Finally, Great Light

Photographing the Whitetail Rut can be a frustrating task with so many things out of control of the photographer.

To be successful one must do their best to be setup in good places at the peak times of day with good equipment and a through understanding of how to use it. Select an area with good deer densities and low hunting pressure if possible. Understanding the wariness of the deer population you are working with will help with deciding how much concealment you will need to keep from spooking your subject.

To compound the problem even further one needs to consider backgrounds and lighting angles as well when selecting their shooting position. Even when taking all of the above issues into consideration the weather still is in control of the light.



If you took the time to read all of the above then you understand how excited I was when this fine young whitetail buck posed rim-lit in the warm evening sun. Unexpectedly the storm clouds that had blanketed our area for the last seven day rolled away momentarily as the sun touched the western horizon.

I normally keep the camera set on aperture preferred while shooting wildlife but with the background deeply shadowed I flipped to manual and metered on the grass at the bucks feet to maintain proper exposure on the subject.

Realizing that something was amiss he repeatedly raised his hoof and stomped loudly. After some time passed and as the daylight faded into dark he settled down and continued on pursuing the doe that appeared nearly ready to mate.