A Morning Drink At The Stream

[Cheryl Flory]

Canon 40D
Sigma 50 - 500

1/500"
F4
ISO 800
50mm
7:30 a.m.

I didn't have time to change much on my settings since this happened so quickly. I was concentrating on the doe and her fawn that I uploaded yesterday, when I saw both of them put their ears up and stare intently at something. I turned around and saw these two traveling through behind me. An hour later both does ended up grazing in the same large area, and the two fawns literally stumbled upon each other. After the initial startle, they took off running and leaping together, back and forth, through the ravine. it was so much fun to watch. it seems that kids are kids whatever the species. :) Too bad my panning shots didn't turn out better. But I just couldn't keep my lens moving fast enough to track them! lol The fawn who had gotten use to me being around from earlier, kind of over did the running and jumping, and lost track of its mom, even ending up back by its stream completely away from the ravine where its mom was grazing. I could hear it bleating somewhere in the tall growth. After the first couple of looks, mom just seemed to ignore its calls and went on eating. oh oh. perhaps Mom thinks its time for baby to start growing up. i noticed while I was sitting and photographing them, that Mom wasn't letting her fawn nurse as much as it wanted to either.


Well, as Artie once said, and I'm loosely paraphrasing, "If your lens isn't equipped to do close-ups, then shoot habitat images". And I couldn't pass up this one. i would appreciate any comments you have on it. cropped a bit off the left, and some off the right due to a bright distracting branch in the way.

[Mark Fuge]

Hi Cheryl,

Very nice image. If I could make a few suggestions. I have attached a print with suggested cropping.

I would crop the top to remove the dark band and the grass above it. This will also bring the fawn into the upper left 1/3 area of the image.

I would crop the right side to eliminate the stone ... that I have shown circled. It just would be better in or out and being half way, I would remove it.

I would add some canvas to the bottom of the image, to give a little room below the reflections.

But it is a nice sharp image otherwise and congratulations on experiencing and capturing that moment.

[Cheryl Flory]

Mark, I never even saw that stone. lol.
I did consider cropping the top, but I like the "wheat" and the depth those woods at the top added to the image. And I did wish I had more room at the bottom, but didn't think I was good enough at PS to make it look real. lol Thanks for your critique!

And now that I am looking at it, here it looks a bit over saturated also.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Cheryl I like going for the larger image as shown rather than longer focal length

I like Mark's suggestion for cropping, the top part is not doing much at all. Wish you could have worked the image to obtain a clear reflection form the log in the water, not always possible !!! Framing wise a little more room up front might work out even better !!!

Mark did you do anything other than the crop? Just noticed the greens look different ? ... maybe just my eyes !!!

[Cheryl Flory]

Al, I don't understand your first sentence. do you mean you like the tighter crop?

[Harold Davis]

some good suggestions above, cheryl. i see you were at 50mm here. did you zoom in on the fawn for some close ups? looks like you would have had a nice, clean bg and foreground zoomed in.

enjoying the deer series. keep up the good work.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Cheryl,
I like the capture...very good advise given...you are very fortunate to have these little guys come up so close...I'm enjoying your series...:cool:

[Mark Fuge]

...

Mark did you do anything other than the crop? Just noticed the greens look different ? ... maybe just my eyes !!!

No Al, might be your eyes catching up with your age. ;) :( :D Don't worry, we all suffer from that. I can attest to it. :eek: ;)

All I did was the crop and cloned in the bottom area of the expanded canvas.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Cheryl - the cropped version looks the goods to me - you musy be on first name basis with these guys :)

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanks, Lance. First name basis, I wish! :D but I am beginning to recognize the differences between a few of them. Unfortunately, my favorite buck hasn't been seen for quite awhile. But it's just like with birds, first you need to find an area where there is a concentration of them. Then the work begins. Untold hours of learning their habits and searching them out in the woods each visit--they do not have a pattern of travels and have a very large range of roaming. And of course a bit of "introduction/thanks" is always helpful. This time of year I find small apple pieces work well. :)

For the morning of this pic, I was hiking almost 6 hours, trying to spot fawns. saw two. Then of course, you just hope the doe is one that is not super skittish (the fawns are terribly skittish) as you spend time working your way closer, through the underbrush, grasses taller than me, and muck. You gotta like being in the woods. lol unfortunately now the mosquitoes are getting ferocious and the deer hate the scent of bug spray.

But, hey, every good photo comes with a challenge, doesn't it? That's part of the "fun". :D