These guys are absolutely fearless - come right up to my house and aren't bothered at all by noise. If you've got to eat... Taken from inside my kitchen with 100-400 wide open, ISO 800 due to the fairly low light (some NR applied to make up for that with the 1DMkII). Gorgeous animals, even if they eat all of my flowers and bushes.

Great captures! Was he complaining or burping in the 2nd pic?

cool how did you get them did you set up a camera that takes pics when there is a motion?

Thanks! I'm pretty sure that's a deer smile - I said "say cheese" just before taking the picture, so... Of course it could also be gas.

Cool shots

Garen

Careful, they will have you cooking for them so they have something to go with the free salads you are giving them! Domesticated deer, do you have a swimming pool

Karl

Good colors...especially the rust color on the deer. Since you asked for critique, I would've used higher DOF (smaller aperture) or would try to frame horizontal if it is possible.

Keep shooting...

-- Vivek

Thanks everyone. We keep planting new, and apparently tasty, things for them to eat. Good news is that it will give me more opportunities to shoot them. Bad news - plants ain't cheap! And no, Karl, no swimming pool (unless you count the little kiddie pool...but I wouldn't)

Vivek - thanks for the critique. Did you mean portrait framing for the first two to include the entire body? If so, I see what you mean and I agree. They are all landscape format, just cropped to 8x10 aspect (full height). Also agree about that a greater DOF might have been good to try (though i do like the OOF backgrounds). In this case, I simply didn't have enough light. I didn't want to push the ISO beyond 800 and I wanted to keep the shutter speed up enough to avoid shake at 400mm.

ejos wrote:
Thanks everyone. We keep planting new, and apparently tasty, things for them to eat. Good news is that it will give me more opportunities to shoot them. Bad news - plants ain't cheap! And no, Karl, no swimming pool (unless you count the little kiddie pool...but I wouldn't)

Vivek - thanks for the critique. Did you mean portrait framing for the first two to include the entire body? If so, I see what you mean and I agree. They are all landscape format, just cropped to 8x10 aspect (full height). Also agree about that a greater DOF might have been good to try (though i do like the OOF backgrounds). In this case, I simply didn't have enough light. I didn't want to push the ISO beyond 800 and I wanted to keep the shutter speed up enough to avoid shake at 400mm.


Venison stew!
Oh, I guess you meant shoot them with the camera.

marty

Nice photos of the deer
The high angle looking down on the deer isn't the best angle
It's best to get down to eye level if at all possible but may be impossible as the
deer may not approve

Nice job on these from the angle you had

Ant

May want to be concerned about ticks. May want to try minced garlic to detour them as they don't care for garlic. A couple of tablespoons in the toe of a cotton sock, tied, and hung in the branches of the foliage you don't want eaten. Mom used this method to deter the deer from her apple trees in northern Mn.
Ron

Ant - thanks! I'm actually at or below eye level, but because of the slope behind my house you get the impression that I'm shooting down on them. I do see what you mean, and will try to adjust my angle if possible in the future.

Ron - good thoughts, ticks are definitely a concern. I'll try the garlic. That'll keep both deer and vampires away.

Speaking of ticks...what's that on the buck's forehead in the third shot?

Kevin - that's a fly, here's a 100% crop from a head on shot, same range.