I thought to myself - piece of cake! those deer are ALWAYS around. Even though we live in a densely populated area of town, they - and all their cousins - stroll the streets and make themselves comfy in our yards. Get a couple of pictures? No problem-o.
But what I was forgetting was that deer are primarily nocturnal. And my camera is a point-and-shoot beginner model.
BIG problem-o.
Mind you, the deer do come around at twilight sometimes. And just yesterday my husband saw them in our back yard in broad daylight. Being somewhat of a nocturnal person myself, though, I was not awake at the time, and I missed my chance.
But the way I finally got a photo - not a great one, but interesting in its own right - was by forgetting to turn off the deck lights one night last week. It's been hot here, and when I went upstairs to open the windows, I saw that there were two deer right beside our deck, and they were quite visible in the floodlight.
You can bet I ran downstairs, grabbed my camera, and ran back upstairs again.
And then had to catch my breath, because the camera kept giving me that little shaky-hand icon.
By the time I had taken a couple of practice shots, the deer had decided to groom each others' necks. Unfortunately, they had also moved from bright light to half-shadow.
Like I said, not a good photo from a technical standpoint, but one I suspect I'll never have the chance to take again.
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| The deer are not striped - the dark vertical bands are the shadows cast by the deck railing. |
And I'll keep trying for a daytime shot, Elephant's Child! One of these days ...
Those are some fine 'roos. A flash probably would have spooked them, so your shot is likely as good as can be had for deer in the dark. I don't know whether the deer here are nocturnal or not. We don't get them down here in the flats, but up the hill a little they stand around in your yard in broad daylight like they own the place.
ReplyDelete-Doug in Oakland
Yes! The attitude!!
Delete"You see them all the time and when you go to take a picture they are not there." Ansel Adams rule number 7, I think. Just kidding, but it is like that for everybody. I try to take my camera to as many places as I can and even have it ready to go at home, but the good shots are few and far between. Sometimes the moment is gone before I think," Hey! I should get a shot of that!"
ReplyDeleteThere's a rule? Well, I can see why, after trying for a deer shot for well over a year!
DeleteI love the deer photo! It has enough darkness and shadow to make the figures dreamlike.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Geo. It reminds me a little of an old painting, too.
DeleteThank you, thank you, thank you. And awww. I do love it when people can capture the obvious affection that 'dumb animals' feel.
ReplyDeleteThere will be more kangaroos (just a couple) in tomorrow's Sunday Selections. Wild ones who are not acclimatised to people.
My pleasure, EC! I'm looking forward to your kangaroos this weekend.
DeleteOur area teems with deer, too; sometimes I get online and see people raving about "I saw a deer!" -- and I'm all, "I can hardly leave the house without seeing a deer." Ah, but catching a photo of one is, indeed, much harder. Kudos to you, Camera Woman!
ReplyDeleteI'm determined to get a broad-daylight shot as well, Jocelyn :)
DeleteAn A for effort. Good luck getting that shot. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to need that good luck, I'm pretty sure :)
DeleteHI Jenny-You'll get one one of these days. Either that, or you'll see them grazing peacefully in broad daylight but you won't have you camera with you. I see them at exit ramps around here quite often. I always wonder why they are drawn to such semi-dangerous spaces.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I'm thinking it's the plentiful grass. They do the same here.
DeleteBetter than most of my shots. You can at least tell they're deer. Yeah, my last shot of wildlife was of a small blur in front of a larger blur. One of my grandkids asked if it was a picture of a mountain. I lied.
ReplyDeleteHahahaha!! I have some of those pictures too!
DeleteThat photo counts! Maybe you'll catch em at dusk next time.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Gia - and I hope so :)
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