I've taken so many deer pictures but this is just the second one I've entered in a challenge. I had tried to capture a bird, an Eastern Phoebe I believe but couldn't get anything that would have scored well.
While I'm sure many will recognize the editing due to my love affair with vignettes and sepias I did try out something different by going with a slightly softer look inspired by SandyP's recent ribbon shot. So if it doesn't do well I'll just blame her. :P
The usual stuff I do to my images (i.e. curves, dodge/burn, channel mixer and color balance for color, etc). In addition I apply lots of noise reduction (PS version) on the main deer and blended that in so that the fur looked softer while leaving the facial features sharper. This is a bit of a change to how I typically process as normally I like to get the fur very sharp.
*Post*
Thank you everyone for your votes, comments and favs. Win, lose or draw it was a fun week.
Outtakes:
Statistics
Place: 6 out of 218 Avg (all users): 7.5100 Avg (commenters): 8.4902 Avg (participants): 7.4455 Avg (non-participants): 7.5603 Views since voting: 7735 Views during voting: 581 Votes: 251 Comments: 81 Favorites: 24 (view)
Congratulations on your Top 10 placement. I actually thought the fox picture might be yours because of your recent ribbon winning cat picture which I loved! This wildlife photo of the deer is so outstanding...!!! Your contribution to this horse race made this challenge incredibly exciting to watch! I was very suprised this photo didn't make into the Top 3.
Congratulations on your placement! I thought that this one should have definitely ribboned though. I was sure that this was yours since the beautiful processing reminded me so much of your recent "Llama Llama" shot. Really excellent work on this!
Most excellent composition, with the perfect crop and OOF background with that one dear to the right. I like the toning and darkened corners here too. The detail is a little short but the expression captured and the shot as a whole just rocks! 8)
came back to bump to 9...still not sure about the vignetting, but I love the eye contact and the sepia and the deer in the bg...good luck, I reckon you'll be in the top 10
This is a marvelously effective composition and nicely titled. If you haven't already, please do note how you achieved the effect. My membership level doesn't allow me to vote, but if I could this would be a 10.
Really like the fading around the edges and the muted colours, they make the deer really stand out. The dof is amazing, it took me a minute to see the other deer but it helps to make this an outstanding entry. Good luck with this I am sure you will do very well!
could be great, but again post processing murders it.....
be calm on the post processing, get the shot right first....
so much lost potential in this great comp.
Great capture and the other deer softly in the background really add to this scene. I spent the whole week trying to find a deer for this challenge and only ended up with one out of focus shot becase of rushing. Congrats
This reminds me of a fav by yanko. Love that you can see the other deer in the background. They always have such cautious inquisitive expressions. I like the deepening of the shadow around the edge to pull the eye right to that sweet face. Bumping up.
Very nice. Was this done with HDR techniques? It almost looks as tho it was. The focus is centered right on the deer and her huge, dreamy eyes, and once your eyes wander to the background, they find interesting shapes back there too. Again, very nice and scoring high. Finished with a frame would score higher :) 9
When I started voting last night, this actually didn't show up at all. It's a good thing I reconsidered checking.
OH MY GOODNESS! This is one of the best capture of a deer that I have seen in my life. I hope to see this getting the BLUE RIBBON. Great texture on the deer, superb DOF but still managing to retain the details of the second deer on the right. Color treatment and lighting are also amazing. GREAT WORK!
WOW!!!! This is perfection, the DOF is amazing, good luck with this, i hope this places in top 3..most beautiful catchlights I've seen in a very long time... Title is perfect... I LOVE this shot! A rare 10!!
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