Sunday Drivers (+ repst)

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 13, 2011227 views5 comments

I reluctantly went out this morning with a shooting buddy, not expecting to find anything. We came around a bend on a rural road (Northeast PA) and were shocked to see this group of 16 whitetails literally walking down the middle of it. Unfortunately by the time I got out and got a decent shot with just my Sony, they started to turn and take off. I haven't seen this many deer together in our area in many years. Camera was on auot, went off at ISO-80, 1/200th at f-4.0.

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Phil Mclean on February 13, 2011 at 2:51 PM

I quite like this Bill.I wonder if you took about an inch off the bottom and cloned out that foreground tree,would it make it even stronger?

Phil.

Registered on March 16, 2010, 30 Posts, 153 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Maile on February 13, 2011 at 3:26 PM

Thanks Phil, I did not even consider cloning out the tree, but that's a good thought.

Registered on March 2, 2009, 984 Posts, 2518 Comments

Comment posted by Neven Dries on February 13, 2011 at 7:07 PM

Nice shot for a quick snap, bill! I agree with cloning out the tree!

Registered on February 24, 2006, 52 Posts, 160 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on February 13, 2011 at 11:46 PM

That must have been a wonderful surprise encounter Bill.

I agree that tree in the FG is rather distracting. Better than cloning it out would have been to try and avoid it being in your frame though and I wonder if that would have been possible by moving to the left.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Maile on February 14, 2011 at 7:29 AM

Thanks Neven and Vincent, as always. Well, it was quite a surprise. My shooting partner for the day had a 20-mile drive through the country to come over and pick me up, as we headed out in his truck, looking for any form of wildlife or birds (eagle mainly). He said, "I didn't even see one deer, or anything moving, all the way over here." So expectations were very low.

That being said, I always try to remind myself that anything can happen and usually does, if not prepared. Well, I guess neither one of us were really prepared for this. This is a road I'm intimately familiar with, where "The Apparition" and many of my avian shots are taken near.

So he made the spot on the deer as I was looking to my right into trees along a river... and this was about the best I could do, as the herd, "heard" us and began to scamper. It was one of those quiet mornings with a gentle snowfall. To answer your question Vincent, if I went to my left I would have run into the truck, or risked going around it and missing the majority of the group. So yes, it is a bit disappointing, but... I hate those "but"s.

Here's an attempt at a fix--I'm no PS expert though!! Thanks for the advice too.

Registered on March 2, 2009, 984 Posts, 2518 Comments