francislalonde

Just Take the Picture

Deer sighted along a trail at Bay City State Park, Michigan

Deer sighted along a trail at Bay City State Park, Michigan
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DC-FZ80

Aperture 56/10 ISO 3200 Shutter 10/5000 Focal Length 983/10

location

Michigan, US

upload_date

Aug, 2021

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Behind The Lens

Location

I was riding my bicycle along the Tobico Trail Loop at Bay City State Park, Bay County, Michigan. I was heading South (counter-clockwise) when I noticed this deer about ten feet from the trail.

Time

This was about 1:00pm (Eastern), toward the end of my biking trek before I headed home.

Lighting

Natural lighting, with the Sun roughly low overhead, in the direction I was facing - basically shooting *into* the Sun. The tree leaf canopy helped to reduce glare.

Equipment

This was hand-held, since it's difficult to carry much equipment while riding my bicycle. I did have a monopod with me, but I've been trying to wean myself from using it too often. My camera is a Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80. I would never use flash when taking photographs of wildlife.

Inspiration

It's exciting seeing actual wildlife while out and about. And though I'm sure many creatures in the area are use to human presence, it's still tricky to catch good photographs of them. In this case, the deer was extremely close to the trail, and though it seemed to be aware of me, made no effort to run away. That allowed me to stop, slowly raise my camera, and I even had time to fumble around and adjust my settings. Later that day, I posted a quickly edited version along with a description of how it just seemed to actually *pose* for the photograph. A friend commented that, being mid-October, it was possible there were fawns located further away from the trail, and this deer, being a protective parent, was trying to *distract* me from them (side note: I didn't notice any fawns, but I also hadn't bothered looking around, since I was just happy to be getting this photograph). After taking a few photographs, I slowly lowered my camera, mounted my bicycle, and rode away. Glancing back, the deer still was standing there - though appearing to be keeping an eye on me.

Editing

I had just started saving .RAW files, so I started with my software's "RAW Lab" to set the white balance, contrast, saturation and reduce noise. I then take the preliminary file and go through my 'standard' editing: straighten, crop, contrast (again), backlighting, and vibrancy. I then fiddled with the RGB settings. Finally, I zoomed in to see if any sharpening /noise reduction was in order.

In my camera bag

My camera (Panasonic Lumix DC-FZ80), 2 spare batteries, a spare 128 Gb memory card, external battery charge adapter, USB cord (connecting to PC and/or outlet adapter). I also normally will bring along a monopod.

Feedback

1. Do not try to get closer than both you and the wildlife are comfortable with. 2. Do nothing to intentionally scare / startle wildife. If you want to catch an action shot, it's probably best if you're in a static location (camera blind). Scaring creatures could cause them to avoid the area in the future - possibly depriving them of a feeding area, and quite possibly denying future travelers an opportunity to see such wildlife. 3. Do not use flash, since it can / will startle the wildlife, and could cause them to avoid that area in the future. 4. If you are nervous - don't worry, because the wildlife is no doubt nervous as well. That said, try to avoid making any sudden movements. If the creature hasn't seen you as a threat, then you should have plenty of time. If it *does* perceive you as a threat, well, try to grab a couple of quick snaps, hope for the best, then continue onward.

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francislalonde

Just Take the Picture

Deer sighted along a trail at Bay City State Park, Michigan

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow francislalonde

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