Fallow deer and my first picture in wildlife
Guys,we live in the midlands of England UK,on a nearby country estate live a very large and very wild population of fallow deer. Fallow can be found on many estates in blighty in semi captive conditions. This population is large and wide ranging. some of my fallow picture you will see are taken in a hide. At this hide the animals are fed and the deer are slightly desensitized to humans,we also see muntjac at the hide. Some of my fallow pictures are of the completely wild population,we have recently been trying to catch up with some rutting bucks,but have failed,none the less,we did get something,which I hope to share with you all. I will clearly mark which photos are from which source,to me the hide is someone else's work and while the images are what they are,they don't hold the same kind of joy for me as the really wild guys whom We've stalked or waited for hours for. Essentially they are one in the same population wise. We have got permission from the farmer to stray on his land and frankly although unsucessful at actually catching some bucks rutting have had a wonderful time learning about them this year. These guys will run if they see you two fields away,they are very tricky to get within range of. Oft being in groups makes the challenge much harder. The image that will hopefully appear below is one of those few moments when all the ground work came together. We watched two walkers hundreds of yards away spot a small group of does/ fawns with a buck. He was holding them under an oak, the ground work lead us to move very fast along the wood edge unseen,to a spot where we gambled the deer would head for. The gamble paid off,we actually had a bewildering experience once the deer reached us. The buck decided one of his ladies was a hottie:e3 chased her and she very nearly ran over me. It was all so fast I just didn't get a really sharp picture,but looking back I'm slightly amused it didn't occur to me to put the camera down. As she veered off and I changed position hoping for a look back I had Shaz whispering the buck is behind you five yards away. Being the ultimate wild life tog I am most definitely not,I didn't even see him:bg3:. But it's him coming to us that will be my first picture to share with you as the walkers caused the deer to do exactly what we hoped for.
Folks note that at this time I don't do much work in post let me rephase that ,obviously I am hugely aware of how important post is,but I'm learning and trying to get some good images off the back of the camera as a start,these are processed in DPP 3 or 4,which is all I have. My plan is to get that side,the ability to use my new 1Div,to a good level,sort of learning by stages and then focus on post a bit later on. I feel I am already stretched and also know that shooting in raw I can always come back as I start to get comfortable with my camera skills,but there is a long road to travel first.
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5730/...77994c0c_b.jpgF70F9542 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr
Canon 1Div 300f/2.8 1.4extender iso1600 f5.6 1/2500 hand held probably off my knee while hiding in some nettles
Take care all
Stu