I don’t think I’ve ever posted in the photography forum before, as I never had much interest in it. But after seeing how hard it is to get some of these shots that you guys do by watching my wife try to get certain shots; I have a new appreciation for it.

Here’s a few of her favorites. I told her I’d post them and see if anyone enjoyed them.

Ky221:

Now you've gone and done it. Camera bodies and lenses will make the $$$ in ones gun safe seem like kindergarten.

Intended as a constructive note. Really like the composition of 2, 3, 4, and 6. Backlighting is tough. It works great on larger subjects like 6, but not so much on 1 or 8.

Given the small size of the first two birds, one might try to avoid obstructing twigs as well as bright backgrounds with gray or white clouds behind. Tough deal, given they like to sit in trees. A blue sky is usually great though. Same applies to the surface of water.

Great job of catching the eye and its highlight on the larger subjects too. The eye, if possible, is really the target.

I'd also suggest posting at a slightly higher resolution. Cookie's images (Link to a few ) are uploaded at 1920 x 1200 which is the resolution for a preponderance of our computer screens. On this site, however, they get reduced to about 1280 x 800, and one has no control over final resolutions here.

Wildlife are tough though, as one has to take the opportunities Mother Nature offers. That means dealing with shade/shadows, backlighting, all manner of intervening obstructions, and zero control over poses and composition. Hit the shutter and hit it often. It's not at all like a studio fruit bowl or landscape where one can work on composition and lighting for an eternity.

She's got a great eye. Keep at it, as it's a great reason for the two of you to get out. Do post them up too, as it's great to see what others are doing.

Ky221, tell the Lady I enjoyed them.

Thank you.

1 minute- I’ll pass the info along. I know nothing about photography, I know that is using a Nikon D850, as for the lens I’m not sure. She has a couple. And I think just ordered another for some specialized purpose..... I’m not real tech savvy, I posted these from my phone. I’m not sure how they look to someone using a laptop or tablet or desktop.. I’ll see if she knows what to do. Thanks for the pointers.



J-Stuart - sure will. Thank you.

Great pictures---your wife takes a nice picture,.
Also uses a camera I only dream of owning some day.
They are all good, but the Squirrel pics are my favorite!

Ken

Really nice photos.

The poses of the red squirrels are nice and attractive. I most like the spaniel profile and its nice lighting

Really nice shots. Thanks for sharing them.

Your wife is an artist! Beautiful photos.

Most excellent!

awesome :
adjective
extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring great admiration, apprehension, or fear.

Yes, I to love the lighting on the dog portrait!

Something kept dragging my attention away on the fox picture and with magnifying glass I confirmed that it was (&&^&%) barbed wire fence.
How did that get there?
Don't know how many of my pictures have been ruined by a fence or power line that I had not noticed being enamored with the main subject.

Thanks for the comments guys. I’ll show them to her.


As far as the barbwire fence.....that’s the fence on our property, I’m not sure how it could be done differently as animals are where you find them.

Pointers ?

Ky221:

With a little post processing small items, like fence wire, the white top of a steel post etc can be cleaned up or eliminated. One of the great steps forward with digital photography. Don't believe anything you see. Will try to dig up a couple examples, and put them up.

Edited:

Found a couple, and they were cleaned up with the Canon software that came with Cookie's camera. Adobe Photoshop, Topaz, Microsoft's Paint, and whatever the photo software that comes with Win 10 are fully capable. Likely, Nikon furnishes similar software with their units as well.

Not the best examples here but the only ones handy at the moment on this unit. Vultures tend to share a common roost and those on the lower branches get pooped on
This one was perched a little lower on the totem pole


With near any post-processing software, a little soap and water, and 5 minutes, one can copy small bits of the image and paste them over the offending areas to yield a clean vulture. One tries to copy immediately adjacent areas that have the same color or grain pattern.

Without the original, it would take a very sharp eye to detect the massaging.

This bison's face was peppered with all manner of burs and seeds.


Much more attractive if cleaned up, and again, few if any would ever know.


Don't have the dirty version available, but this elk was walking beside a woven wire fence on Montana's Bison Range. Should have taken the flies off his back as well.


Offending man made objects are another of those issues with wildlife. If one is not in panic mode they may be eliminated on site by changing positions. If not possible, nail them anyway and paste a tree or something in with post processing. Even a lot of simple landscape shots are ruined by things like power lines or an offending rig or person in the image. The fox would be an easy clean up by just pasting in bits of matching background vegetation over the wire. Twigs, like those in front of the cardinal and flycatcher (?) would be tougher deals.

The lady has talent, so keep her at it.

Ky221.

Beautiful. She has a warm, painterly view of this world. Thank you for showing them to us

Great shots Ky221 ,
Thanks for sharing your wife's work - encourage her to stay after it!

Sorry, I forgot to mention liking the chipmunk lighting and the "High-Fiving" squirrel is entertaining!

There's a lotta right in that spaniel picture...tell your wife nice work!

My favorite is the female Cardinal... The muted colors are composed very nicely. I would crop out the bottom right corner as the shadows take away from the brighter subject. There is also a large branch in front of the bird which is distracting but we can't take it out of the photo, but she can be aware of objects in the foreground that distract on her future photos. Wildlife photos are challenging! It is much easier to shoot a buck with a rifle than it is to take his photo in good light!

Nice shots! Excellent color. I'm assuming she got these with a 400 or a 200 with an extender?

Thanks for the compliments and constructive criticism.

Shado- I have no idea but I think she’s using a 600....I’m not well versed in such matters lol.

beautiful pictures

Nice photography, enjoyed it.

Beautiful pics. Wish I could do as well..

Beautiful pics and very talented wife!

Nice Pics!