Deer, comments please

[steveuk13]

Hello,
Here is a my first attempt at capturing local deer during the annual rut. Please feel free to give any advice/comments , both good or bad .
Thanks

[JPS]

Hi Steve,
I like it.
My first thought was crop some of that space on the left; but I paused and thought about it again and have come to the conclusion it works. For me it sort of give me the feeling of a vast open space; the sort of place a deer could be found.

Well done and thanks for sharing.

[Geoff F]

I would still crop some from the left side.

But positioning is a matter of personal choice and some people prefer to work strictly to the 'rule of thirds'.

[andrewaxford]

Hi Steve when it comes to deer photographs i notice there are two distinct groups. I imagine that the deer in say Richmond park get quite used to people and can be easier to approach. The Red deer in Devon are mainly nocturnal and only seen at dawn and dusk as well as being as wild as can be and if you can get within 500m of one you are lucky. i have had several attempts at photographing these wild deer and and have so far managed two images. My photographs tend to be rushed because i dont allocate enough time to approach them and then i usually get the settings wrong on the camera and then when i finally get it right, its dark! So my advice would be to bracket your exposures to give a better chance of a correct shot, set a single focus point to make sure you focus on the subject and make sure you use as fast a shutter speed as possible.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Steve,

I agree the 'negative space on left' composition works.

Some good advice above.

Unfortunately it looks about a stop under exposed to me and ideally we'd prefer to have all the deer in shot, down to the hooves hidden in the grass.

Good first CiC photo,

[jamn4ex]

Hi steve, I could live with the space left but would like alittle more fore and right also. I am not sure how much you have cropped this but there may be an excellent portrait in this what I call a" look back " pose. Will be looking forward to seeing more wildlife shots from ya. oh yea , nice shot.

[botspur]

Hi Steve, a good effort. To me as James has pointed out it would be a nice looking back portrait. As is I would prefer to see more of the legs or a bit more grass at the bottom. I think it's just a bit too tight on the right for me.

[jeeperman]

Steve, a very nice image. I am with Dave, the comp works for me although the loss of the hooves does not. Also agree it could stand a bit more exposure.

[unaisc]

Steve Very nice photo... While taking the images you must make sure about frame.. it should be perfect

[steveuk13]

Thanks for all the advice , i shall certainly take it on board and hopefully improve.
Andrew, this shot was taken at bradgate park in leicestershire . Most of the year you do struggle to get close but around rutting time you can get pretty close without any real problem.