Deer in the cattails

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Deer in the cattails

November 20, 2012 by Mike Powell

Usually when I see a deer, it turns and runs away, sometimes stopping to gaze back at be from a distance just beyond the range of the lens that I have on my camera at that moment. Recently, however, I encountered a deer that seemed content to look at me as I looked at him. It sounds like a nature photographer’s dream come true.

The biggest challenge was that he was in the middle of a mostly dried-up marshy field full of cattails and other tall growth that made it impossible to get a clear view of the young buck, a white-tailed deer, I believe. It became pretty clear to me that auto-focus was not a viable option—the camera seemed to really want to focus on some arbitrary branch rather than on the deer—so I relied on manual focusing. It was also in the middle of the day, so shadows were pretty harsh. During the protracted period of time that the deer stayed in the same little area, I shot a lot of photos and these are two of my favorites. You’ll note that the deer blends in pretty well with the background. If he had remained absolutely still, I may very well have walked on by without seeing him.

Deer in the cattails

White-tailed buck in a field of cattails

Posted in animals, Landscape, Nature, Photography | Tagged buck, camouflage, Canon 55-250mm zoom lens, Canon Rebel XT, deer, huntley meadows, white-tailed deer | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on November 20, 2012 at 9:31 pm | Reply Victor Rakmil

Your photographs are just great. I look forward to more!
- on November 21, 2012 at 4:51 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I appreciate you positive words and encouragement and will definitely try to keep shooting and posting.
on November 20, 2012 at 10:29 pm | Reply Sue

Wow, good job with the manual focus. That was a difficult field of view!
- on November 21, 2012 at 4:44 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Sue. Putting anything on my camera on manual still scares me a little. Usually I shoot on aperture-preferred mode and make adjustments with the exposure compensation settings. Every now and then, when I want to change something more radically, I will set the aperture and shutter speed manually. It’s a continuous learning process.
on November 21, 2012 at 7:20 am | Reply Ed

Nice looking buck..:-)
- on November 21, 2012 at 8:22 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Ed. Apparently there are too many deer in the park (not that I ever see them) and there are some tree stands in remote areas where archers are thinning out the herd.
on November 21, 2012 at 8:22 am | Reply New Hampshire Gardener

Isn’t nature great?
on November 21, 2012 at 11:52 am | Reply Vicki

wonderful photos.. he is a beauty.