Alfoto336699

Brothers-in-Arms

2 Young Stags during the rutting season..........friends....but for how long

2 Young Stags during the rutting season..........friends....but for how long
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Nov, 2014

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796

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+67

Awards

Curator's Choice

Peer Award

+22

Superb Composition

+12

Top Choice

+11

Absolute Masterpiece

Outstanding Creativity

All Star

Superior Skill

Magnificent Capture

Genius

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Okay boys; back to the battle... the photo op is done.... :).... Nice catch

Cheers Jeff! I think one of my wellies made a creeking noise and they turned to look : - )

Superb catch!

Amazing capture! Congrats.

Premium

Great shot!

As always alf; amazing

PRO+

Congrats on your 'BTL' Badge and for winning Curator's Choice in November of 2014! Alf ! An amazing capture that must have had you enthralled when you realized what an amazing shot you achieved!!! I love the beautiful patterns that lens makes when at the Aperture you used - Lovely!!! What magnificent beasts!

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Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took the photo at Tatton Park, Knutsford UK It is a beautiful deer park, with a lot of natural looking habitat (over 1000 acres) and wild area's for the deer to roam. The autumn rutting season time of the year is perhaps the best time to catch them, not only can you study thei behaviour, but the surrounding vegetation colours are also very pleasing.

Time

I took the photo shortly after 9.00 am when the park opens. The deer are usually packed closer together and there is significantly less likelyhood of inadvertently getting any other photographers or other park visitors in the frame at this time.

Lighting

The lighting was fairly even, and that is fairly typical winter lighting, the 9.00 am light in winter tends not to be too harsh, and when following wild animals you are never sure of where you will end up in relation to the sun, and so fortune smiled upon me with the lighting.

Equipment

I used a Nikon D800 Camera and a Sigma 150 - 500 mm lens, I also used a tripod, but leave the tripod controls loose to enable lateral and verical movement whilst having the benefit of supporting the lens. Whilst this image isn''t cropped at all, the D800 RAW files are sufficiently large enough to enable a crop without losing any quality in the image

Inspiration

I had seen a friends photographs of early morning deer taken at Richmond Park near London, and I had visited Tatton park on this particular morning in the hope that there would be some mist or fog. Of course that just wasn't to be, but I followed a large group of deer for about 20 minutes taking a number of shots, none of which I was particularly pleased with. I then noticed these two deer wandering away from the rest of the herd, and I decided to follow them at a distance. To my surprise and delight they must have sensed my presence and turned in unison to look at me, and I took the shot

Editing

I processed the RAW file in Adobe Lightrom 4.4 with some sharpening, slight increase in vibrance and + 19 contrast. I then completed the processing in CS6 with adjustment to "levels" and a slight increase in saturation and re-sizing and final sharpening.

In my camera bag

My bag is far too heavy, but I can't leave home without my Sigma 150 - 500 mm used here, my Nikon 14 - 24 mm wide angle lens (superb for landscapes) and my Nikon 24 - 70 mm a ood all round lens. Cleaning kit, a variety of ND Filters and grads and plenty of clean lens cloths (undergrowth and damp conditions can easilly fog your lens up this time of year)

Feedback

My advice to others trying to capture something similar, is firstly get there early as possible, wear dull clothing that will blend in with your surroundings. Try and resist the temptation to wear strong aftershave or perfume. Make sure you have a full battery and plenty of space on your memory card. Be prepared to take a lot of photo's and do a lot of walking. Be very patient, but most of all enjoy the experience!

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Brothers-in-Arms

2 Young Stags during the rutting season..........friends....but for how long

Behind The Lens

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