Stag overlooking the Loch.........

[Tom Dolezal]

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u314/erding/Wildlife/IMG_4703.jpg

Technical: Canon 20D, Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS, f/5.6, 1/500, 0 EV, ISO 400, AV mode, handheld

C&C always welcome.

Thank you for looking.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Tom

I like the bg and feel of this image, would like seeing more space around the animal and not as much in the center. Would try different angles for the head intersecting the far away shoreline by getting low/high see what would work out better. .... love the eye contact !!!

[Todd Frost]

Nice image Tom. Would like to see more top and bottom and a little off the LHS. Love the bg. See what you think of this for a crop idea. Took some off the LHS extended canvas slightly top and bottom, Slight contrast boost and opened up eye a little. You can do much better with original, this was very quick and dirty. Will delete if you wish. TFS
Todd

[Ken Watkins]

Great repost Todd, I would have preferred even more on the right hand side,

[Morkel Erasmus]

even though the loch intersects the buck twice it's not as disturbing as usual because I love the sense of location and context that it gives your shot. I would consider toning down the BG a bit to make the buck stand out more.

[Tom Dolezal]

Hi Tom

I like the bg and feel of this image, would like seeing more space around the animal and not as much in the center. Would try different angles for the head intersecting the far away shoreline by getting low/high see what would work out better. .... love the eye contact !!!

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Alfred. There would have been difficulty to get more space around him as there were 2 other Stags just out of frame. To have included these 2 as well would have meant going much wider which would have been good to show more of the setting but that would have been at the expense of the close up detail that I have got here.

I was about 40ft away from him for this shot and he was already on the brow of the hill. For me to have gone higher therefore was not possible. I took some shots from a lower perspective and they did not work for me as the fg loch was being lost and instead of having the bg hill as a steady backdrop it became hill and sky or just a cloudless sky which was a bit bland.

[Tom Dolezal]

Nice image Tom. Would like to see more top and bottom and a little off the LHS. Love the bg. See what you think of this for a crop idea. Took some off the LHS extended canvas slightly top and bottom, Slight contrast boost and opened up eye a little. You can do much better with original, this was very quick and dirty. Will delete if you wish. TFS
Todd

Thanks for your comments and edit Todd. Does show the possibilities available. Not often have I been able to catch them on the brow with a interesting bg so here I wanted to maximise on the environmental setting as well as the detail of the Stag. Therefore always a element of balancing the Stag v the bg. For me your edit brings more emphasis to the Stag at the expense of the setting.

Tom

[Tom Dolezal]

Great repost Todd, I would have preferred even more on the right hand side,

Thanks for your comments Ken. Would have been a problem to have more on the RH as there were 2 Stags in that area , so it would have meant going much wider to incorporate both completely.

Tom

[Tom Dolezal]

even though the loch intersects the buck twice it's not as disturbing as usual because I love the sense of location and context that it gives your shot. I would consider toning down the BG a bit to make the buck stand out more.

Cheers for your comments and suggestion Morkel will look into that.

Tom

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Tom,
This is a very nice setting. Like Ken, I wish you could have got the stag more to your left with more space at the right of the frame. A narrow aperture like f8 would have further strengthened the image. Ofcourse, that would have brought down the shutter speed. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Tom Dolezal]

Tom,
This is a very nice setting. Like Ken, I wish you could have got the stag more to your left with more space at the right of the frame. A narrow aperture like f8 would have further strengthened the image. Ofcourse, that would have brought down the shutter speed. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Sorry Sabyasachi that I missed your comments which are much appreciated. As I mentioned in post 6 there was a problem with more space on the RH so it was always a compromise situation.

Tom

[Ken Watkins]

Tom,
Whatever it is still a great image, if I had a £ for every image I wish I had framed or been able to frame better, then I could get some new gear!

[Tom Dolezal]

Tom,
Whatever it is still a great image, if I had a £ for every image I wish I had framed or been able to frame better, then I could get some new gear!

Cheers for popping back Ken. Isn't that the beauty of wildlife photography, that one day all the components of a good shot will gel together - and that day maybe today :D

Tom