backlit

Soldato
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I went back in search of deer at the weekend, as the light was great.

Managed to track down a large 12 point stag, and followed him for 3 hours. I mainly wanted some backlit shots, and my god they're hard work.. We developed this totally unspoken agreement, where I take 2 steps towards him and he shuffles ever closer out of the shade towards the light, get too close and he takes off and makes for the hills, a lesson I learnt twice :p Going after him up a hill with a 600 F4 lens/tripod/backpack is not pleasant.

I got quite a few conventional shots of him in the light which looked nice but most people already have those so I decided to concentrate on shooting directly into the sunlight..

Its also the first proper time out with my 1DS MkIII, the files and detail, especially the colour reproduction are brilliant.. I've taken so many deer shots over the weekend, including some black and white. These are all i've got the energy to process now lol.. I'm totally wiped out..

I also struggled with colour management for some of these shots, I found that in Adobe RGB, the files were exactly as I wanted them, very red and orange with the sort of tone you get in evening light.
However when converted to sRGB, a lot of the subtle tone vanished, even when checking on several different monitors the files looked drained, so i've tried to PP some of the colour back in a little so it shows in sRGB, however i'm thinking the prints will look great.

Getting his attention for a split second.

backlit1.jpg


Having a wash/shake

backlit2v2.jpg


Smaller roe deer (I think) from a few days ago in the trees.

deer111.jpg


Lining him up into the sun was a painful experience, also learned a lot about exposure, and how the camera meters shooting into the still intense but fading sunshine..

backlit3.jpg


Last one before sundown

backlit4.jpg
 
Absolutely stunning, your hard work definitely paid off!
Love the expression in the first shot :D
 
Is it not dangerous to stalk deer at this time of year? Certainly worth the risk though to get such cracking shots.
 
Damn your getting good with the wildlife photography Tim! Do you have any like 3, but without the direct sun, so you just get the rimlight? Top work old fella!
 
Cheers guys :), was lots of fun getting the shots, certainly a good fitness routine. I was totally drenched with sweat when I got back to the car lol.

Is it not dangerous to stalk deer at this time of year? Certainly worth the risk though to get such cracking shots.

Cheers,

It is dangerous to get close, but more dangerous when you approach a stag with a large herd of females. as they'll either charge you or just herd them all to saftey.
This guy was by himself and simply enjoying an afternoon in the bracken.
You just have to respect the distance, give him plenty of room and learn patience. Sometimes he'll just graze for 15 minutes without lifting his head, its important not to try to force the issue!

Damn your getting good with the wildlife photography Tim! Do you have any like 3, but without the direct sun, so you just get the rimlight? Top work old fella!

Cheers :)

I do, I took some from a few weeks ago in this thread.

I actually totally underestimated how difficult it is to get that rimlight, so many factors have to be perfect for it to work, and you don't have control of the subject.. I'll struggle to get rimlight on the antlers again for a while, as most of the Stags have rubbed the velvet off, which means theres no more fuzzy outline!
 
I love them all. Number 1 and 2 looks like he's spotted you and wondered, what is that guy doing with a cannon pointing at me :p Number 3 is beauty. All amazing shots~
 
I love them all. Number 1 and 2 looks like he's spotted you and wondered, what is that guy doing with a cannon pointing at me :p Number 3 is beauty. All amazing shots~

hehe, I need to start naming them. There was a larger 14 point gigantic stag which was around a few days ago, I've decided on calling him "Horace" for some bizarre reason :confused:, he'd probably charge me if he found out :D
 
Nice work and makes a change from being a picture of a cat which is just about all the wild life we have here in england :D
 
Cheers guys :)

Nice work and makes a change from being a picture of a cat which is just about all the wild life we have here in england :D

lol, :p it may seem like that sometimes, but most people can't be bothered to find it.

Sure, we don't have much exotic stuff, but what we do have does actually go down very well with the rest of the world. Shots of British Deer, or Deer in scotland on the mountains always sell very well.
Also, in about a month and a half, people will be coming from all over the world to Donna Nook (near grimsby lol) to see the grey seal breeding colony.

:)
 
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