Friday, October 26, 2012

Buck Deer in Sunlight

This is a young, 8 point buck whitetail deer.  The antlers were nice but didn't have much mass.  We found him in this meadow shortly after sunrise but the trees around the perimeter kept the meadow in shade for quite a while.  The deer had been much closer to us at one point and we got several nice images.  When the sun finally popped over the trees, however, we got this image of him that stood out from the earlier ones.  His head and antlers show well against the dark woods behind him and his ears are alert as he looks toward the sun.  A peaceful and serene setting.
70-200 lens at 200mm, 1/400 second at f/2.8, ISO 250.  We reduced the exposure slightly when processing the raw file.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Old Buck and Small Buck

These two whitetail deer were found in a meadow shortly after sunrise last week.  The buck on the right is obviously mature with a large set of antlers.  The young deer on the left is actually a "button" buck with two small knobs on the top of his head.  This time of year the older bucks are getting a little testy as they are ready for the does to come into heat.  This young buck seems to be keeping his distance and warily eyeing the larger deer.  This made for a nice composition as both deer are looking inward.
The first rays of sun are visible on the trees in the background but this meadow was still in shade.  Not much light to work with so we had to use a wide aperture.  Not enough depth of field to keep both animals in focus so we kept the focus on the big buck.  Also, we adjusted the color temperature later to warm up the image.
70-200 lens at 135mm, 1/320 second at f/3.2, ISO 800.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Impala Herd Approaching

This herd of impala was approaching a waterhole where we were hidden in a hide (blind).  Our hide was a couple of feet below grade level and this allowed for the low camera angle.  The photo turned out to be one of our favorites from the trip to South Africa.  We were able to get some nice close-up images of many different species but this photo shows the animals on the move.  The impala were wary while approaching and proceeded at a slow walk, giving us time for several shots.  This particular one has a male with nice horns near the front and the horns show well against the darker trees in the background.
400mm lens, 1/800 second at f/5.6, ISO 250.