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Yes I know I posted this fellow before but since he blended so well into the trees and brush I decided to try something. I learned a lot doing it also. This first image is a cropped version of the original where pretty much everything is in focus. Bad photography when you want to isolate the animal from the brush.



Now this was actually my last try at it but without cropping in close as I did on the last two images in this blog. This final version I finally decided to leave the foreground in focus as it would tend to be if shot properly. Then I left the back out of focus as I had made a layer and blurred it then masked it to create the separation and help focus on the buck. It made quite an improvement to the image even though it could still use a lot more.

In this image I tried (my initial attempt) to blur out all of the vegetation and leave only the buck in focus. I didn't like it at all so since I had saved a layered version I was able to go back quickly and redefine the layer mask which was used to hide the in focus background and foreground.



So when all was said and done I liked this version probably the best as it is in focus for the most part in the foreground and out of focus in the background allowing the deer to be more easily seen. Then it is cropped tightly to the antlers and the head making it appear to be a very large buck, (Which it was a pretty good sized one anyway.) And finally the black border seemed to go with this image pretty good as well. 

Now the thing I learned from this process was to be sure I always save a layered file as I work and to back it up often like we have already learned before. Plus keep working at different variations until you find the one you like. Notice that I also changed and used LAB color in the last three images. I like it a little better even though it may be a little rich.