Chinese Water Deer.

[David Cowling]

One of my very infrequent visits to this forum but I thought you may like to share this. Last autumn I was hunkered down in some reeds trying to Photograph a Grasshopper Warbler when this fellow nearly jumped on top of me. We had a staring match for a few seconds while I took a couple of snaps and then he made off. We have a lot of these in the marshes around here but they are usually very reticent about letting you get close.

Canon 7D Mk 2. Canon 100-400 L Mk 2. Handheld.

1/3200 @ f 5.6. ISO 500

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David, quite a nice portrait, I like the way the neck leads into frame from the right and you have an almost head on look to camera, linking with the viewer.

It must have been incredible close David to get an almost FF shot with the 100-400, or is this cropped? The SS is certainly high and with hindsight I feel you needed to increase the DoF without it affecting the SS really for this encounter, as the nose looks sharp, but the eyes look just a tad off, they haven't got the crisp lines. On that note, have you lightened or tweaked the eyes? Getting a bit more depth of exposure back on the ears brings some more detail and form back in too. I would suggest in cloning out some of the brighter highlights in the BKG, especially the purple flower (?) just clipping 'right tusk' as viewed. It does look quite Saturated, but you were there, however I might perhaps think about lowering the 'power' of the green to give a bit more separation, just a thought.

TFS
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

A lovely portrait of an animal seldom seen here on the forum, David.
Steve has made some good points - as I also thought it needed a tad more DOF? I like the vibrant colours but can see it benefiting from a 10% drop in overall exposure/brightness...

[David Cowling]

Steve and Morkel, thanks very much for the advice. I was all set up for bird photography and had no time to lower shutter speed and stop down, just a couple of snapshots really. Yes, he was that close, quite incredible really, just a crop from horizontal to vertical for composition.

[haseeb badar]

Hi David -- Lovely portrait here ! I agree with Steve and Morkel and just wish to add . the purple oof flower in the BKG behind its ears / horn can be cloned out as it is a bit distracting also i feel the subject has a bit of cyan cast to it easily under its throat area, which can be easily fixed . TFS !

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi David - We enjoy your brief ventures into wildlife. Nice to see a different species. I also think the eyes look softer than the nose so good suggestions above about dof and settings though understand you were set up to shoot birds.

TFS,
Rachel

[Karl Egressy]

Nice details, excellent portrait.
I see some repeating pattern in the background but it could very well be natural..

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi David great to see some difference and variety in species posted !!!
Lovely portrait shot .
Good suggestions above ... mainly from Steve .

TFS Andreas

[Dennis Behn]

Man, what a GREAT photo of a rare animal. I agree about removing the purple spots in the background but this is a fantastic photograph!

[David Cowling]

Thanks to all the encouraging comments and suggestions I began to like the image a bit more and decided to carry out the suggestions offered to improve the image. I post the end result and thank you all.159577

[Steve Kaluski]

I post the end result and thank you all.
Hi David, glad you pushed on through and implemented the suggestions, however you are the final judge & jury, we can only suggest, but if you feel it has improved the image and taken it up a gear then great. :cheers:

[David Cowling]

Hi Steve, I feel that the image has been improved but I would value your input once more if that's OK.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Steve, I feel that the image has been improved but I would value your input once more if that's OK.

OK David, however it's just how 'I think' it may have gone, the beauty is that you were there and have a recollection/remember it, I am assuming, like the majority of all RP's we do.

I still feel it's a bit saturated, however in the summer, afternoon light my assumption could well be wrong. I would just go a fraction cooler on the WB, adjust the greens a little so as I said earlier the deer has a bit more prominence, add a couple of Curve adjustments to soften some of the lighter areas to hopefully bring back a bit more form, the ears are probably between yours & mine in terms of tonal range/depth. Just watch some of your cloning i.e. at the top of the head between the horns.

Cheers
Steve

[David Cowling]

Steve, thanks for coming back. You seem to have sharpened a lot more than I dared, but perhaps your other adjustments just make it look sharper. I am sure that my original post had not been sharpened at all. I pulled the saturation down quite a lot on the greens (using the yellow slider as the green slider made no difference at all) and also on the cyan. I can see now that my RP had gone a little flat. Thanks for the advice.

David

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David, the only bit of localise sharpening was in parts around the eyes, the folds & also the ears. Also it's not just Saturation that you need to adjust, you may find other elements Colour balance, Selective Colour, WB, Channel Curves etc helps because it doesn't clog the finer detail so more comes out from within the image. It just takes a little time to see what needs to be addressed as each image is different, it's know which adjustment(s) needs doing, that's the hard part. Saturation is just one element from a whole raft of items within the colour management of an image that one can choose from.

Steve

[Geoffrey Montagu]

What a beautiful face this deer possess, and a great portrait, David. Interesting facial features.


Geoffrey

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi David,a magnificent capture considering you only had seconds just wonderful. I also have really enjoyed reading through the comments and the development of the image. you guys are so detailed and the adjustments so fine ,superb to read look and learn from!! Thank you so much for sharing this.

One thing though, I don't think this is a chinese water deer,surely this is a buck Muntjac i've only seen chines water deer as a child many many years ago,but muntjac are familure to me ,we have them right here You do have chinese over in norfolk but I don't think we have them here in the midlands the scent glands giveaways plus the colour pattern is utterly muntjac. Guessing he might not be quite fully mature tis difficult I've seen slightly bigger tusks on them.But the clincher is chinese bucks don't have antlers they are very primative deer according to reading i've just done to confirm my thoughts.


Cracking though David what an experience

take care

Stu