Deer - C&C please

[Brownbear]

I photographed this deer on Vancouver island one morning (very early morning and I think it is back lit)... It was underexposed so I have processed in LR, increasing the exposure and lightening the shadows.


Aperture priority, F4, iso 400, matrix metering

I like the image because the deer is very cute and I especially like his/her ears so I'm trying to see what I can do with editing to see what types of photos one can work with, or not...

The first photo was denoised (light in topaz trial) and the 2nd wasn't.





C&C most appreciated, and I would really like to know whether I have over processed this photo by lightening the shadows so much.

Thank you.

[Digital]

Christina, maybe it is my eyes; however the deer do not seem to be in good focus.

Bruce

[Brownbear]

Hi Bruce,
I'm not sure but I suspect you are correct, as something is not quite right, and I thought it was the lighting, but they do look soft. I only had a moment to capture the shot, and I think it is just an opportunity I missed.

Thank you for your honest feedback. Truly appreciated.

[Digital]

Hi Bruce,
I'm not sure but I suspect you are correct, as something is not quite right, and I thought it was the lighting, but they do look soft. I only had a moment to capture the shot, and I think it is just an opportunity I missed.

Thank you for your honest feedback. Truly appreciated.

Christina, another possibility is that if you underexposed your subject, and if you attempt to increase the exposure to much you introduce noise.

Bruce

[Jim B.]

Hi Christina,

Nice shot. For me, it's still too underexposed. Hope you don't mind.
I tweaked your image a bit. Took it into ACR and gave it a medium contrast curve.
Also used exposure adjustment brush and raised exposure on the deer 1/2 stop.
Slight sharpening. As always, you will get better results working on the RAW.
Jim

[Brownbear]

Thank you Jim. It looks much sharper... I'm still learning to edit, and practicing on my photos as a learning tool, so this is very helpful for me to see.

I managed to get real close to the deer but I made the mistake of using aperture priority which resulted in too low a shutter speed, and less than sharp focus, or movement blur.

Bruce, yes it was underexposed. For future I think I will figure out how to set my camera settings on the saved settings so I am ready for unexpected sightings. I have a bunny rabbit, too which is also not so sharp. (:

[Mike Buckley]

aperture priority which resulted in too low a shutter speed

Your thought process is misleading, Christina. Using aperture priority in and of itself has nothing to do with a shutter speed that is too slow or too fast.

If you used a shutter speed that is too slow, that happened because you didn't control it. You had the option of using aperture priority and Auto ISO, which allows you to set the minimum shutter speed. Alternatively, as you learned recently in another thread, you could have set your aperture and shutter speed in manual mode and used Auto ISO to ensure that the exposure was what you wanted. My point is that both options provide the ability to choose the ideal aperture while also ensuring that your shutter speed is fast enough to stop the action and hold the camera steady enough.

[Steve S]

Christina, I agree with mike.

The problem is you took a backlit shot, and didn't use your exposure compensation.

The camera was fooled by the backlighting and the image was underexposed. Often times on a backlit shot, you have to use +1 1/3 EC or greater, to keep from underexposing the shot. (difficult lighting, is a good time to use spot metering and expose it at +1/3EC or there abouts---use your histograms to confirm) If you then needed shutter speed, the ISO should have been increased to get the desired shutter speed.

[terrib]

Hi Christina. I think Aperture Priority is the right choice in this case. I choose Aperture Priority for portraits because the depth of field is what is important. I agree, if you have a way to save various user settings with your camera then you should. Save one for BIF and save one for portraits. With BIF, the shutter speed is probably paramount. With portraits, DOF is more important and you should be able to meet a minimum shutter speed as Mike suggests with Auto ISO (if you have a Nikon camera) or by setting a high enough ISO to meet a minimum shutter speed you need to handhold your camera. With Canon, we can't set minimum shutter speed but if ISO is set to Auto, the camera generally tries to set shutter speed above the 1/focal length "rule". Hope this makes sense.

Also, I use spot metering and adjust +/- compensation according to the situation. This, though, seems to be a personal preference. Whatever works for you. If you know how your camera acts, you can adjust compensation from matrix metering also. It just takes practice to know what it's going to do in different situations.

[Brownbear]

Thank you to Mike, Steve and Terry

Yes, Mike I typed my thoughts too soon.. This shot is from earlier this month and it is just this past week or two that I have been experimenting with auto iso, ie; I didn't know then what I know now. I could've switched to manual but at the time I didn't have enough time to think so fast.

Steve, Back lit ! I thought so.. thank you for confirming... The next time the opportunity arises for sure I will use spot metering and exposure compensation.

Terri... Great and very helpful advice which I will put to use. Yes, my camera has settings I can save but I have yet to try them out but will do, soon. Thank you.

[Cantab]

...I use spot metering and adjust +/- compensation according to the situation.

I usually do something similar to what Terri does -- as long as there isn't a need to grab a shot in a hurry. Take a spot or partial spot reading off the primary subject or sometimes something neutral (green grass, grey card, etc), decide/guess what adjustment needs to be made then manually adjust aperture, shutter and/or ISO. If things are going to happen in a hurry: set aperture and shutter speed, select auto ISO and hope for the best.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina,

With respect to the focus and exposure I'll make the following to add to those already mentioned with regard to this image.

a) Focus, as has already been mentioned Auto ISO is a useful option to use in Aperture Priority to ensure you retain a decent minimum shutter speed when taking subjects such as skittish animals.

c) Metering, I would have thought for this image that spot metering would have been the best option. Personally I would have focused on the head (eyes) and then immediately locked focus and metering, quickly re-compose and shoot. I say this because there's a high probability you may only get one chance of the shot. Whilst it's always possible to adjust exposure compensation due to the lighting problems the time taken to do this may lose you the shot.

By the way, good capture and I like the framing.

Grahame

[Mike Buckley]

With Canon, we can't set minimum shutter speed but if ISO is set to Auto, the camera generally tries to set shutter speed above the 1/focal length "rule".

I remember when you enlightened me about that a long time ago. Does that limitation apply to even the more advanced Canon cameras?

When very quickly trying to find the answer to that question myself, I stopped when I came upon this article about firmware update 2.0 to your 7D that was released a year ago. I hope you and others who had only the earlier firmware have installed it. I am really impressed with the features and capabilities that were added including an improved Auto ISO capability. I don't remember anything of such magnitude being added to the firmware updates for any of my Nikon cameras, though that could be explained by the fact they were built well in the first place.

[Mike Buckley]

MODERATORS: Please feel free to delete this duplicate post. Clicking the "Delete" button and then the "Delete Post" button is only providing much needed exercise for my thumb.

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With Canon, we can't set minimum shutter speed but if ISO is set to Auto, the camera generally tries to set shutter speed above the 1/focal length "rule".

I remember when you enlightened me about that a long time ago. Does that limitation apply to even the more advanced Canon cameras?

When very quickly trying to find the answer to that question myself, I stopped when I came upon this article about firmware update 2.0 to your 7D that was released a year ago. I hope you and others who had only the earlier firmware have installed it. I am really impressed with the features and capabilities that were added including an improved Auto ISO capability. I don't remember anything of such magnitude being added to the firmware updates for any of my Nikon cameras, though that could be explained by the fact they were built well in the first place.

[davidedric]

Hi Christina,

I well understand the problems in grabbing wildlife shots. For me, movement blur is the killer, because you just can't pp it out. So if I'm on a wildlife shoot, I set my Tv to a suitably high shutter speed, probably 1/800 or 1/1000 (I don't have any custom modes), and let the conditions dictate ISO and exposure. I'd probably also be using spot metering. I will probably be using Av or P for most shots, so when the opportunity arises I have a go-to configuration ready set. I know this won't satisfy everyone, but I find it's pretty reliable, and knowing I can just turn the dial and shoot gets me shots I would certainly have missed.

[Brownbear]

Thank you Bruce, Grahame and Dave for sharing some great advice and tips. The next time I find a deer and/or backlit wildlife I will be well prepared.

I always learn something new when I post on this forum. Thank you to all.

[jamn4ex]

What a great subject! but like birds deer get addictive. 1 good thing about deer, they are a lot bigger! Christina the way you improved so quickly on your birds I think you will do real well with larger mammals.

[Brownbear]

Thank you James.. Now if only someone would invite me along as an apprentice to photograph the Big Five in Africa... I am up for the practice!

[davidedric]

Now if only someone would invite me along as an apprentice to photograph the Big Five in Africa... I am up for the practice!

Well, I'm off there next month, but sadly only for the Big Four. The rhinos are gone, as they say locally they died of lead poisoning - i.e. they were shot! Also, the weight limit is only 12kg, so I doubt I can slip you in the bag .

Incidentally, there are no deer in Africa, only antelope. Here's an example of a red lechwe, a water loving species from Zambia. Apologies if I have hijacked the thread.

Dave

P.S. By and large, the Big Five move pretty slowly. Much easier subjects

[Brownbear]

First off thank you for hijacking my thread, and if you have more photos like this please post... It's gorgeous!

I'm very sad to hear about the rhino, hopefully the elephants will survive the ivory trading. (:

I will do my best to lose about 40-45 kg in a months time. Visiting Africa is a dream... Enjoy your time there. I'm very much looking forward to seeing your photos!