Animals

“I scratch your back and you scratch mine” is one of the worst diseases in wildlife photography.” – Alvis Lazarus

I decided to play with the editing on this one and hopefully managed to get a dreamy quality to it. There is a white vignette adding the that dreaminess but have also reduced some of the detail of the swan and enhanced the blue of the water.

This photo was taken in Northern Cyprus in 2008. I was visiting my Parents and we had been for a meal in a most beautiful restaurant. There were lots of cats and this feline was particularly happy to pose.

Whitlingham near Norwich is a fantastic place to go for birds. I didn’t realise until I got home and uploaded these images that these chaps/chapesses had given me a wonderful shot of no legs, one leg and two legs.

AN4,5 &6: Mousehold Heath, Norwich. UK SS: 1/3200, f/5.6 varying focal lengths 100 – 105 mm, ISO: 1250

One of my absolute goals in photography is to get brilliant action shots, either of animals, or people. Here are a few starters… one of the things I have noticed is the absolutely hilarious faces dogs make when running. There shall be more of those being uploaded believe me!

Another pair of cats from Cyprus. These little beauties were watching us visitors to a castle ruins. They look so serene, and curious watching us very closely.

AN8 & AN8(B&W) Mousehold Heath, Norwich, UK SS: 1/160, f/5.6, 360mm, ISO: 2000

I went to get photos of birds but got this little beauty instead. This little Nutkin sat quite patiently whilst I tried a few shots. The second photo I have mainly desaturated but upped the orange saturation to keep some of the colour but also give a black and white feel to it.

Introducing the wonderful Izzi, my parents golden retriever who is just comedy gold. this one is just for pure joy and hope it brings a smile to your face. 

Another show of how animals can bring such joy to us. This laughing pony gave me the perfect shot. I think it was just laughing at the fact that I had persevered on a very muddy trek to get to the Bothy.

This worked well with some editing as the white of the gull against the white of the clouds didn’t provide much contrast. 

I managed to capture this handsome chap in a local park. He was playing with my parent’s dog and I got this shot, which looks like he has purposely posed for me. Another one that I have gone for a mainly black and white feel except for the bright red of the collar. 

This guy is a complete dude. He is a frequent companion on our walks with his human Mum and human baby brother. An absolute mound of energy and  life, I wish we all embraced the day that this chap does. His name is Ronnie and it really suits him. So handsome too, just not easy to get him to stand still long enough to get a good shot but this is not a bad one.

This beauty is one of two horses that belong to my friend. I had the honour of being able to spend time with them and they provided me with some beautiful shots. This I have cropped to remove unwanted distractions such as gate posts and shadows. The low f stop creates the blurred backdrop which enables you to focus on the subject and often seen in portrait work. 

Chickens turn out to be quite camera shy. It took some time for them to even accept my presence hence the photos have quite a high ISO so I could get some really high shutter speeds to ensure clarity and sharpness. The fairly long focal length also helps maintain a comfortable distance. That is the downside of taking photos of these lovely ladies but the bonus is the comedy value!

This has some great mud flinging clarity to it. Cagney and Lacey were really enjoying themselves and I had to be really careful not to scare them. So photo through stealth. They have remarkable hearing as they would look up at me at the sound of the shutter clicking. It certainly looks like a warmer day that it was!

I really like this shot. It probably breaks all the rules but it feels like it has life. I managed to keep Molly in focus with the ball and my Sister’s foot framing her. It has movement and just feels fun to look at.

Look how the water falls on Molly’s nose. The fast shutter speed has helped freeze the water in motion and get that really fun look. I have slightly desaturated the colours to help keep Molly as the main attraction. Something I tend to do when there are lots of colours and I feel that the subject becomes lost within them. Let me know what you think

Here is the classic pose. The f stop wasn’t as low as I would have liked but still have achieved the required blurred background.  I think I would like to have got a shot of her face with both eyes showing and will consider this on my next pup shoot. I took the photo low but would also consider trying to be more to the front of her if I can. May her owner behind me. Still happy with it.

It has taken me ages to get a decent photo of a crow and I wasn’t sure that I still had anything decent today. I was pleased with the result and was very grateful for this beautiful bird for being so obliging. You can see that the feel of the image differs depending on whether it is colour of b&w. Personal preference is one factor that helps you make that choice but also the feel that you want from the photo, maybe the purpose of the image. If I was taking a photo for a wildlife calendar, the colour would be the better option, however a book cover or poster of a gothic style novel, the b&w would give that foreboding feel you want. I personally favour the b&w but you may disagree.

Herons are usually quite a shy bird so this was an amazing opportunity to get up close and personal. Whilst I think it would be wonderful to think they were posing just for me, I fear that it was the fish in the pond that had their attention.

This beauty was a dream to photograph, she provided some funny ones in the pond later on but she was relatively dry here. Things I never had thought about before.. long grass and dew/rain etc may all affect the shoot with a anyone but especially a fur baby. 

 

 

 

This handsome chap really did pull out all the stops and give me a great show of his strength, energy and beautiful spirit. Horses, to me, are magnificent and spiritual animals so it is always an honour to be able to take photos. When they are in full flow is shows their grace and power. I have taken a range of colour and black and white frames and I feel that there is no real preference, although in some of the action shots removing the colour seems to allow you focus on the movement and energy.

This was the most handsome of horses. This is where sometimes keeping at least some colour is so important. Charlie was the most beautiful Bay colour (Chestnut brownish body and black main and tail). His coat shone like gold in the sun so wanted to really show it.

This little lady was a real glam puss. I removed a lot of the yellow hue and saturations to enable the white in her fur to really show, glossy and shiny. One area of this kind of work that I am working on is making sure I have the whole of the body in the photo. This is particularly important with a beautiful lady like this, as she has ‘feathers’ to absolutely die for.