White-tail buck

[John Mack]

This image was created in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park on 11/29/18 at 4:34PM. Image processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hand held, Small crop.

Canon 5D MarkIV
Sigma 150-600 Contemporary
361mm
ISO 12,800
f6.3
1/200sec

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi John, it's commendable that you are pushing the ISO to achieve a reasonable capture, but there are limitations I feel with the 5D4, as it's not a 1DX1 or 2.

The higher you go the more Dynamic range you loose, plus noise to a degree then detail & clarity also start to fall away, so I would 'pick your moments' a to maximise as I have said before, both YIOUR time and getting a good image.

I think 5.6, but you may have been at the widest f/stop, I don't know, were you? The coat and head is looking a bit crunchy and the trees in the BKG (higher trucks) are a bit distracting. I do like the low POV, but I feel a bit more below would be better for the virtual legs.

Overall, can't fault you getting out there and enthuasiasum, but somehow your Avian images have a better IQ to them compared to the Wildlife, any reason?

TFS
Steve