
I made this photo of a white-tail buck on a cold November morning at sunrise. There was a doe hanging out with him, but she was a little more elusive. No worries, the bucks are what I’m after when it comes to photographs of deer.
There are two species of deer in the Denver area, Mule Deer and White-tail Deer. This photograph was taken at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Both species of deer are commonly found in the refuge.
This photograph was made with the Canon EOS 7D using the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM @ 340mm. This shot was right on the edge of the 7D’s ability. At ISO 3200, the 7D could still maintain a level of detail and low enough noise to be edited to my satisfaction. For post-processing, I used DXO PhotoLab to remove the image noise and Topaz Sharpen AI to sharpen the image. Add to that my normal processing techniques in Adobe Lightroom and I ended up with a photo that passes the quality test for the stock photo agencies, and more importantly, my own quality standards.
Here’s another photo from this sequence. The only good shot I got showing the doe and buck together.

I shot with the 7D for many years, but it’s an ancient camera by the technology standards of today. I sold my copy to a friend many years ago, and he is still has it in his kit.