Your best animal shots!

jrista said:
This past summer, while I was photographing birds at one of our local wetland preserves, a fairly large group of female deer, ranging in age from yearlings to several years old and maybe a couple elders, wandered up for a

Beautiful pictures !

(You must have aquired your 5DIII and 300/2.8 to grab those, yes ? ;). )
 
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jrista said:
This past summer, while I was photographing birds at one of our local wetland preserves, a fairly large group of female deer, ranging in age from yearlings to several years old and maybe a couple elders, wandered up for a drink.

They were all around me, and often too close for the 840mm focal length I was using at the time, so I apologize for the tight crops...some of these have had some rotation done to level them, but are otherwise as framed in camera:


Beautiful light in your pictures.
 
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Sporgon said:
jrista said:
This past summer, while I was photographing birds at one of our local wetland preserves, a fairly large group of female deer, ranging in age from yearlings to several years old and maybe a couple elders, wandered up for a

Beautiful pictures !

(You must have aquired your 5DIII and 300/2.8 to grab those, yes ? ;). )

Thanks! And actually, 7D + 600/4 + 1.4x. I was actually photographing birds, and the deer just showed up. I actually wish I hadn't had the TC, as framing was really tight. I was afraid that if I spend the time to remove the TC, though, that I'd miss the deer.

The 5D III is still at the top of my list, and the 300/2.8 is right after that. The 600/4 L II just took everything out of me this year. I am also trying to start two businesses...one to sell my photography, and eventually maybe sell personal photography classes to teach people how to photograph wildlife, birds, and do astrophotography. The other is my main business for developing web sites and maybe doing backend software development. Those have consumed all my time and are consuming all my money...so I don't know when I'll be able to get the 5D III. :-\
 
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Click said:
jrista said:
This past summer, while I was photographing birds at one of our local wetland preserves, a fairly large group of female deer, ranging in age from yearlings to several years old and maybe a couple elders, wandered up for a drink.

They were all around me, and often too close for the 840mm focal length I was using at the time, so I apologize for the tight crops...some of these have had some rotation done to level them, but are otherwise as framed in camera:


Beautiful light in your pictures.

Aye! The light that time of year was just amazing...it was like photonic cream...soft, light yellow, smoothed over everything. Loved it.
 
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Valvebounce said:
Hi Jrista.
That must have been a fabulous experience, shame about being too so close they were inside your minimum zoom range, oh well sometimes it may not be just about he pictures. Great as they are!
My guess for these two pictures is, "Was that a twig or just that bloke with the Canon?" ;D 8)
Regal animals, thanks.

Cheers Graham.

Thanks! :) It was pretty exciting. The young yearlings are always curious. Both the males and the females, when they are only a year old or less, don't fully know to fear humans. So, they will look at you with the most curious of faces, and sneek in closer and closer, until they are maybe 15-20 feet from you. Then they get a little scared, start stomping the ground, and will usually take off, prancing about for a while, before they feel safe enough to come back in for another close look at that odd camo-covered creature making clicking noises (i.e. "Was that a twig or just that bloke with the Canon?"). ;D 8)

As for the lens, no zoom range. It was the EF 600mm f/4 L II prime, with a 1.4x TC attached. To maximize IQ, I've pretty much done away with zooms...too many compromises. The TC costs a little bit in IQ, but with a lens like the 600/4, it is still worlds better than the 100-400mm zoom, for example. I thought about removing the TC, but sometimes deer just move through really fast, and in the time it takes to change out or remove a TC, they can be gone. So, I just took the shots as they occurred.
 
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jrista said:
This past summer, while I was photographing birds at one of our local wetland preserves, a fairly large group of female deer, ranging in age from yearlings to several years old and maybe a couple elders, wandered up for a drink.

All good, but the second Image is just about perfect, lovely background, almost a painterly touch to the Image, really, well done.
 
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eml58 said:
jrista said:
This past summer, while I was photographing birds at one of our local wetland preserves, a fairly large group of female deer, ranging in age from yearlings to several years old and maybe a couple elders, wandered up for a drink.

All good, but the second Image is just about perfect, lovely background, almost a painterly touch to the Image, really, well done.

Thank you, very much. :)

I learned a lot with that photo. One of my favorites. It is slated to take up one of the largest spaces on my wall one of these days (when I can afford to print it.)

I have to say, I learned a lot with that shot. Had to get some very close foreground grass at just the right position in the frame to create a continuous blur. It's an effect I hope to replicate, if I can ever find the time to get back out there... (Hopefully soon...the rut is on!)
 
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One of the regulars in CR asked me to post some of my Images shot with the 300f/2.8 L II, so I've pulled these four as examples of just how well the Lens works on either the 1Dx or the 5DMK III.

I wasn't able to pull up any shot with this Lens + the 1.4x converter, I've tested this Combo and found it's a perfect match, very little degradation viewable, but I very seldom use the combo as I've always had the 400f/2.8 L II as well, now the 200-400f/4.

The 300f/2.8 L II is one of my absolute main stay Lenses, sharp, fast to focus & light.
 

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