The Quiet Picture

Finding my voice in the silence of nature

Dec 23

Oh deer me

Category: deer
300mm f4L, ISO 640, f4 @ 1/200. Slight crop from bottom & right.

Now that the obligatory play with words is out of the way, let’s concentrate on the picture. We have plenty of roe deer around here, but somehow I’ve just never managed to photograph one. They are very skittish so they will bolt at the first sign of a human being, while they have no problems walking in the streets and around houses. I have a right old deer highway behind my house!

So, imagine my excitement when I spotted two deer grazing behind my neighbour’s house. I opened the window carefully and the animals didn’t mind me so for the first time, I had an opportunity to photograph them. It was sunrise, slightly overcast, day after solstice, so I had to crank up to ISO 640 to get at least 1/200 shutter speed, which was marginally fast enough with my shaking hands. Just to make the opportunity that much sweeter, the sun broke through the clouds for a moment to cast a golden light.

The pictures are noisy and they could be a bit sharper, but they are the only roe deer pictures I have (so far anyway). I’ll keep them, thank you very much!

4 comments

4 Comments so far

  1. Miika December 23rd, 2007 3:51 pm

    I’ve seen these only when driving in nighttime around here. They indeed seem to avoid people (but not cars, unfortunately).

    1/200s means tripod was used here, am I right? Still, very good catch!

  2. MinnaK December 23rd, 2007 4:02 pm

    Beanbag on the window sill. ;)

  3. r.olsen December 23rd, 2007 10:14 pm

    Light makes the picture once again! Beautiful animals but they do avoid people for sure. Good job with that low shutter speed :)

  4. Staffan January 2nd, 2008 9:33 pm

    Snygg bild, fint ljus och komposition.
    Me like.

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