My Darker Side

[Loupey]

We had dropped off my son and his friends at the threater and we were close to the local park so we decided to drop in before the visitor center closed.

I typically don't shoot wildlife this late in the day (around 8 o'clock) but thought I'd carry the camera with me anyway. At the rear of the visitor center is a large observation deck/overview and we saw two girls excitedly looking at something. As soon as we stepped out onto it, they turned around and shushed us. There was a raccoon nearby but it had scurried under the deck with all the attention he attracted. So I stood in the corner with my 300mm to see if it would come back out. It didn't take long before it came out (much larger and closer than I expected!). I didn't get a shot in the first encounter as it came out, turned around, stood up, and peeked from beneath the fence railing to see if anyone was on the deck. Then it saw me in the corner not 8' away and we both froze. He took off again below.

We did this dance about 4 times. I wanted to get a shot of him turning around and peeking so I retreated 20' back and laid down on the decking for shot #3.

Shots #1 and #3 at ISO 1600; shots #2 and #4 at ISO 1000. I was pleasantly surprised by the high ISO performance tonight.

[Loupey]

Finally, we decide to leave. The light is failing fast (now 8:30pm) and we encounter two pairs of deer. The last image here is ISO 1600 and the shutter is still only 1/90s with my 300mm wide open (f/4). Gotta love image stabilization!

Thanks for looking.

That's all I got today.

[quetzal]

Very nice Loupey, even at high ISO! The raccoon is so cute....

[Jaedon]

Wow Loupey. I love the peek shot (#2) as he peeks around the corner. They are such amazing little creatures. Its too bad they prefer to come out when it is so dark. Makes for some difficult photography....which you of course handles perfectly

[Copy_Kot]

I love that last raccoon shot! It is very strange to see deer this early with that much antler growth... nice shot's!

[Loupey]

Quetzal - thanks for looking. He wasn't too cute the first time we locked eyes. I didn't know how he'd react to finding me suddenly well inside his comfort zone.

Jaedon - thanks for the comments. These were overexposed to make it appear not as dark as it actually was. I wish I had a shorter telephoto at the time because I would have loved to get a full body shot of him doing the bear thing (on his hind legs) with his front paws dangling down. The last image is full frame with me crammed into the corner of the deck.

Copy - they look like socks. I don't know much about deer except many people like to carry them around in the back of their trucks and that they taste good once in a while Thanks for looking!

[Bevb]

What a great encounter Loupey, Lol! #2 is terrific the shock on the racoons face says it all!
what kind of deer are these? iv tried looking them up, but they are very different to our species here.

[Yarrow]

The raccoon pics are so great..it is so cute to. Excellent Deer shot

[DaveLC2]

Wow those are all very cool! I think #2 is my favorite too. That racoon is adorable

Dave

[Loupey]

Bev, a white-tailed deer from what I'm told. I think that is the only species in my state.

Yarrow, thanks for the comments.

Dave, thanks for taking the time to look.

[STinGa]

Nice catch!