Theme OOTB CRITTERS - Three Whitetail Bucks & a Doe @ Horicon NWR
This was taken a number of years ago at Horicon NWR, in Wisconsin. I came upon it along one of the roads, but it was distant and I had to use my 300mm w/ 2.0 extender, which I enjoy, but definately could have used a longer lens. I had the slide scanned by a local photo shop, which did not give me a high reso copy. However, I figured this theme allows it to be shown, though not in it's best light of the original slide.
Modified in PhotoShop Elements Ver 2.0 using the following filters; (Yes, I wrote them down this time) Artistic - Watercolor; Blur - Gaussian Blur; Brush Strokes - Ink Outline; Render - Lighting Effect (spotlight from the upper left with a light orange color, intensity of +10, Focus 69 and metalic 65). There were other tweeks of brightness and contrast, but that was about it.
Mark, I like the color tones in the grass! I think this has a very surreal look to it with the effects applied. Good use of the spotlight and I like the fact that you took the time to copy your steps so others can try this!!
Mark, the positions of the deer with the two standing bucks works well, and the layers of color from front to back. I also like the pointillist effect you created.
Jackie makes a good point of the need to lighten the overall image here. 1 plus is the bucks on their heels. A tad more separation of the grouping would be nice. Thanks for posting.
I would love to repost with your comments, but the original is really bad! It is something I've wanted to improve for a long time. I have always loved the image, due to the interaction of the three bucks and the doe to the side.
However, it is a major crop due to the distance (about 15-20% of image area at most). As noted in the post, it was also a bad scan when I didn't have a good source for scanning. If I could find the slide again, I might be able to rescan and do a better job.
I fully agree with your comments though and thanks, appreciate your views and comments.