Deer Friends... for C&C Please.

[AlbionMan]

As the mists rose these two deer appeared on their own a few yards from the main group... at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire. They live freely in the park, and are used to people, so are not as timid as deer in the wild.... they do give excellent photo opportunities.
Would love some C&C opinions please
Settings... Canon 60D with Canon 75/300 zoom, Aperture Priority @ F8 : ISO set @ 200 : Speed Auto 1/320 : Focal Length 300mm

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I don't mean to sound overly critical but have you tested your lens at other apertures at 300mm FL to see where it is sharpest?
Seems to me you've missed the fine hair detail I'd be looking for in a shot like this.
Wish we had some deer around that would be willing to pose.

[Shadowman]

Nice effort. Alan enticed me to look more closely at your image.
Does look a bit soft.

[IzzieK]

Ouch...the composition looks good...I like it. The softness is sometimes a blessing because there are some sharp ones that are overly done...here, what he can do is just sharpened it after the fact...in post processing...on the other hand, if you are up to it, do you mind removing the green streak behind your deers...

[Stagecoach]

Well captured Rich,

The image does appear a bit flat and soft but I suspect this is due to your post processing. Basic setting of the white and black points, small contrast boost, small clarity boost and then some basic sharpening make a big difference.

Whilst the lens is at it's max FL (which you needed to capture this) the aperture used, f/8 is unlikely to be far off it's sweet spot.

[Geoff F]

Looks reasonable to me at full screen size. There is a fraction of softness on the rear end of the furtherest deer but I suspect this might just be a bit of subject movement at a fairly low shutter speed for the lens. And not anything serious.

I do wonder about a slight crop though. Maybe a little from the top and right side. Possibly just the top and use a different size ratio?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Rich,

I too like the composition

A look at the detailed EXIF reveals a few factors;

It was shot RAW, but does not seem to have been post processed beyond the default "0" settings in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR)
It was uploaded at such a large size that TinyPic has applied its size limitation (which softens pics)
There is a conflict of metadata tags and the embedded colour profile (aRGB vs sRGB)

You may prefer to differ, but I suggest that clicking the shutter is only the first half of the photography process, all shots need post processing, especially when shooting RAW, which bypasses many of the adjustments applied in camera by their jpg image algorithm. Not that I want to start a discussion on that ole chestnut.

I believe it would benefit (initially in ACR) from:

Up to a stop more exposure (I note you did apply "+ 1/3" when shooting)
A better Black point setting (as Geoff suggests)
Application of Local Contrast Enhancement (LCE)
As the sun is shining (although somewhat weakly), perhaps a slight warming of the colour temperature

Then, in Photoshop ...

Save full size
Downsizing to 1200 x 800
Application of UnSharp Mask with following settings: Amount 120%, Radius 0.3px, Threshold 1
Save, with a different filename, this smaller size

Fancy trying it Rich?
I could try most of that on this jpg, but it won't look as good as if you do it from the RAW original.

Hope that helps, Dave

[AlbionMan]

Big thank you to all of you who have commented, a lot of good information there which I will take away and wrestle with on the original RAW image, see what I can do to improve things.
However... I would appreciate some info and guidance on the "black point" setting mentioned by Geoff and Dave.... would really appreciate if you could let me know more about that feature.

Many thanks

[NorthernFocus]

As others have mentioned well composed, good exposure, and focus looks good to me. Just needs a bit of post processing. A slight crop all around might be an improvement too. Along with perhaps going to a 5x7 format. Isn't it nice to have willing subjects?

[rpcrowe]

Nice capture. Did you do any PP sharpening?

[Stagecoach]

However... I would appreciate some info and guidance on the "black point" setting mentioned by Geoff and Dave.... would really appreciate if you could let me know more about that feature.

Many thanks

Rich,

This is your original posted image in ACR, note the histogram not reaching either end.


This is your original posted image in ACR with the exposure and blacks slider adjusted to bring the histogram nearer the ends and other adjustments made to give it a bit of punch. The image now shows better contrast.



This is the image after then being opened in PS CC and just basic sharpening undertaken.


You can see from the highlight in the eye and grass by the hoof that this image was a pretty good capture. There are variations of how the detail sharpening can be done and other adjustments but this image needs nothing that would be considered out of the ordinary.

Grahame

[selig1656]

pic two does have a bit more to it , the subjects almost seem to blend into one.

[AlbionMan]

Again, many thanks for the constructive advice.
The original is as it downloaded from the camera, with no adjustments... previously I have done very little PP on images, that is one of the areas I am particularly keen to learn more of and develop... I appreciate all of the comments, and yes I clearly see the improvements... I will be working on these points over the weekend on this image and a few others taken around the same time.

and yes, lovely to have animals that will pose... the deer at Bradgate often give the impression they are trained to do so!!!

[jcuknz]

If I had been fortunate enough to get this pleasant shot I would complete the job by the crop to concentrate on the deer and from the bottom to 'bring them closer'. Since the deer in front is looking left it is placed central as that gives a slight directional balance.Then following the tip from Grahame I placed an adjustment layer/curves over it and adjusted the end points inwards. Quite a bit of sharpening [ 'Sharpen more' rather than just 'sharpen' ] and I have this ....

Plus of course a small off white border to complete the job for this venue.