Spotted Deer

[Arpan Saha]

Spotted Deer

[Nikon D7000 + Sigma 150-500]
Location - Bandhavgarh. M.P.
Shot Taken on - Oct, 13

1/800 sec; f/8; ISO 1600

almost uncropped, basic photoshop

[Saktipada Panigrahi]

Nice image of a remarkable specimen. Owner of large symmetric antlers with heavy brow tine rarely seen. Photograph has been taken in October, 2013. The stag is still in hard horn, dark dorsal median stripe along the back is visible, signifying it is looking out for or has already found a mate and testifying to the fact that Chital breeds throughout the year.

I am finding something interesting and requesting Shri Sabyasachi and others to have a close look at the image in the light of the following observations made by Shri M.Krishnan :

"In some animals the white spots are noticeably small*, and in them the burnt sienna of the surrounding coat has a purplish cast or sheen to it, a cast which does not appear to be related to the animal being in breeding condition, though in stags in hard horn the sheen was almost apparent (Photo: Oct 1968 and Oct 1969)" -M.Krishnan

*it is not noticeably small, in my view

Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

[Mrudul Godbole]

The antlers look nice. Good eye contact. Wish the branch was not blocking the eyes of the female in the background. You could have cropped to remove the hint of legs or tried to include them in full. Was any blurring of the background done? Thanks for sharing.

Saktipadaji, I too feel the white spots are quite big and noticeable here. Thanks for sharing your detailed observations.

[Arpan Saha]

1st of all both are males... note the small antlers...
2nd ly, no background blurring was done, as mentioned, basic photoshop and almost uncropped (16:9 to 4:3); highlights were slightly adjusted...
lastly, excellent point about cropping out the legs, should had done it; actually i liked the way the sun's ray is illuminating its hind legs, decided against cropping for that...

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Fine antlers. Shaktipadaji thanks for sharing our Guru's wise observations. I think Shri M. Krishnan's observations regarding purplish cast or sheen are valid here. I am stunned as well as humbled to once again find such keen observations.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi