The house I'm about to move into is way out in what is known as the Hill Country. Aside from the obvious topography, the only other attraction is the preponderance of deer. The sad part is how tame these wild animals become.

Here are some shots from last week:
































I notice how I just missed the focus in almost all of these shots. I want to blame the camera for grabbing the spots instead of the eyes but I was shooting with center point focus, aiming on the eyes, framing for composition then releasing the shutter. I was shooting with the 50mm 1.8 so the focal plane was razor thin. The deer weren't moving that fast so I'm not sure were I went wrong. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

the other issue with focus to watch is your body movement... I have issue with this myself. If you rock front to back at all between with the AF does it's job and when the shutter releases you'll bork the focus. Are you focusing with the shutter or the back button? You're also missing both front and back, so that hints that it's more you than the camera/lens. (which is both good and bad news!). Crazy how close you got with a 50mm though.

Man they must be tame... 50mm?
How close did you get?

about 3-4 feet! They are, sadly, way too tame.

:angry: Goddamn worthless sacks of rabies-infested vermin!!! :angry:

I finished moving out to my buddy's lake house 2 days ago and managed to save 6 plants out of my garden. I had jalepenos, bell peppers, watermelon, tomatoes, basil and rosemary. I actually thought 5 out of 6 were going to survive the transplant until last night I noticed that something had nibbled about half of the basil leaves off. "Huh, I guess deer like basil?" I wondered to myself as I carried what remained of the little guy upstairs to safety. This morning I walked downstairs to an absolute desecration of my poor and helpless survivors. Nothing was left but stalks. Those ****ing oversized rats ate every last jalepeno, every last watermelon and every last leaf on all of my plants :angry: .

They even got into the fertilizer I bought to help in the revival. I hope their stomachs bloat and swell to a painful size. I hope the jalepenos make them cry in pain on the way out for their crimes against herbanity.

I know they're just plants but these were the only living things I've ever tried to take care of. And they only made it 4 months. I am in a foul and wretched mood because of this.

Next time I shoot deer it's not going to be with a camera. :angry: :angry:

We also have a herb garden (and I'm working on a plant garden for next year) but it's fenced in for this reason. The cats get to the cat nip though... But our dog ate all the tomatoes last year, so until I fence in the veggie garden we're not bothering...

Dammit, I wish I had known better. But how the hell could I have known that deer like jalepenos??? What a waste of 4 months.

yeah, the jalepenos is a surprise. The rest isn't.
Don't ever grow corn near raccoons either.
Those ****ers know the exact night it's ripe.
You can check each night, knowing tomorrow will be "the day" and then you go out the next AM and they ate it all...

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

the other issue with focus to watch is your body movement... I have issue with this myself. If you rock front to back at all between with the AF does it's job and when the shutter releases you'll bork the focus.

That's a good tip, I'm sure I'm guilty of this myself, so I'll have to try to pay more attention to it in the future.

Do you want me to send you a new jalapeño plant?

Thanks for the offer but it would be like the cliche sitcom plot where you replace a dead pet while I'm out of town. It just wouldn't be the same.

How do you ship a plant anyway?

Very carefully....