deer nap

[Thomas Stellwag]

 - in the summer house

 - under trees

I am not sure if these pics work, so critique is welcome

[jgould2]

Two great shots Thomas.  I was afraid they would be closeups of a deer's hide 

JIM

[pluton]

Two great shots Thomas. 

JIM

+1.  One could wish for the deer in the group shot to stand out a bit more from their surroundings, but doing so through tonal manipulation in post would probably look bad. The shot is already a very cool document as is.

[ColinM]

Great images Thomas.

The first one reminds me of a Larson cartoon

[Thomas Stellwag]

thank you Jim, Keith and Colin for looking and commenting.
I tried to do a colour version of no 2, but it isn´t working -ground and animal havenearly the same tone

[PeterN]

Hi Thomas,
Let me share my two cents..
First I should say that you have made a regular scene look very interesting!
To me no. 1 shows the most potential. One wonders why the deer seeks shelter. What also works nicely is the deer’s silhouette against the lighter background. However, when I look at the photo my eye is drawn to the lighter area in the lower part first. As it does not lead me to the main subject, it is somewhat distracting. Besides cropping I do not know how to solve this because I like the positioning of the barn and it’s interaction with the leaves. B&W works well.
I am less certain about no. 2. Although the peaceful scene and the composition work very well (with its diagonal line of deer) there is no main attention point. Perhaps the deer in front but some emphasis would have helped (e.g.sun light directly on the deer)the deer). It looks somewhat flat now. A flash may have helped but would have scared the deer.
These are just my initial thoughts. People with far better assessment skills than me probably have much better and different  remarks and advice.
Thanks for sharing!

[Airy]

Two unusual, interesting pics indeed.

First one looks mysterious and speaks for itself. There seems to be some slight camera shake, but what the heck.

Concerning the deers not standing out on the second one, I'd try to lower contrast and acutance, maybe selectively, to reduce the relative impact of vegetation (which is fine-structured). The same processing could also be applied to the first one.

[Thomas Stellwag]

Thanks a lot Peter and Airy for your comments

@ Peter  you are right about the foreground in pic one, I tried to darekn ist, then the whole image gets too dark imo, if you cut it off, the view doesn´t show any more a deer a the nap, it turns into a a voeuyeristic kind if picture - I will try again, thanks  (time is my problem atm)

the group was too far away for flash, I am not happy with the colour version, even I would prefer it here - this red brown of the deers and of our sandstone ground is the same, togethr with the new green were are getting kitsch in colours - garden gnome like

@ Airy     you might be right, will check Exif for the exposure time used. I am an enemy of Auto Iso, sometimes it strikes back. As well I will work on your suggestions for pic 2 - let´s see if i am able to follow it for an improovement - thanks

[Randy Stout]

Thomas:

I find #1 thought provoking, but appreciate the foreground issue.

Quick pass with neutral density gradient inferiorly.  A little customizing with a mask to tweak the effect.  You could do a better job on the original, but I think it is worth playing with. 

Cheers

Randy

[Thomas Stellwag]

Hi Randy, thanks for taking the time to do this modification. I am on the road for my job, no end to be seen.
With your modification the foreground is better, but the overall picture seems too dark for me.
This is for sure a matter of taste. With nap I mean a short sleep during noon,
what is not presented by a night scene...and there the trouble starts 
How to show that it is 1-2 pm?