only apologise on that score.


Cheers for the encouragement Morkel I'll keep coming mate that is the one thing I know,i'll always be slower than a tortoise though.

For you please keep amazing me with your art, it's breath taking at times and constantly makes me ponder a beastie in it's environment

take care

Stu