Fallow Pricket Dama dama UK

[Stuart Philpott]

I've been liasing closely this year with the stalkers ,which has meant I've been able to access the woods at least sometimes. i'd waited for hours at a stand with no result,then decided to go into stalker mode,good choice . This lad was with a group and I managed to get in and follow this herd for most of the rest of the day. As they moved out into the fields I realised they were numbering around 3o but with 3bucks in atendance. Not one sign of conflict between the boys. Frankly I think there are too many does and simply the boys have got too much on their plate already ,with little nee to fight for a lady.

Anyway here he is,again a struggle in the woods with light,they were just in a spot where deep shade and with little direct light penetrating. I was extremely cautious though where the sun was getting through as highlights were so easily blown ,even then I came unstuck at times sadly

Canon 1din 300f2.8 is ext iii 2X (Ive been using the 2x through the rutt mainly trying to stay back a bit from the deer) 1/500 f5.6 iso 5000 processed in dpp4 full frame no crop FP on deer's nose roughly between the eyes but slightly to the left,bit of NR global sat 1 global colour tone 1 to the red side bit of gamma and colours.....blue-7 yellow -3 orange-1 I think that#s it

cheers for the thoughts on my previous images


Stu

[Glenn Pure]

Stu, I like the backwards glance in this and the wooded setting even though it it quite busy. Colour looks quite flat in this probably reflecting the lighting conditions. Main issue for me is that the animal looks a bit soft. Perhaps a bit of USM would help here... but see below? Also, as I think you are only processing in DPP with global adjustments, I'm not sure how or if you are doing any output sharpening on the size reduced image. If you simply use 'convert and size' in DPP with size reduction, then you will miss the final sharpening. Sorry if this is territory that's been covered in the past but as you may know, that second sharpening step is quite critical but not sure it is happening here?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - It's a nice look-back pose. It looks like the conditions and the surroundings made for a tough shoot as far as light and clean bg. Glenn has covered the critique well. In addition the bright specular hls at the bottom of the frame draw the eye. The only way to improve is to keep shooting and experimenting.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

A little bit busy but I like the image. The buck is shown well in natural surroundings. I like the colours and exposure.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stu, typical environment/habitat and this illustrates well how tricky and difficult it is to shoot in this environment, especially with the lack of light. The image does appear soft, this could be either a lack in sharpening or that the image is in fact soft. I'm not a lover of the OOF band at the foot, I think a third of it is enough. The subject is not perhaps shown in the best of positions with the rear being the dominant part, but it's a nice look back, although I would clone out the small twig by the head. Overall it looks a bit flat, but as I'm away I'll leave it to others, in addition the NR looks a bit hefty???? If you are using the MKIII converter fine, if its 1 or 2 then they are pants and I would sell it ASAP. Placement in frame looks good too.

TFS
Steve

[Stuart Philpott]

Thanks Rachel:wave:,tough conditions but yes it needs experimenting with. At this time a clean bkg is nigh impossible the plantation is largely too young. It will be thinned pretty agressively shortly I would imagine,this might lend better chances,but a good learning tool both FC and image making wise.

Cheers Jon I feel I have better,but those odd spots where the sun got through to him I feel are irreparable sadly.

Steve yes both are EXTIII's did me homework ,I'm not getting the most without a markii supertele or 1dx onwards but yup I came across the IQ aspect.

Steve everything else in your post I concur with it might be soft i'm unsure. I know I am not 100% happy . Steve light as you say it's very difficult well leastways I found it so. typical habitat !1

As a guy that stalks this is hard . My only" in" here was I heard the buck,so I got to them on my tummy maybe 2-- 3--yards. Because there are so many here there is a browse line. They can see through where we are too high if standing,one simply can't approach them on foot,they will see you before you them...These are hard Steve it's almost been a wake up call .It's a shame because I got the buck too and a little group. but something feels not right IQ wise to me as well . I dunno I'll show some others shortly

thank you so much everyone

stu

[Steve Kaluski]

Stu, you can always I'm sure fire the RAW off to Andreas, he will give you the info you need I'm sure on the file.


Steve yes both are EXTIII's did me homework ,I'm not getting the most without a markii supertele or 1dx onwards but yup I came across the IQ aspect.

Good man.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Stu i quite like the look back pose of the deer .
The BG is a wee bit messy ....but hey that is where we find that species many times , so not an issue for me .I think you did well with that dappled light and you have details across the range .
By knowing your DPP limitations when it comes to tonal adjustments i think you can still squeeze out a bit more and i might change the overall WB to a bit more warmth .But keep the greens cool , you can address the blues as well .
To me it does not look being hammered with NR ....just stick to what DPP does and your good to go ( if you are limited to DPP ) , i think you can afford to add a bit more sharpness .

For sure you are fine if want to send me the raw ....

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Stu,

I like the look back from the "bokkie" here and do not mind so much the sight of its rear as it is well covered:w3 Subject well positioned within the frame, environment rather busy but nothing you could do about it. With a bit of careful PP work you could make the subject stand out more. Not sure about your ethics but I am tempted to do a bit of "gardening" here and there and give some attention to those bright bits in the BG. I really think you could extract more from this, Stu.

Thank you so much for sharing, happy to see you are having fun out there and looking forward to more!

Kind regards,