Guys muntjac were brought to woburn around a hundred years ago Escapes from whipsnade zoo and deliberate releases have lead to quite a large feral polulation in the south to middle of our island They are small and stocky like little beer barrels on legs and fascinatingly can breed at 7 months old.Gestation is 7 months and once they have had their kids they can be receptive to a mate in days. They have no rut and breed here all year. also called the barking deer.
Lovely little things although another non native. This is a doe/ female I'm actually in ambush mode sat on a log for once not actually stalking. Shot is HH with knee as rest. Taken sometime back in the summer while hoping for a fallow fawn. Bright sunny day but English woodland shade,she can hear me and is intently reacting to the sound of the camera,once again I was struggling not to lol as she'd relax and I'd shoot a frame and she would stamp and bark and this lovely stare would be repeated,a couple of times. By keeping the frame rate down I managed to not spook her and she circled me a little before going off. such a tricky place to shoot our woods but I adore trying to make images in them. I've trid to pull back the greens a bit ,but it's a very green place at this time of year so would appreciate thoughts there.
Canon 1div
300f2.8 is
extiii 1.4
1/250
f4.5
iso1250
Image is full frame not cropped
Thanks for all the thoughts on my previous images
Hi Stu -- I liked the natural framing all around and alert ears of the subject. Nice light hitting on one of its eye .
I would have liked more at the bottom and cropping out the top but being a FF nothing can be done except you wish to add some canvas at the bottom of the frame. You could have underexposed a bit more for more of a spotlight effect.
I also wish that it was slightly more towards its left as the OOF foliage from the FG is robbing us of the clarity from its right side of the face . The tree in the BG is a bit of a problem for me here.
All in all i like the concept and enjoyed viewing this image. TFS !
Hi Stu, like it, but you are letting yourself down on that ISO, here you could have easily gone to ISO2500. I know it's hard in the heat of the moment with everything going on, but try and preset your camera before leaving home, if you have say ISO2500 and then the light is on your side and you have 1/3200SS, so what. These captures are really taking shape, but you need to think & remember, I don't think you have any issues with calibration and a faster SS with help you for sure.
I like the framing and I think the tree behind the head may have helped any distracting elements getting in the way, behind the head, however I think there is some stuff on the edges that isn't helping and so you can crop that out. Have you been playing with the Saturation of the HSL panel by chance??? The reason I say is that I feel, (and this also applied a little to Gabriela's image, albeit not as much), but the overall green is flooding the image, therefore in reducing Saturation and some primary colours and some Exposure elements the depth and detail within the capture begins to show through.
It depends I guess on what you want, and having a 'vignette' around may draw the eye in, I just like the fact it screams 'Wildlife'.
Stu, there are no 'tricks' applied, 95% was all done within LR and the various Exp & Colour management, but I did 'blow in' a bit of colour top left because of the light.
Hi Stu - Great alert pose and well done shooting through the thick of the trees and brush. I too felt some of the stuff at the edge's was a little heavy and distracting. Steve's rp has sorted that and really taken the image up a notch. Good advice about ss too.
Thanks all for the deeply thought provoking comments.Haseeb the note about exposure and dropping it was incredibly interesting for me to dig into and play with thank you deeply interesting. Rache cheers
Steve again fabulous thought provoking repost. I knew the greens were wrong Steve ,but couldn't figure it last night I did try to pull them back though but failed,the are much closer to what they should be in your repost I'll work on this Steve. top left works !!
Point taken on iso,light awful here today so practised on our robin at 6400 to try and get my head around the files, and close dof at the same time. Steve although i'm poderously slow I feel I'm constantly learning and the shutter iso message is being used my actual techs are changing I feel, as I learn more,but yes point taken
Vignette isn't added Steve it's serendipity no more,frankly I just wanted a red point on her eye and no veggies betwixt us. It was incredibly hard finding just that. I do like it for that fact although concur with a narrower crop I like that dark to the right Steve it also adds depth for me ,,although I feel there is no real enhancement by having so much.
If there is any probs with my combo and MFA my guts says it is the 2X ext steve, which means little, but that always seems the grey area if I do my part,that is
.
Thanks mate tis very positive and you are right on the techs
He he aye she wild Steve for all my faults I'd tell you if not. I'm always moaning about camera shutter being too loud with wild deer ,but i probably wouldn't have got this without it,funny old world
take care thanks all
Great tip Steve,it's already in use ,thoroughly investigated with these deer. they can hear silent too. It's a tough trade off though not having the ten frames to utilise, as once the shutter is picked up magic can sometimes follow which single shot is a distinct disadvantage for.
I try to read the individual situation now Steve during the stalk and choose which I think might be of benefit.
As my knowledge of them increases so does the FC ,shutter noise is now my biggest issue regarding them spooking..... by far. It's funny Steve this one facet is the one I just didn't see coming. I've looked at blimps(too bulky/expensive) and tried to find a rubber "skin" that might muffle sound just a few Db might help anything to overcome this,but so far drawn a blank.
Great shout Steve,I just feel now I have to except that I'm making a choice to try and get images of wild deer with an incredible set of senses. There is no driving up to them,even a horse and rider spooks them ,but being wild they show all those wild behaviours that so interest me,and I want to and portray and capture with time with my images. I'm upbeat and pragmatic about it mate I'm learning much and the FC is out preforming this single facet of a **** fine camera. It sounds almost arrogant to say that,but it is what it is.
Many thanks buddy,whether I've come across these things or not at this stage I'd always rather they were mentioned,much appreciation Steve
Thanks morkel ,so do I,Steve's so thought provoking!! I'll never be able to find the words to thank him for all he has done for me !!
Steve, mate, if you see this I've tried to take on board some of your comments in this repost. I can't quite get to what you have done and sure there is a personal pref with the crop. But I hope at least the prime offender in my eyes those greens have been brought under control a bit more. My main point where I feel the difference is is your deer has much more detail and is slightly darker (certainly when compared to BG),try as I might I don't seem to be able to find a way to match that with DPP. Steve have you done anything selectively just to the deer exposure wise but not the BG. Anyway here's a second attempt one which I'm a bit happier with .
Stu what I most like about this is the way the natural vegetation frames this little Deer with such a cute shiny nose,did wonder a bit about rotation but looking at the tree in the bg it is right.Nice work mate.