Deer Carcass - Newbie Help

Hey everyone, these are some shots of a deer carcass that lay sprawled out in the ridiculously dense and dark pine woods at the back of our home in the Trossachs. I took these today, day three of owning the K-30 which was purchased from srsmicrosystems (fantastic customer service) and day two of owning the 18-55mm wr purchased from Renster (fantastic service, next day delivery!). I realise the image quality suffers because of the dark environment and high iso/slowness of lens, but I'd still like a bit of feedback on how I may improve it in similar situations. Also, any recommendations on the post-processing would be very helpful. Have I over-saturated? Thanks.

Pentax K-30
Pentax 18-55mm WR
ISO: 3200
Focal: 24-28ish
Shutter: 1/40 seconds
Aperture: f/4.5

[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8089/8541968251_3b83098cac_h.jpg[/img]

[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8233/8541974095_ea4a2286fc_h.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8226/8543063340_5023863502_h.jpg[/IMG]

Personally I don't mind ISO3200 shots, but if you want a low ISO< then no harm in using a tripod. gorillapod, bean bag, etc. I'm sure the deer carcass isn't goign to complain about remain perfectly still while you take you 3second exposure

As for processing, that's entirely subjective, but if it were me I'd run an adjustment brush over the ckull and boost it by a 1.3 of a stop or so to bring it out ofthe background a bit

btw - spooky looking location. I keep waiting for the knights who no longer say "Ni!", but nosay "Ecky ecky ecky ecky ftang zoopboooiiingeruroigh..." to appear in the mist Ni!

Thanks for the advice. I'm planning on getting a tripod, but I think I'll practice a bit before making any more purchases! There's so much to buy.

Hmm, I'm using lightroom, what setting will bring it out of the background? I've used the brush before, but not much.

It is very spooky! The conifer plantations run right up the hill and over to the other side, and it's awfully gloomy. There's then a bit of natural forest and a large 30m drop into the gorge below. Hopefully I can get some more interesting material to show you guys