On the Ridge

Hey Jack, let me start with telling you what I like about this image. The low angle really rocks! Also the pose of the animal is great and you have plenty shadow detail and some nice rim lighting here and there. A tough lighting situation for sure, and looking at the shadow detail you handled that side very well. However, the BG does show some really 'hot' areas in between the vegetation, which do detract from my appreciation of the image as a whole. Maybe going back to your RAW file will enable you to reduce the brightness of these hot areas. Also the OOF FG black soil is not adding anything here and is another distraction to my eye. Hope that makes sense...

I like the feeling of elevation, that the buck is standing above the camera. Nice headturn to show off that rack. Nice rim lighting on the back.

My attention was grabbed first by the background. Perhaps not the ideal background makeup we tend to think about but I like the broken prisms of light that comprise it, very beautiful in its own right in my opinion (I was actually wondering if the image was taken with the 400 DO that is reputed to produce a characteristic pattern with highlights?) I'm fine with the composition, except I will suggest just a wee bit more room at the bottom for the virtual hind hooves. Cool image.

Hi Jack,

The previous 3 commenters have pretty much covered all the bases - but just wanted to let you know that I think you did an admirable job producing this image under such difficult lighting conditions.

Cheers...

Brad

The deer looks fine, and I like the rim lighting. I agree the bright zones in the background is really fighting for attention.