I made this portrait of a Roaring Red Deer Stag during last year’s Rut, October 2023, in Killarney National Park, Ireland. I like to spend three or four nights in a local hotel during the rut, it is an easy walk to this area. The Rut is one of my favourite times of year.
As the sun set in this location, an overgrown field at the edge of an area of woodland, the Stags and Hinds moved through this patch to another more open field, directly behind my shooting position.
The angle of the sun was perfect, I exposed the photograph to keep the woodland in the background dark and my subject was backlit by beautiful warm light. It was a bonus that there are no other deer in the immediate vicinity and a second bonus that this Stag stopped and roared his challenge to the other Stags close by before moving off.
Photographed with my Nikon Z9 and Z 800 mm f6.3 S lens mounted on a monopod. Manual Mode 1/500 sec, f6.3, Auto ISO at 1000, with exposure compensation of -1.7. Centre weighted average metering, 3D autofocus with animal detect, White balance in cloudy.