Curious
Mar, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The backyard of our old house in North Potomac, MD opened onto an undeveloped forest park. Throughout the year, all kinds of animals and birds visited my backyard, but especially deer. At any time of the year, I would see as many as ten deer grazing there.Time
This photo was taken late in the afternoon, around 4 pm.Lighting
When I shoot animals, I mostly use natural lighting to keep from getting pink eye. The colors are not as saturated during the period 10:00 am to around 4:00 pm, so I often do a little manipulation of saturation and contrast. In this one, though, I only cropped a bit - no changes were made to the lighting. It was a partly cloudy day, so I didn't get the harsh washed out light I often get.Equipment
Canon PowerShot SX10IS.Inspiration
I always tried to get photos of all the animals that visit my backyard, or the edge of the forest behind my house, especially the deer, because they roam through the community at night. I've been documenting the various animals (including one piebald fawn that hung around almost a year before disappearing) in the area to show the variety of animal life that exists right under our noses in the suburbs of the national capital.Editing
I cropped this one a little to remove a dark tree trunk on the left and to better frame the front part of the animal. Other than that, this is what the camera captured.In my camera bag
I had three cameras, but after a fire destroyed our house and all my equipment, I now have only one, an EOS Canon Rebel T7. In addition, I have a remote shutter release for slow speed shots, a tripod, and a set of UV filters of differing densities.Feedback
Patience is key to shooting any animal. Deer are skittish, and any sudden movements will send them running. The ones who come to my backyard got used to me after a few weeks, and I was able to get quite close. Same with the butterflies. Birds, rabbits, fox, and the like are another kettle of fish. It's impossible to get close so you have to use a long lens if you want to fill the frame with the creature. I spend time watching their movement and feeding patterns, and then figure out where I have to position myself to get the shot I want without spooking them. Oh, and I shot lots of pictures. You'll seldom get the shot you want the first, or even the twenty-first time, but the nice thing about digital photography is that you can just slip in a new card or delete and start over. A word of caution: animals with babies, even deer, will fight if cornered and their young are threatened. I once had a male rhino in Zimbabwe stalk me and a group of gang wardens, facing off with us until the cow and calf had a chance to get away. In that case, getting a lot of shots was out of the question, so I got the best shot I could and vacated the area. Same goes for rhinos, elephants and lions; you don't want to get too close, especially if they have young, or in the case of rhinos, getting between them and the water is not something you want to do. I try to get animals in action, possible if you're in a large area, but in my backyard, they're mostly feeding, so I have to wait until they raise their heads to move, or spot me and watch me to see what I'm planning to do. I once eased up to within ten feet of a curious young deer and got one shot before it decided enough was enough and ran away. Same thing happened with this young doe. She stood there watching me as I moved closer--very, very slowly--I got to within eight or ten feet and she stood still until I tripped the shutter. By the time I was prepared to get a second shot, she was off--like a shot.
