At the end of the day at the shooting range in Byers Colorado, after spending the odd free moments between workshop sessions Shooting the Clouds, there was a barbeque, and during the barbeque two White-tailed Deer decided to risk ambling across the range, behind the bunkers. They were obviously young deer and maybe did not know any better. You would think the strong smell of cordite and the recent thunder of the guns would have deterred them!

They were not really all that close…the shot above is at the full 810mm reach of the Nikon Coolpix P500 (actually in looking at the exif data I apparently zoomed a bit into digital zoom, 972mm is the recorded figure), and cropped…and heat shimmer from the long day of prairie baking in the sun was a real problem…but I like the early evening light and the layers with the flowers setting off the foreground. View it larger by clicking the image.

In this shot, where the deer are lower down and closer to the open expanse of the shooting range itself, you see more of the heat shimmer effect…which softens the whole…but I really like the light on the deer here.

Nikon Coolpix P500 at 972mm equivalent field of view. f5.7 @ 1/800th and 1/500th @ ISO 160. User programed Flight and Action mode.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.