Young Stag's and Hinds

Shot yesterday morning in glorious conditions, a decent frost, minus 4 on leaving home at 5am with a 100 mile drive

All K3ii with Pentax 150 - 450 F4.5 / F5.6 @ 400 ISO and between 330mm and 450 mm.

Well that was worth the trip

Beautiful, muted tones - capturing the early morning mood - all 3 are superb but the last one just has the edge for me

Nice. The second gets my vote

Majestic is the word that comes to mind whenever a stag crosses my path (which happens fairly often where I live). Image #3 is a cracker!

As LennyBloke said, lovely harmonious tones. So, a 100 mile trip to where exactly? Or is it a secret?

As Lennybloke says 'beautiful, muted tones'. nos 2 &3 for me.

Morning Rob

It was Attingham Park on the outskirts of Shrewsbury.

Have you tried Eastnor Chris - I don't the patterns of where/when the Deer are but it's a little closer to you I suspect

Now that's commitment

Number 2 for me, I would have said 3 but the little bit of shrubbery in front spoils it a little (I know it probably couldn't be helped though).

John - Yes, I have tried Eastnor, a fellow tog and I have had special access to the deer via some coded security gates for a few years now and the deer are extremely timid and ultra aware of humans, even thou we've covered up and worn camo, its extremely difficult to get within any decent shooting distance even with a 450mm lens on a crop body.

John - thanks for the comment, unfortunately the shrubbery in the foreground couldn't be avoided and as you can see, they are fully aware of my presence even thou I was 30m+ from them.

No one's gone for my fav, #1 I love the light and the dark BG !!

Inclined to agree with you, the light on his antlers works well. I have a deer park just a mile away with a public footpath running through so access any time (and no bossy wardens at dawn telling you to stay on the path!) Funnily enough when the deer are around the house where visitors congregate they are much more tolerant of humans than in the wilder part.

I always wanted to be a "John", suits me better than Mike imo

As for the first one, yes the light is great and the stance of the stag is better than number 2 but I think it needs a shadow boost to bring out the facial features more. Just my opinion of course.

Thanks Mike, aka John, I'll have a look at your suggestion

Tweaked re Mike's suggestion

That's a different picture isn't it?

Anyway, like that one better as the crop is closer and he's looking straight at you. Only thing to do now is clone out that tuft of hair? hanging down by the rear legs as it's quite distracting.