Happy New Year, Dale!

Thank you sharing this lovely creature who obviously has your attention!

I also like the three/four layers of color and texture ... nicely composed.   Posted: 01/01/2025 14:16:42

I like that the animal is looking right at you. That catches my eye right away. I might have cropped it tighter, there is not a ton of interest in the surroundings. Of course, you probably weren't strolling the park with a giant zoom lens!   Posted: 01/01/2025 14:42:27

I like that the deer is looking straight at you as well. What a lucky shot! I disagree with Will. To me, the surroundings give this a very natural look, especially with the fall leaves and color. I think it is lovely.   Posted: 01/01/2025 21:55:44

Interesting image - the colors are flat - but that's the season and it conveys a certain mood. The grass isn't terribly green, few leaves (mostly brown); almost everything seems to be a shade of gray or brown. But it works! Regarding the crop - I thought about Will's suggestion - although I agree that the surroundings aren't very interesting - they convey a sense of the season/place that overall helps the image. I like that there's more room in front of the deer than behind him. The deer's gaze makes the shot.   Posted: 01/02/2025 16:04:54

Dale, I am not much of a wildlife photographer, so I may be way off. I like what you have done on the recording of the image and the presentations. I think I would like the image even better if you had directed the deer to turn his (her?) head slightly to the right so as to not look so directly at you. What do I know? In the image I am attaching I first selected the deer and placed him on a separate layer. I went to that new layer containing only the deer and entered a Curves adjustment where I applied a modest "s" curve to enhance the deer. I then went back to the original layer and slightly darkened and desaturated the image. I used the mask on the layer to remove the foreground from the effect. All of this was done in Photoshop to try to separate the deer from the background. Lastly, I added a closer crop. Simply a suggestion.   Posted: 01/02/2025 19:58:15