Fallow Deer From Randalstown

[martinastro]

Visited Randalstown Forest yesterday in Co. Antrim  to image some of the local Fallow Deer. I wasn't disappointed because there where plenty of them about, both male and female. Took a few images with the 300mm 'slow' lens but couldn't get any closer. There's a great Owl sanctuary nearby which I want to visit again.

[jgs001]

Very nice set of shots of the deer Martin.

[martinastro]

Thanks very much for the comment John!

[JohnMurphy]

Very nice Martin, you are so lucky to have a chance to do that kind of shot. Aren't telephoto lenses great. Really nice compositions on those shots, a bit more saturation in post processing would really make them come alive and make the greens and browns jump out at you, give it a bash. Winter light is never the easiest to work in and it sometimes needs all the help it can get. Sorry if I'm over stepping the mark here but I took the liberty of tweaking one of your images to show the effect of a little bit of extra saturation, and reducing the brightness a tad.

I'll get me coat if you like......

[martinastro]

You are not over stepping the mark at all John.  I think you done a great job on the image and really brought it to life. I will keep that in mind for the future. My camera doesn't detect colour very well, it certainly never matches the naked eye view anyway. Good job with the image. Tele photos are great, I would love to get a fixed 400mm..that would be nice!

[JohnMurphy]

Pheew - wasn't sure if I'd done the right thing there.
If you shot the image in RAW, try adjusting the colour balance, use a warmer setting like cloudy or shade rather than the camera default setting. Your images are fantastic and have everything built into them already (you have a great eye for a good pic, your framing is excellent, focus and everyting else is excellent) you can get so much more out of them with a little extra pre and post processing. Winter is always a tough time to shoot because the light is always so grey but you can compensate for this and make your Winter shots really come to life.

[martinastro]

Thanks very much John for the great advice and for the encouragement. You are absolutely rite about the pre-camera set-up and post processing. These are two areas where I'm only learning the foundations at the moment but intend to move up the gears through experience. I shoot in jpeg at the moment but have recently felt the urge to go RAW, I just need to get some RAW conversion spoftware. I'm only using a fully manual bridge camera at the moment with a 28-300mm lens which is great for speed because most of the subjects I like to shoot are moving or require a wide range of zoom at short notice. The camera is extremely versatile but lacks the image quality, light gathering ability, and sharpness of the DSLR with a fixed focal length lens. It's my intention to get a DSLR in the future.

I have kept the white balance on auto and altered the final image later but I would like to have some control over it at the capture stage so I'm very glad you suggested seeking the warmer colours which I never thought to do at the time. Thanks again for the good advice, I will give that a go next time. Cheer. 

[Big Dipper]

Splendid shots Martin. I particularly like your composition in that first shot between the deer and the trees.

[JohnC]

You did well Martin, they 're skittish creatures.  No, no, Skittish not Scottish lol.

I think we better all club together and get you this DSLR lol.