Juvenile sparring practice

[Mike Poole]

These 2 juvenile stags were going through some friendly practice sparring, and completely ignored me as I walked around them to try and get the best angle I could. It was only mild pushing rather than full blown sparring, but not sure I'd be getting this close to them in a year or 2 when they go at it for real.

They did the majority of their play in the only shade for miles around - a single tree on the hillside. They did come out into the morning sun during the play but kept spinning around, and I never got a really clear shot of them in the warm light.

Canon 1dx
500mm f4 is
ISO 2500
1/1250th f4

Mike

[Dumay de Boulle]

I like the brighter ares in the BG and the details look good. Great catch lights in both eyes and nice head angles. Nice one Mike!

[haseeb badar]

Hi Mike -- This looks lovely , reminds me one my Sambar Deer shots , but this is much better when it comes to the BKG . I would have gone for a higher iso to get more DOF , the RHS Deer appears a bit soft in that context .

TFS !

[Bill Nuttall]

Hi Mike - another wonderful image - the first thing that hit me when I opened the page was the light between the heads which just adds that special bit to the image

For me, it's an image where the focus is immediately pulled to the heads and the wonderful expressions given by the animals

[keith mitchell]

This soft tussle shows these animals off very well Mike,little nits covered ,do like this one.


Keith.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Mike - Fantastic eye to eye action and it pops against that dark bg. The fur, particularly of the one on the left looks a little crunchy so maybe back off on contrast and sharpening a little. Also there are halos around the legs. I think a 16x9 alternate crop coming up from the bottom works well. It concentrates the focus on the heads, eliminates the oof fg and bright grasses there. Also as is I feel like the legs have been cut off and want more room at the bottom but cropping tighter makes it feel more purposeful. Here's a quick rp only showing the crop I am suggesting, not the other changes suggested.

TFS,
Rachel

[Mike Poole]

Hi Mike - Fantastic eye to eye action and it pops against that dark bg. The fur, particularly of the one on the left looks a little crunchy so maybe back off on contrast and sharpening a little. Also there are halos around the legs. I think a 16x9 alternate crop coming up from the bottom works well. It concentrates the focus on the heads, eliminates the oof fg and bright grasses there. Also as is I feel like the legs have been cut off and want more room at the bottom but cropping tighter makes it feel more purposeful. Here's a quick rp only showing the crop I am suggesting, not the other changes suggested.

TFS,
Rachel

Thanks Rachel,

I cropped in a bit more than I normally like, but I think the IQ holds up well with your suggestion. The halos are sloppy masking - wrist slapped

Mike

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Mike. It helps in the critique process to let us know in the intro if it is a crop and how significant.

[Stuart Philpott]

With deer being so much on my mind of late Mike ,this is a wonderful image to inspire me. As has been mentioned they are truly lovely set against that background it just sits so well against them. wokrs for me buddy interesting as ever to read the comments here aswell

Nice one mate!!

Stu

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Mike, Bradgate is well known for it's deer, so I would look to going more often nearer the rut as there is a lot you can capture, especially early morning in the mists.

Agree with Haseeb, I would have pushed the ISO and gained more SS (the face doesn't look crisp so I bet the RAW is slightly out), also more DoF also would have helped in the BKG too. Don't be conservative with the 1DX, forget about anything else you perviously had, this camera is polls apart. Personally I think you were either too close, or the crop is too tight, I feel you need more at the foot, irrespective of any OOF grass/objects.

TFS
Steve