A deer and RTH

gluwater

Everytime I go to these particular woods I always see deer, I mean every single time I have been there and in the same spot. So now I just have to work on getting interesting shots of them. Here's one from today and I think it's pretty good, what do you think.



As I was leaving I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and there was a Red Tail Hawk sitting in a tree. I got a couple shots of it perched and then it took off and I got one half decent shot of it in flight. It was a good day.




Thanks for looking!

Thusie

Good going Ric! Like the RTH

Osprey Whisperer

Nice RTH, Nick. Too bad that limb was in the way. Take a chain saw next time.

Harryb

Hey Nick,

The deer shot is quite good. Shame about the branch pn the RTH.

Art Scott

Like'm both...think the limb makes the shot more natural and real.....jmho

Stormdancing

Nice shots Nick. That RTH should be in the same area again, so maybe next time he'll give you a clear shot.
That deer looks awful thin.

Dick on Aruba

More!...More!...More!...

Dick.

Rohirrim

Well I guess I'm the picky one, but since you asked for comments I hope you don't mind if I add my thoughts.

The lighting looks kinda flat in the deer shot. Was it overcast? Theres also no catchlight in the deers eye, tough to get, but would add a little to the shot. I'd also like to see a little canvas in front of the deer instead of behind the deer.

You have no control over this but the deer looks very thin like she's been through a rough winter (probably has). I guess I'd like to see a more alert pose.

I added a little curves to add some contrast and boosted the saturation a bit, below. I hope you don't mind and if you do, let me know and I'll take the following down.

gluwater

Thanks for looking and commenting everyone. It's my best RTH yet, even with the branches in the way so I'm happy with it. The buck is really thin, most of the deer I have seen lately are, hopefully with things turning green they will fatten up to a healthier weight.

gluwater

Thanks for the critique Steve, I can use all the help I can get and another persons perspective is always appreciated. The lighting was very flat, it was really overcast. When I took the shot I was on a hill about 25 feet above the deer and this shot is full frame, no cropping, so I didn't have much room for more foreground. I was just trying not to cut it's head or feet off. The color I posted is actually pretty close to what I saw, they are pretty drab right now. But I do see your point. Here is a re-processed shot and the original so you can see how far I took it. There was a very slight catchlight already but I lightened it up by Dodgeing it.

Original (jpg created from RAW, no processing or sharpening)


Re-processed


How's that look?

gluwater

Here's a Doe and last years baby I shot today. They look famished, you can see her ribs. She's licken her chops over all that new green stuff on the ground. Yes I know it is backlit and there is an anoying branch on the right. This is for demonstrational (yes I just made that word up) purposes only.

Rohirrim

I like it. I know what you mean about editing the color/contrast of images. It's often easy to make a photo look better in Photoshop, but then I ask myself "Is this really what it looked like?", or "Is this what I had in mind, when I took the photo?".

How, far do we go in post-processing? .....

I don't think there is a correct answer.