Nature and Wildlife Photography: Photos

In a handful of years now on flickr, getting active feedback (or not) on all my posts has helped me to focus on things that matter in an image.

I had the chance to attend a photo club monthly photo competition this week. I didn't present any images. I wished I had planned well enough to get some entered, but I missed the deadline. Anyway, it was helpful to see the images presented in categories for 3 skill levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced).

Read on for more.

I like to keep my personal data out of my posts, be it flickr or here. So, I'll just say that the judge at the event was someone who has been published and is a photographer well known to the MD/VA/DC area. I'm not writing this to review his job, he did well, but more to note how other photographers try something with an image but it lacks focus or pop, or impact.

By now, when I post something to my flickr.com/photos/-jon-/ page, it is something that I've looked over repeatedly and it has struck me in a way that does move me.

Here are my last 4 posts analyzed:

Posted the same day I took it, this pair of eagles was a delight to see. There was more to the back story regarding other eagles, how this pair reacted when I got closer, etc, but, the simple view of them together on that branch was enough for me...

This Great Blue Heron, my good friend - the heron, just caught a fish and prepares to down the catch. The close nature of the image, and action of the fish and water spray make it for me.

I shot this a month and a half ago, but knew I liked it as soon as I had reviewed it. The uniqueness of the action overcomes the technical execution issues like sharpness, DoF and iso-noise.

And finally another of the Black Skimmers along the beach.

None of these photos lack focus or interest. There's no wondering about what is being presented.

I think that's the most basic criteria a nature or wildlife photographer should meet in a given photo. What is the subject, action, behavior, mood, time, thought being presented by the photo??? If the viewer has to ask that question, and spend any significant amount of time answering the question then something's missing.

I shoot a bajillion images, and only a handful meet that criteria. And those are among the ones I select to share/post. ;)

Happy Shootin'

-Jon