Deer Photographs

[mh68]

Originally Posted by glsammy

I still say that for poor light on a dull day, through glass, that these are in no way poor shots!

Agreed.It`s also impressive how you`ve managed to give the impression of much brighter conditions with good post-processing,without making the image look overdone.

Mark H

[jennyb]

Thanks, guys. Yes, I agree that you can do wonders with an image after it leaves the camera. Last night I was really depressed because I had been looking at some fantastic images of roe deer on the Internet and realise that I have so far to go.

Today I tried an experiment - it was almost as dull as Saturday but I took some photos of a female muntjac. This time I used ISO 800 which made a big difference, but also I went outside so there was no glass in the way. Here are the results.





Mark, you have already commented on these images but I can assure you that they did not come out of the camera like that. The muntjac was further away than the stag on Saturday so they are heavily cropped but they also needed a lot of colour tweaking and sharpening. Yes, I agree that these images look sharp, but at 800x600 it is not difficult to get a sharp image. After cropping, they were somewhere in the region of 2000x1500 but sharpening at that size would not have been enough. Reducing the size and sharpening works fine. So, the bottom line is that these would have not been good enough for print.

Maybe I should stick to screen images or get a higher megapixel camera

Jenny

[Purplepixii]

Well those photo's made me go "wow" then "awwwwwwwwwwww C.U.T.E - I wanna give it a cuddle" hehe

Fab pics again Jenny

[mh68]

Hi Jenny,
It`s easy to see other peoples shots online , which seem a lot better than your own, and wonder what youre doing wrong. But, unless you know the circumstances behind the image - eg how much it was cropped/how far from the subject etc etc its easy to be misled.
Those pin-sharp shots may have been taken very close to the subject and possibly uncropped, so comparing them with an image like yours that has been cropped quite heavily is hardly a fair comparison.
You can only crop so much from a full size image before the quality goes down.A higher resolution camera may help to a certain extent, but all cameras have their limits.
I`ve read of some people having moderate success resampling the image to a larger size for printing, in which case the chosen program adds extra pixels to the image (interpolation)to "fill in the gaps" so to speak.May be worth a try with your pics. I`d be interested to see one of the original versions of the pics you`ve posted if you fancy emailing me one? If so I can pm you my email addy...

Mark H

[jennyb]

As a follow up to this thread, I though you may be interested to see some more pictures of Mr Roe. He has been back sitting in the same position in my garden almost every evening this week - just as the light is fading

The first is a photo taken with my tiny point and click which I was holding out of the window (could not do that with my Canon). I took it to show where he sits on my front lawn.



The next 2 are taken with my Canon, but through the window quite some distance away and with considerable post-processing. The light conditions were bad so they were taken at ISO 1600.





If you compare these with my earlier shots you will see that he is now wearing his winter coat which is dark brown rather than ginger. He is very laid back but I often see him with Mum and the twins eating apples under the tree. This year is the first time that I have seen them stay as a family for so long.

Jenny

[russj1975]

Hi People, this is my first post!

I've found Bradgate Park in Leicestershire is good for Deer. Here's one i did last week.

[russj1975]

Jenny. I think pretty much the only thing holding the images back is the separation between the subject and the background (that is i think the Wow factor you are looking for). Unfortunately in many of your shots the deer is either sitting right next to the hedge, or you have a high camera position so the background is in focus. The first shots you posted could have been improved by a kneeling camera position, then you would not be pointing the camera down at the deer and getting the grass underneath the deer as your background. If the deer is sitting by the hedge, there's not much you can do about it - the stubborn blighters! Technically i think your shots are fine. To get blurred backgrounds you need a wide aperture and a reasonable distance between the subject and the background. My example is f8 on a 400mm, and even then the background isnt completely blurred, but enough to make the subject stand out.

You are also very lucky to have the deer in your garden as you can hone your technique. for the above shot i had to visit a deer park and hope for the best, i was lucky that time, but the other 98 pictures were not particularly pleasing at all.

[jennyb]

Many thanks for your suggestions. That is a fantastic photo.

I think you are correct about the background, but I was using the widest aperture possible with that lens. With the deer by the hedge, there is not much that I could do except by post-processing.

With the other deer photos in the field, unfortunately, I was looking down on them because I live on a hill and they were below me. I realise that it would be best to take the photos from the bottom of the hill, but that means spending a lot of time at the bottom of the garden waiting for them. I will certainly try that next summer, but they don't come quite so often at the moment and I don't have the time to spend all day waiting. All of my pictures have been taken when I have seen them out of the window and gone outside to try to grab a few shots (yes, I know that is not the way to get the best photos, but that is all I can manage at the moment!).

Actually, I was chatting to someone today who noticed that I have a flower bed with some quite tall conifers which would make an ideal natural hide. It is closer to the apple trees where the deer congregate and not quite so high up the hill. So, watch this space for some better photos next summer!

Jenny

[russj1975]

The waiting is all part of the anticipation and enjoyment of wildlife photography, and when you bag the shot, it makes it all worthwhile. Set yourself up in the conifers (perhaps see if you can get hold of some camouflage netting if the conifers don't conceal you enough). It feels a bit strange sitting waiting at first, but when you get the shot, you know that the preparation and patience has paid off.

Thanks for your comments about my pic btw