Roe buck Capreolus capreolus UK

[Stuart Philpott]

• S.M.Philpott
• S.M.Philpott
• Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 (Windows)

For a long long time now I have wanted to grab a simply frame filling portrait for our native Roe deer. Me being me for some reason it had to be a boy . Roe are largely solitary,they aren't a parkland deer,where one can go and sit and play with relatively tame individuals,they are a wild native and hence can be tricky to get close too . I'm out after hares early this week and spotted this guy feeding by a hedge. The saddest bit for me was my lady couldn't watch me as I had to park up out of sight of him. They can be so flightly that at times even a vehicle slowing will make them move. This was a classic stu :2eyes2: deer stalk the first part covered incredibly quickly,using cover,that last 75yards took an hour or so.,every movement measured. By the time I was in view of him he'd settled for a nap,crawling through nettles for cover I was incredibly glad that all of me was covered including my face. I played the usual game of firing off shots early to get him settled with the shutter noise,had the wind and light (yippee) in my favour and one small obstruction,a hare. It's ironic all those hours spent on hares gave me the skillset to gentley move the hare on,a somewhat risky undertaking,but there was no choice. The buck stood up to see what bothered the hare,but all was good and with time he settle and I was fiinally able to move out a bit and finally grab some more unobstructed frames of him dozing at the base of the hedge .

Roe can be curious, he got up and now being so much higher than me lying on the floor became aware I was there,so slowly circled and got closer and closer.I made this one with my feet and upper body at right angles to each other still lying down,I must of looked like some form of contortionist:bg3:, as he came round me no easy thing walking on elbows,my framing suffered but I grabbed a few that aren't too bad.

Steve and Stu Bowie encouraged me to try AV mode,I stuck to their advice but here with a chance like this and light to play with wasn't completely comfortable and in the heat of the moment,notched the wrong dial leading to the exp being slightly hotter than I would have liked. At this stage I certainly don't like using auto iso in AV,the camera chooses lower SS and iso than I want,but I've figured that if I set the iso manually and then add in EXP comp things seem to work better for me. AS I say early days well my first ever day, fun to try this though,although I still wish this chance had of come while I was a bit more familiar,with AV,i've shot M from the off.

As usaul the bulk of the work done in DPP, WB reduce exp colours cloned dust bunnies NR at default moved into PS then used layers and select subject while masking to add some depth via curves to the buck and sharpening. NO crop image is full frame.
Canon 1div 400DO ii 1.4 ext iii

1/1250 f8 iso 3200 AV mode which might be a shame. He moved from shade and I also feel the light brightened during his approach,I feel I would have squeezed more from the SS if in M,but you'll tell me if this has ruined the frame. If so a real shame ,because these chances are few and hard won,so my next chance might be a long time coming,we'll see. NB FP is again placed slightly high my bad ,ha ha I was a complete nervous wreck after this,a really intense encounter,I get too wrapped up in the moment:e3 when he left I lay on my back for five mins trying to remember how to breath ,so funny:bg3:

Thanks for all the thoughts and encouragement, on my previous images.
take care all
stu

PS The buck is in the early stages of molt,in fact one can actually see hairs literally falling off him ,for those that don't know this species you can just start to see that vibrant orange of their summer coat above his eyes

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Stu, love looking buck, with a 'cool' inquisitive look to camera. You were extremely close if this was FF and I'm glad you kept the posting FF, personally the hint of leg works. Techs look OK for what appears to be a nice day, nothing blown and the blacks a just shy of the LHS. I think f/8 was perhaps just on the cusp, any closer and you may have runout of DoF albeit a fraction. I still feel the neck would have more detail with that DoF, but until we know if the lens is a fraction front focusing it's hard to say. If it was me, I might just up the Greens a bit, it adds some more to the BKG I think, but again personal tastes.

Steve and Stu Bowie encouraged me to try AV mode,I stuck to their advice but here with a chance like this and light to play with wasn't completely comfortable and in the heat of the moment,notched the wrong dial leading to the exp being slightly hotter than I would have liked.

The reason being Stu you don't have the full potential in M mode and I used to shoot AV mode for a long time then changed and with the move in technology it's easier I think to shoot in M mode. Providing things weren't blown, being a tad hotter isn't an issue as you can pull that back in PP, it's when it's under exposed that you need to worry.

TFS
Steve

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Stu, love looking buck, with a 'cool' inquisitive look to camera. You were extremely close if this was FF and I'm glad you kept the posting FF, personally the hint of leg works. Techs look OK for what appears to be a nice day, nothing blown and the blacks a just shy of the LHS. I think f/8 was perhaps just on the cusp, any closer and you may have runout of DoF albeit a fraction. I still feel the neck would have more detail with that DoF, but until we know if the lens is a fraction front focusing it's hard to say. If it was me, I might just up the Greens a bit, it adds some more to the BKG I think, but again personal tastes.



The reason being Stu you don't have the full potential in M mode and I used to shoot AV mode for a long time then changed and with the move in technology it's easier I think to shoot in M mode. Providing things weren't blown, being a tad hotter isn't an issue as you can pull that back in PP, it's when it's under exposed that you need to worry.

TFS
Steve

Hey Steve,cheers for the reply. Yes 100% full frame...NO IF !!! Yes very close,me an animals buddy what can I say:w3. I agree I was thankful for that bit of leg.

Steve I trust your advice if you suggest AV I'm going to explore, AV to the best that I can. You have put alot of time and effort,into trying to get me going it's appreciated. Being a brit you also know that this type of image with Roe, not from a hide is pretty hard won..... they don't give one many chances like this. I'm glad you popped in the note about dof,that's what I was trying to do,but went for the wrong wheel,in the heat of the moment. I'm chuffed my thought process was in the right direction ,even if my execution wasn't,simply because of my lack of experience in AV mode. I can see why you pointed me towards this

When you say I don't have the full potential in M,you mean because I can't use auto ISO and EXP comp in M with my 1Div??

Exp was hot Steve,few small blown areas on muzzle,tip of horns, 255 across the board sadly, I'm not so concerned on the sky,it is what it is I have pulled things back to the best of my ability. I understand why boosting EXP is not good,by definition I also boost noise.

I'll stick at AV for a while and keep exploring I've understood what you and Stu were trying to point me towards,my execution wasn't good enough in this case because it's so new to me simple as!!!!

I'm going to have a dig into mfa in a moment and recheck...... Steve,you thought the camera was back focusing,not front in my backlit hare image recently posted,hence the hare's head wasn't as sharp as one would desire,add in the comments you made and here and in the hare post I don't think typo???..............regardless, I'll check the mfa anyway always worth being as sure as I can be (with my given ability) that things are set up right:5 This is very very important

Thanks mate,just the greens re colour.......... great stuff

cheers

stu

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Stu, firstly no need to always copy the thread of reply, just reply. :S3:

Those wee spots not a problem, it could be shine, or water etc, those are not an issue.

RE AV, yes and really I would persevere.

It's just a hunch about the focusing, I have to trust if you say where the FP is, as i know trying to send me a Raw would be impossible at present.

Good luck.

 

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stu - Quite a lovely frame with excellent eye contact. Your field craft and patience once again paid off. At first I thought the antlers were broken with their white tips sort of dissolving into the sky.

I am curious when you say you can't use EC in M with the 1DIV. I never had or used that body but doesn't it have an exposure level indicator/metering strip when looking through the viewfinder so that you can adjust EC through your adjustments of the exp triangle (ss, aperture and ISO)?

TFS,
Rachel

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Fair comment:bg3:

All seems well with the ext's and mfa, Steve,we've spent the afternoon going through all,bare lens a tweak to -3,no adjustment needed at all with the 1.4 and 2X extiii's. We used Arash's method .....to the best of my ability the gear is fine .
all failings mine buddy wouldn't have it any other way:w3
Cheers muchly,if nowt else this adds confidence,very worth going through it again for me

take care

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Thanks Rachel, they are such lovely deer,we have six species in our country,but only the Red (similar to your Elk /wapiti sp? ) and Roe are natives. All the others brought here over the years,some like fallow a very very long time ago,others Reeves Muntjac,Chinese and Sikka more recent additions.He's mature, I think,although maybe his antlers will get a bit bigger as he ages. They don't have the bigger type antler of say your elk,we call those youngsters prickets in their first year,they have a similar head to this guy but develop to be much more impressive Roe are smaller around 4' I guess.

It's EC with auto iso Rachel, specifically in M (manual) that's the bit that foxed me and seems to be missing ,I believe it's in place in later cameras. With AV it seems all good. I hope I'm correct here. Steve and Stu(Bowie) have opened up a little doorway here for me,as I feel this is going to help me with my EXP's especially. I feel I might have done sllightly better here in M,but that's mainly because of familiarity. I've deliberately gone the M route from the off to constantly reinforce my techs,it suits me as you know i'm a scatter brain, I need to those techs banging into my head. But with you guys helping me along I'm starting to know what techs I'd like to aim for now so this AV mode could be very useful.

I think I'm getting there Rachel and think I have understood everything correctly. As always someone will put me straight if not,it's that honestly I've always cherished here

thanks again

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve,we've spent the afternoon going through all,bare lens a tweak to -3,no adjustment needed

Who's been lending a hand there StU? Forget about the extenders they just magnify, you should have gone to number 5 at least, but hey.
So all captures were taken into DPP and viewed as RAWS with NO manipulations and there was no difference?

OK

 

[Stuart Philpott]

My lady Steve,we are two peas same pod all but inseperable,we've been together since childhood:bg3: She is with me (almost) all the time making images aswell,She has the most amazing eyesight she's such an asset spots everything,even before I got her binos. It's such a shame she's being ravaged by arthritis she can't even hold a small camera,sadly
Steve we followed this..........

http://arihazeghiphotography.com/MA-web/

imported Raws at each stage all seems good,but that will always be qualified by me, being me lol. I'm as sure as I can be Steve,I'll always deffer to folks that I know, know better,but yup I feel it's right

 

[John Mack]

Always enjoy a good deer image. I also thought the antlers were broken but i guess not. Composition and detail is nice. Looks like you were close to this guy.

 

[Stuart Philpott]

Yeah very close John,but then if I get my bit right they come to me like the hares I guess,it's knowing how to work the angles I suppose. Let them know enough to know you are there but not so much to scare them. Mind it causes me all manner of problems when I get it right as I still don't expect it and shoot with a prime,so framing becomes difficult,I should be prepared by now I've been doing that side for a lifetime,but I'm simply not. Happened again tonight ,but no light,still the fella came a long way to me

Yes, very very different antlers, John, the buck pictured,is an adult,but not fully mature I suspect

many thanks

stu