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Thread: White-tailed Deer

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    Hi all,

    Here is a white-tailed deer frame from last August in NJ (so hopefully the greens are correct). Between work and weather I haven't had much opportunities to go shooting lately (although have some spots planned out for next week) so I went back looking for old frames for some post processing practice. This image was taken shortly before sunset and was 'pre-D500' so ISO 1600, which is probably past the limit of the D3300. In post, I boosted exposure by about 1/3, did some levels adjustments, removed a slight magenta cast, light NR on the deer and heavy NR on the background using neat image. This is the full frame image as well. If I were to shoot this again now I would push ISO to around 3200, increase the SS, and stop down to f/7.1 or so. Also I would be sure to not under expose the image.

    Camera: Nikon D3300
    Lens: 200-500mm f/5.6 at 500mm
    Specs: 1/640 ISO 1600 f/5.6

    Thanks for looking as well as the great comments on my prior image!
    Alex

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Alex, lovely encounter and great to see her no shy with your presence.

    I'm not a lover of the central POV, I feel going central you should have then been in portrait format and shot the whole deer, legs and all. The black patches are not ideal, having all green backdrop would have been a killer, but it is what it is. Depending on your ethics you could clone without a problem, however... To me the image doesn't look sharp, and yes, having more DoF & a faster SS would have been better, good to hear you thinking about pushing the ISO, but just be sensible - as everything has a knock on effect.

    The image tonally/colour looks a bit flat, you need to think in a spectrum of Black to White with shades of grey, so adjusting the Exposure, going a fraction darker and then balancing the colour will help. I just added a filter at the foot, so that's all I did, nothing more, so you can see what a difference it can makes without any complicated mask, layers, channels etc.

    Hope you get out again soon.

    Cheers
    Steve

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Alex - Steve has summed it up well and his rp has taken it up a notch. Yes, this cries out for a vertical orientation and more of the body. If there was too much stuff between you and the doe that you had to truncate the body, then I would have gone for more frame filling comp but I do recognize you were at the long end of the zoom. I never apply NR to the subject but don't use or know Neat Image. Keep them coming. I have to get out of the city to NJ to shoot more often.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Hi Alex man I love deer I spend a lot of time trying with a fallow herd here. Great craft to get in this close Alex,well done. Rachel and Steve have pretty much covered this.

    A little thing I do is have the portrait orientation set with a focus point high up,so if I do get in close and have to go to portrait fast the focal point might not need moving so far ,when one is short of time. I also try to go upwards on the FP's if a deer starts to close in. Alex, I'm learning,i I have faults !! I 'm very prone to cutting feet off when time is short,the little steps above help me avoid this when I do my bit correctly. I think I'm so intent on getting the FP on the eye and watching for something facial that might make the image more interesting I am not disciplined enough looking at what's happening with the feet. It's only a little thing Alex,but framing is so important,it might just help on your next encounter .

    Can't wait to see more from you,all the luck

    stu

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    BPN Member Andreas Liedmann's Avatar
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    Hi Alex i really like the dreamy look & feel of the frame with all the soft OOF stuff around the subject . Nicely seen and captured . I do not mind the darker green patches as they are part of he BG and i guess the moment was more a fleeting one , rather than a set up so no choice i guess .
    I have to agree in parts with Steve in terms of sharpness / tone and color .
    With his RP he has taken it up a notch , but i might have gone not that far in the WB , meaning i would have kept it a bit cooler .
    But you can see what could be done and how it affects the overall look and it is for sure sometimes a question of personal prefs or taste .

    Keep them coming . TFS Andreas

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    But you can see what could be done and how it affects the overall look and it is for sure sometimes a question of personal prefs or taste .
    Yep Andreas, just wanted to illustrate that with some simple tweaks everyone can do, how much it can change things without going down a more 'advanced/technical' route .

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    Lifetime Member Mike Poole's Avatar
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    Whilst it's not the classic way of framing by any stretch of the imagination, I do think the central pose works OK here within the overall frame, due to the soft BG and vignette feel. Steves RP shows there is more to come from the frame should you so wish,

    Mike

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    Hi all,


    Thank you all for taking time to give critiques and comments! It means a lot. Sorry for a slow reply -- busy week this week.


    Steve, thank you for the respost -- I see what you mean now about the image being flat and the colors on the deer look more like what I saw. I think in general I stick to keeping my edits too close to the RAW file as not to over do it so that's something I need to work on.


    I'll also revisit the image again regarding the sharpening as well. I've been pushing the ISO more on the D500 and while it's not D5 or 1DX I've felt better about handling the noise in post as well as getting a sharp frame (up to a limit of course).


    Rachel, I agree with you and Steve regarding shooting this vertical and getting the legs in. I should have more opportunities for similar shots when things green up a bit more. On the NR, I'm pretty much following Arash and Artie's guide where you do a slight bit of NR on the subject after calibrating the noise levels before doing more extensive work on the background. Where in NJ do you go if you don't mind / what type of things do you shoot there? I've seen some bears in upstate NJ but really only fleeting shots.


    Stu, thanks for the kind words as well. I feel like I'm also cutting off wings and bottom of feet -- hard to keep in mind in the field during an encounter.


    Andreas and Mike, thanks as well. It's always really cool to see how relatively minor changes can bring a frame more to life so to speak. I'll revisit some of the edits suggested here and hopefully get some opportunities for some more posts :).


    Thanks again all, very much appreciated.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Steve, thank you for the respost -- I see what you mean now about the image being flat and the colors on the deer look more like what I saw. I think in general I stick to keeping my edits too close to the RAW file as not to over do it so that's something I need to work on.
    Hi Alex, folk often over complicate things when it comes to PP and IMHO the real truth is - keep it simple. The RAW is only a capture of 'RAW' data and the camera is interpreting it based on the WB values you have set, therefore you might come unstuck if you keep edits close to the original capture. You might experiment with the present-sets to get close to where you want the image to go, then tweak it, or try and balance thing then tweak them. WB is just one element in the PP stage, however the real key is doing as much as possible at the RAW stage, because you have truck loads more data and a well exposed image will save you time too. In addition, make sure you monitor is constantly calibrated, at least one a month, or if the software tells you when. This is just as important, as a superb image with a poorly maintained monitor will kill ALL your hard work.

    Your on the correct path when dealing with noise, likewise you may wish to consider adding some INPUT sharpening too at this stage, as it's all part of the Module. With LR/ACR it's very easy to see.

    Don't get too hung up about camera bodies, although having one that can deal with high ISO and noise will help, because you can push the SS.

    At the end of the day, enjoy and have fun and if you can implement the small 'nuggets' of suggestion, then hopefully it will speed things along.

    Cheers
    Steve

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    Thanks again Steve. Good point on the monitor as well. I'm also just realizing that I'm often editing in a room with a lot of ambient light so that may be impacting my sense of tone and colors as well.

    Quick Q: when you say input sharpening via Lightroom, do you mean when converting the RAW to the TIFF? Or do you mean with the Lightroom slider itself?

    Thanks again for the words of wisdom -- already feel like I've learned a lot on this site so happy to keep improving as the wildlife gives me chances.

    Best, Alex

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Quick Q: when you say input sharpening via Lightroom, do you mean when converting the RAW to the TIFF? Or do you mean with the Lightroom slider itself?
    Alex do you use LR to convert your Raws or another converter?

    With Nikon you will have a cleaner file to start with, as it will not have the Contrast Canon does, plus it's uncompressed too, why Canon do not do this I have no idea, it would be far better.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Alex do you use LR to convert your Raws or another converter?

    With Nikon you will have a cleaner file to start with, as it will not have the Contrast Canon does, plus it's uncompressed too, why Canon do not do this I have no idea, it would be far better.
    Hi Steve, yep I use Lightroom initially and then do resize, output sharpening, and NR in Photoshop on the TIFF.

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