Rivals to Pals
by Peter Cross
I was out early this morning to the local nature preserve and found lots of deer and activity but little or no activity that one could call the rut. These two guys (Ol' Scarface on left and Old #22 on right) were rivals in courting females this fall. Apparently, that part of their year is over and they are now content to chewing their cud on top of a small hill and watching the does go by down in front of them. I worked this photo up somewhat as a challenge. Even though this is early morning the sun created quite a contrast which I tried to deal with. Then there were lots of twigs involving #22 that I tried to clone out. Then a few on the other. I played with the other sliders to boost contrast, saturation, sharpening, etc. The left deer is way softer, which I have to live with. I should have played some with a greater DOF to see what I could do that way. But I'm stuck with what I have. How did I do on this? Your comments and critiques are very welcome.
Tech Info
Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4L at 145mm
1/160th at f/5.6 and ISO 1000
tripod
Lightroom 5
Comments
2 commentsYou did fine, but I think given the contrasty lighting you were dealing with (and the fact that one subject had its head in the sun and the other's head was in the shade), the distance between the two subjects, and the number of distracting elements in the scene (everything from the number of grasses poking up through to sunlit hanging branches), the task you attempted to tackle was pretty much impossible! The net result is what you've identified - not possible to get both bucks in sharp focus and the lighting has to be so "tamed down" (i.e., shadows brightened so much) that the image ends up being less visually appealing than the original scene was.
I do laud your intention and efforts...but sometimes the reality of the situation completely nixes a photographic concept...and I think this is one of those times.
Cheers...and hopefully next time these two will give you something less daunting to deal with!
Brad