new respect for wildlife photographers

Tango

i have avoided photography of nature/birds/animals/etc...
because simply i could not do it very well....
i tried very hard for these, it took about an hour getting into position...
3 gorgeous birds were around but only one let me photograph them...
i will need 500mm if i want those others i guess....

my question to you masters of wildlife photography is:

what makes a great pose? what is most desirable in shots like these?
sorry i am clueless...
i am quite an artsy person and like to process images for an effect...

do you like any of my processing? or have i committed a cardinal sin within the wildlife community?

here are some of the ones i liked:

1. B&W


2.


3.


4.

Travis

I'm sure Harry, Prescott, and the others will offer a far better critique but to my fledgling wildlife photographer eyes, these are beautiful. I've tried twice so far for a decent heron shot and failed to come up with something as nice as these on both attempts. I think I just got some incentive to head out in the morning.

Tango

thanks Travis, and good luck to you Sir!

NorthernFocus

I'm no expert but I have one simple comment. You captured a couple of wonderful images. Well composed, sharp, perfect reflections, etc. With due respect to your artistic bent, no one holds a candle to mother nature. The second and third images are excellent. Why mess with them

Some of the good bird photographers can comment on the nits and nats...

Tango

thank you, when i stated master wildlife photogs i really meant just anyone but me...:D because that would be about right in terms...

in my processing i meant #4, it has some softness added luminosity worked around, stuff like that...

thanks!

KurtPreston

Two things for these types of shots (water fowl), that are applicable to most every other wildlife shot. 1. get low - down to it's level, the lower the better usually, which usually means crawling around in the muck 2. head position is very important ... a slight turn of the head towards the photographer is normallly the most pleasing.

Harryb

KurtPreston wrote:

Two things for these types of shots (water fowl), that are applicable to most every other wildlife shot. 1. get low - down to it's level, the lower the better usually, which usually means crawling around in the muck 2. head position is very important ... a slight turn of the head towards the photographer is normallly the most pleasing.

Head position is not given enough importance but it is a key element in getting a "keeper". The eyes are also important. You watn to make sure the eye is clearly visible and try to make it stand out during your post processing.

Of course your use of light and composition are also key to getting an effective image.

I like all 4 images with #4 having the most impact except some of the heron's white got incorporated into the lightened background. I would try some more contrats in the B&W image.

I have always found wildlife photography to be the most challenging of the types of photography I have tried. You need to find a good background with some sweet light. Then you have to find an interesting subject in that light and background. I have spent whole days where I'm able to get two out of the three but I can never get that third element.

Maestro

Here are few things I offered up in this thread.

Your GBH is very good, the color version without the artistic blur added. Hope to see more from you.

Tango

Thank you all!

after looking at the images again after the high of shooting today,
(oh and noticing Kurts challenge thread entry) im sure my artisticness needs to be toned down on that #4...

took all your comments and i hope this is a keeper,

raptorcaptor

Harryb wrote:

Head position is not given enough importance but it is a key element in getting a "keeper". The eyes are also important. You watn to make sure the eye is clearly visible and try to make it stand out during your post processing.

Of course your use of light and composition are also key to getting an effective image.

I like all 4 images with #4 having the most impact except some of the heron's white got incorporated into the lightened background. I would try some more contrats in the B&W image.

I have always found wildlife photography to be the most challenging of the types of photography I have tried. You need to find a good background with some sweet light. Then you have to find an interesting subject in that light and background. I have spent whole days where I'm able to get two out of the three but I can never get that third element.

Excellent advice!

You are off to a very good start!

Swartzy

Aaron...I actually love the treatment on #4. Beautiful work of art.

dlplumer

Great shots Aaron. I'm trying to learn wildlife photography as well, and I find that in this community realism as opposed to artistic innovation, is generally preferred. I personally liked all your shots.

Dan

Tango

thank you everyone for the comments, they are very helpful!

davev

Kurt already said to get low, but the other thing would be to get some action.
A bird grabbing a fish, a raptor having lunch, or even looking for lunch, all add to a shot.

Harry has some excellent shots of herons and egrets doing "the flip" where they turn the fish
so it goes down the throat easier.

For 4 leggers. A deer running, a elk bugling, a moose, well a moose doing anything is great. A bear
eating berries, I think you get the idea, something that shows why or how they do what they do.

For a portrait, if you have a zoom on the camera. Try to get some up close shots,
but also show them in their habitat. Sometimes the shot further away showing what else is going on, is the better shot.

And don't forget the young ones.
Everybody loves the cute little baby pics. (unless they're baby egrets, man they're ugly)

Good luck.

tlee

I like the one you entered in the dss16 gallery (#4 above). Lovely image, I would hang it on the wall in my house--very painterly!

Tango

tlee, painterly.... thats were i was trying to go....great word!

if i get that big lens one day, i could see myself getting more into this bird shooting...very cool...


Davev, thanks... your gonna need to train me OJT

coscorrosa

Those are all excellent, my favorite is the last, due to the unique processing. Hard to describe this, but I'll try, I really like how the dividing line between the bird and the reflection parallels the bird (a right diagonal) and how that divides the photo into two parts, the light part on top and the dark part on the bottom.

IMHO, there is no "mortal" sin in photography, do whatever floats your boat. The only time you need to worry about mortal sins is if you're trying to sell the photo

I agree with others on this thread, I think wildlife is technically the hardest type of nature photography, in my opinion, wildlife photography is a lot more difficult than landscape photography.

With landscapes you can usually find the subject, manually set the focus, and hope the light cooperates. Having a wild animal show up and pose for you on top of all of that requires a great deal more patience and persistence (and luck, but you need to be out there for the luck to even matter). It also requires a greater knowledge of the subject, their behavior, habitat, etc., any idiot can tell where the sun is going to rise and set, it's harder to know where the animals are going to be. And when the animal finally does show up for a few brief moments, you have to be ready and hope you nail the focus and exposure. With landscapes, your window of opportunity is usually measured in minutes, with wildlife, it's often in seconds. And sometimes the animals don't show up at all. And the equipment is more expensive and heavy...

But! When you get the shot, it's definitely worth it. Even if you don't, just being out there is good (and you can always fall back to landscapes if the critters aren't cooperating).

Tango

thanks Ron,

oh, and thanks for pointing out why im into Landscape:giggle :giggle , i cheat though... i carry a compass:D