Deer scat. What else is there to say? I wasn’t looking for this. Sometimes I actually do intentionally search for deer scat during my day job, truth be heard, but that was not this time. Deer scat, like the deer themselves, can be very hard to find when you want to find it. I was outside looking for that One Picture a Day for today. I had the best cheap macro lens, the Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8 AF. I had in mind to image flower buds. I took several different plant. Then I stumbled on the deer scat. It was truly a glorious deposit. I suspect it was left by this regular visitor or its kin. Other than the fact it’s poop, it photographs well. Nice and glossy, with a rich chocolate color! You can almost smell…OK, that’s probably going too far. Deer scat has very little detectable scent, at least when photographing it with a 60mm lens.
When I went back through the images I had collected from my 20-minute foray into the yard, this is the one that…popped. The bud images were serviceable, but nothing stood out like this coprulent extravaganza. I used an SB-600 Speedlight flash, diffused to light it. Post-processing was minimal. I’ll retry the buds another day.
The Micro-Nikkor 60mm AF f/2.8 is a very solid lens. This lens spends a lot of time on my camera, especially in warm weather if I’m looking for flowers or insects. It is a little long, especially on DX for landscapes. But it is short enough that for me it takes on some of the role that a “Nifty Fifty” 50mm lens fills. Even though it is designed for macro close focusing, it also makes a great portrait lens. It is very sharp and fairly bright. Some of my favorite portraits of my children have been taken with this lens. It makes the model and the photographer look good. It even makes deer scat look good!
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