Mule deer in the early morning

While in Bryce Canyon, my photo tour group and I spotted quite a few mule deer in beautiful locations. Even though they are quite comfortable near people, they can still be challenging to photograph well. I captured these two in early morning light with Canon's new 100-400mm lens, and my settings were 1/400, f/6.3, 500 ISO. I hand held the shot. A tripod is too inhibiting in most situations when photographing wildlife. I used Program mode because it is biased to providing almost the fastest shutter speed possible given the light and the ISO. This is a great mode to use when you don't have time to think about the camera controls. Let the automation take over providing you know what to expect from your chosen settings.