To answer your questions and respond to remarks:

First thank you all for looking at and responding to post.

1) My goal (which I failed at miserably) was to capture the detail and texture of a deer's fur. I thought maybe a flash would help. I forgot that light from a distance turns deer's eye's into green LASERS!

2) Yes, I used a cable and even used mirror lock-up.

3) High shutter speed are great, particularly on the 600mm lens I was using, but "Flash Sync" limited me to 1/250.

4) I had the camera on a big heavy tripod.

5) I learned some things from this:
a) Never use a flash when photographing deer, because of the eyes.
b) 2X teleconverters suck!

6) Who has time for composition when you are photographing a moving target in near darkness?!

7) Deer are absolute masters of camouflage! They can disappear when they sit on their hunches. They can move through dense brush at high speeds.

8) If I want a picture a deer I should go to zoo and find a tame one.

9) Wild deer provide a real challenge.

10) Intervening brush and/or driving snow makes it next to impossible.

11) I manually focused each image because dim light and intervening brush thru off the auto-focus. The 2X converter made focusing very difficult.

12) Everything was done manually, even the metering was done with trial and error exposures prior to the deer arrival.
I look forward to spring when the relatively easy to photograph birds return. I know how to photograph them.

A few other thoughts, Dave:

1) Use shutter time delay on your camera to give lens a couple seconds to settle.

2) It's remarkable how much vibration can run up the legs of even the heaviest tripod. Unless you're on a cement floor, didn't touch the camera and held your breath, you can send shivers up the tripod's leg by breathing that will effect a 600 focal length. Is your floor rock solid?

I THINK MY FLOOR IS SOLID. IT'S WOOD BUT IT FEELS SOLID.

Some bird photographers will reduce that problem by draping their other hand across the top of the lens and pressing downward a bit.

THANKS I NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT. I COULD USE A SMALL BEAN BAG.

3) For critical sharpness in the field, focus with "live view" enlarged to its highest setting, if your camera allows. Quite helpful in low light. You'll also see just how much vibration is actually traveling up the tripod.

WITH MY CURRENT CAMERA I DO NOT HAVE AN ENLARGEABLE LIVE VIEW. MAYBE THIS FALL.

4) You do not have the center leg of the tripod extended, do you? If so, that can be your problem. A raised center leg will cause loss of stability.

YES I DID!!! IT WAS CRANKED UP VERY HIGH. I JUST LEARNED SOMETHING NEW, THANKS.

5) Don't assume the adage "turn off IS when on tripod" to be necessarily true. Test it on your gear when there's nothing at stake. You may be surprised to discover that leaving it turned on actually helped.
.

To answer your questions and respond to remarks:

First thank you all for looking at and responding to post.

1) My goal (which I failed at miserably) was to capture the detail and texture of a deer's fur. I thought maybe a flash would help. I forgot that light from a distance turns deer's eye's into green LASERS!

2) Yes, I used a cable and even used mirror lock-up.

3) High shutter speed are great, particularly on the 600mm lens I was using, but "Flash Sync" limited me to 1/250.

4) I had the camera on a big heavy tripod.

5) I learned some things from this:
a) Never use a flash when photographing deer, because of the eyes.
b) 2X teleconverters suck!

6) Who has time for composition when you are photographing a moving target in near darkness?!

7) Deer are absolute masters of camouflage! They can disappear when they sit on their hunches. They can move through dense brush at high speeds.

8) If I want a picture a deer I should go to zoo and find a tame one.

9) Wild deer provide a real challenge.

10) Intervening brush and/or driving snow makes it next to impossible.

11) I manually focused each image because dim light and intervening brush thru off the auto-focus. The 2X converter made focusing very difficult.

12) Everything was done manually, even the metering was done with trial and error exposures prior to the deer arrival.
I look forward to spring when the relatively easy to photograph birds return. I know how to photograph them.

I'm disappointed with these photos taken out my front door early this morning. I have great equipment and wonderful opportunity but I feel I blew the chance to get a better picture. I would have liked to seen better focus, depth of field, and detail of the animals fur.

I used a full frame Sony A900 camera, a Sony 300mm f/2.8 lens with 2X converter for an effective length of 600mm. I used a F58AM flash with a home made Fresnel tele-extender so the light could reach. The settings are ISO=200, 1/125 seconds, f/5.6.

There is a ridge of a hill in front of my house that deer like to bed down on and watch over my house during the night and early morning. I have a foyer at the front door with room for a big tripod and my camera. If I slowly open the door the deer will tolerate me, but they do not like my flash. I can only take a few pictures before they leave.

I did not crop these photos at all. The 600mm lens gets me that close. The next time I'll not use the 2X converter. I find it's next to impossible to critically focus in dim light with a teleconverter. I'll remember to turn off the "Super Steady Shot" (anti-shake) in my camera, and use ISO=800 and increase my shutter speed to 1/250 seconds.

Can you think of what else I could do to get better pictures?

First congratulations on that shot of a buck. Because of your mention of a sand bag I'm guessing you took it from a hunters blind. I might try that myself later in year when the foliage is attractive.

About your suggestion that I read the manual, I helped write the manual for the A900, Gary Friedman's book on the A900 and A850. I was a proof reader and you can find my name in the acknowledgments. I found and corrected many errors in the flash section. Most people, like yourself, are confused by HSS. It is not truly "synchronized" at full power like the camera is at speeds at 1/250 and below. Most people do not understand how HSS works. The flash tube is stimulated by a series of pulses to turn on and stay continuously for a long period of time but at much dimmer light level. It can only reach a few yards. Distant objects are out of the question for HSS.

How about a 30-foot wide semi-circle of airstrip lights around the ridge? Have your camera ready with a high shutter speed and f/22 aperture at ISO 200, flip the power switch, and use continuous frame shooting until they fall over in shock. It would probably be your last and only opportunity to shoot them in this lifetime though.

In my former state of Michigan, the deer would have been shot with 10-guage shotguns by a pile of camouflaged hunters laying in the door frame on top of each other and the shooters would have been in the photos sitting on the deer and waving beer bottles at the camera.

Yes...I can think of a few things...one you've already zero'd in on (dump the teleconverter.)

Also, your lens length is VERY long for hand holding at 1/125.

The "general" rule is use a shutter speed 1/focal length at a minimum. You're at 600mm so you shouldn't use a shutter speed below 1/600 as a minimum. I know that I couldn't even do a 1/focal length....I'm that shaky.


dump the teleconverter, get the highest shutter speed you can...up the ISO to allow for this


for example: at your settings:

ISO = 200

SS = 1/125

Aperture = f/5.6


Would have also been equivalent to:


ISO = 800

SS = 1/1000

Aperture = f/5.6



OR


ISO = 400

SS = 1/500

Aperture = f/5.6



ISO/Shutter Speed/Aperture are part of a "triangle" recipe that produces a "proper exposure." If you change one, it means you must adjust one of the other elements accordingly.


If you want the SS to go up...you must raise the ISO or open up the aperture or a combination of both of those.



Does that make sense?