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WC-668 Snow Shadows 1

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted January 12, 2015298 views7 comments

This image is one of those 'accidental shots'. It's from a few years ago, and I'd been out driving around looking for 'something' (not really knowing what! Near the end of the day, I saw this group of mule deer going across an open space and took a series of shots - more or less for the therapeutic sound of the camera shutter going, as I didn't really see a shot.

Getting home, seeing it on the large monitor, there was something appealing about the graphic nature created by the shadows and the fact it was so monochrome (this image is still in colour, the deer shadows are in fact blue).

I keep looking at it, trying to figure out what to look for in the field in order to create a similar image in the future. Think I'd prefer if there wasn't so much vegetation in the upper portion of the image, so that it was cleaner like the area where the deer are.

Curious about what others feel.

ISO 500, +1EV, 100-400mm lens @ 220mm, 1/4000sec at f/7.1

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on January 12, 2015 at 12:51 PM

Karen, a very nice winter scene! I like that there is still a bit of detail in the deer's bodies. I think you should play a round with trying a pano crop of this photo. Thanks for sharing.

BTW do you have e-mail?

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on January 12, 2015 at 2:36 PM

Karen, this works quite well as a graphic with the shape of the deer and their shadows standing out nicely from the rest of the texture. It's also nice to have some detail in the deer's bodies as John has pointed out. While I think that part of what makes this work, is the change in texture of the field bottom to top, I agree that having less texture in the top half seems likely to be an improvement.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on January 12, 2015 at 9:01 PM

The deer shadows are delightful. I might consider a crop to focus more on the deer.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on January 12, 2015 at 11:04 PM

I agree that a bit less grasses interrupting the snow cover would be better - but what can you do? The shadows of the three deer are pretty - somehow I find the very upright ears in the shadows especially cute!!

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on January 12, 2015 at 11:15 PM

It is what it is, and I like it! Sure, a "pure snow" background might make a cleaner image, but this shows surroundings well, so your exposure and processing have made it a good documentary shot. Aesthetically, the vegetation does not bother me, but there is just too much of it. I like the idea of a pano crop to reduce the amount of background.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on January 14, 2015 at 10:06 PM

Hi Karen

A sweet shot

three deer with shadows is a real bonus to the scene... agree with Eve and Wayne to crop for a stronger image

Albert Darmo
Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Yun Gao on January 17, 2015 at 11:29 AM

This is very nice! The small image looks like a view from a hill or a helicopter. I like the graphic quality and the deer shadows are still blue.

Registered on September 11, 2012, 267 Posts, 1621 Comments