Peek-a-boo

Interesting pose, Peter. I'm surprised that it wasn't looking at you. Even though the deer is small, it's position in the frame and pose let it hold lots of attention. I'm liking this as presented with lots of "semi-negative" space on the left, but also wondering how cropping from the left to put the dark trunk in or near the top corner would look. It would be good to burn in that section near the middle where the sky is peeking through brightly.

I agree with Mark. I would crop off some of the left, but would experiment to decide.
It is a nice shot with many good elements. DOF, focus, colors, all look good.

Hi Peter. I have been thinking a lot these days about a couple of threads in the discussion forums regarding the critique process, expectations of posts/comment ratios, and the quality of comments and critiques at NPN. For me it strikes at the very heart of why we bother to post and comment here. So, I decided I might try out a different format to structure my critique that I came across on another photography site. The format addresses 7 main areas of concern specifically, with a rating system on a scale of 1-10, followed by suggestions on How To Improve. So, here goes:

1. General Impression - I like how you have placed the deer in her environment. The habitat is varied and interesting in itself and
invites my eye to explore the frame. The photo immediately struck me as being different in several ways from the usual wildlife
photo and encourages me to spend some time to understand what is happening in the scene. 7/10

2. Subject of Photo - The deer is immediately evident as the subject, even though she is partially hidden. Nice ear carriage and
both eyes are visible and expressive. Very cool how she is peeking around that shrub, makes you wonder what has caught her attention. . Deer are common
wildlife in many part of the world, but it is what you do with the subject photographically that counts, well done! 7/10

3. Composition and Perspective - I love the low point of view Peter, helps to engage the viewer with the subject. I like how you
have balanced the heavy tree on the right edge of the frame with ample space to the left, nicely done! The exaggerated off-
centre placement of the subject works very well here. Nice framing of the subject by the lovely leafy canopy. 9/10

4. Use of Camera, exposure and speed - I like your choice of lens to include subject and habitat in nice proportions. !/200 shutter
speed is perfect for this situation imho. The iso was pushed a little, but was reasonable under the circumstances. 8/10

5. Depth Of Field - Shooting wide open optimized your shutter speed while providing pleasing dof for subject and the background. 7/10

6. Color and Lighting - Very nice greens up in the canopy, however the foreground grass is somewhat bright. The
dark tree trunk in the middle of the frame is rather dark, perhaps lightening it up selectively would make it less prominent so as to not compete with the deer.
The light is crisp and clean as befits a spring day. I'm a fan of the warm light at the edges of day, can't help but wonder how this might have
looked had this been captured during that special time. 5/10

7. Focus - Excellent, nice sharp focus where it matters most Peter. 8/10

Total - 51/70

How to Improve - I really like this effort Peter! I think the composition is outstanding and is what really makes this photo work. I think that a bit more work could be done in post to tone down the foreground exposure somewhat. The lighting, although adequate lacks the oomph to makes this an award winner. Perhaps you might experiment a little with some warming and colour balance to compensate what nature didn't provide.

Had a few minutes to try out this idea, hope it helps you Peter. At very least hope the number ranking doesn't offend. I have no idea whether or not I'll stick to this format, just a trial run I hope might generate some feedback in itself. My typing skills are modest at best, might be the biggest deterrent to this approach as it is a bit time consuming.

Hey Peter,

I won't try to one-up Gary on his detailed critique, but will say that I'm tending to agree with Mark on this one. More specifically, I think you have a good idea here but that perhaps there's just a little too much negative space on the left side of the frame. In my view if approximately 1/3 of the frame was removed from the left, and then that image was re-presented at 720 pixels (or 1200 pixels in the larger image) - thus slightly increasing the size of the subject along the way - I think the idea would work even better.

Note to Gary: I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment too much on your experiment right here on Peter's post, but I've seen many attempts to tease apart the "contributors" to a good image (i.e., the interacting variables) and provide a numerical "score" for an image. Personally I'm not a fan of them - to me what makes an image successful is - in a sense - much more organic than this and, more importantly to the methodology, the weight of the various contributing variables to image "success" is inherently dynamic (and I have yet to see a scale yet that recognizes that technical concerns can make or break one image but be totally irrelevant in the success of another). But this is probably better discussed within the forum (rather than the gallery).

Cheers...

Brad

I agree with the comments regarding cropping off some on the left side. To me, the overall image needs to be just a tad darker and the FG needs trimming back, I find it distracting. It is a nice photo. Glad you are able to be back in the field. Thanks for sharing.

Even with the relative small size of the deer, its position and pose bring good tension to the comp.
Techs look good with with nice details and use of F/4