Here are a few amateur wildlife photos I've taken over the last few years. I'm not a professional by any means, but I hope you all enjoy them. All photos were taken by me, in either Texas or Louisiana. I also did all the editing myself. Let me know what you think.....

















































And this one wasn't taken BY me.....but it is a picture OF me. lol.....I did the editing though.

Nice pictures. A couple of them I thought were very good. What kind of camera and lenses do you use?

All of those pictures were taken standard digital cameras you can buy at Wal-Mart with no after-market lenses. A lot of what makes the pictures look good is the program used to touch them up. The three camera models used were:

1. Samsung Pro815 w/ 18x optical zoom (8 mp)
2. Canon Powershot SX 120 IS w/ 12x optical zoom (10 mp)
3. An old Olympus w/ 10x optical zoom.....I can't remember the model (2.8 mp)

I used Google Picasa (which is free) for editing all these pictures.

I enjoyed them, Wade. Some are very exceptional. The killdeer is my favorite.

Excellent.

I wish I knew how to best use my camera to get shots as good as yours.

It takes a bit of work.

Hey, not bad for an amateur, Wade!

Try a DSLR with some good glass and I think you will be impressed as I think you have an eye for composition. Dr.C

I like that red-deer(?Sambar)/axis-in-light. The fawn is exceptional, too. Great job.

quote:

Originally posted by SGraves155:
I like that red-deer(?Sambar)/axis-in-light. The fawn is exceptional, too. Great job.

Thanks.....it's actually a Barasingha and Axis together.

They look pretty dang good to me!!!!

In case any of you are interested.....here is a zoomed-out photo of the "outlaw hideout" pictured above.....

Yes indeed, some nice shots. I particularly like flick #4 of the Doe. Looks like she has spotted you and is checking a Departure Route with her Right(from her perspective) Ear.

Any chance you might remember the direction she moved?

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
Yes indeed, some nice shots. I particularly like flick #4 of the Doe. Looks like she has spotted you and is checking a Departure Route with her Right(from her perspective) Ear.

Any chance you might remember the direction she moved?

No, I don't unfortunately. I took that picture in 2005. But if I had to guess.....I would say you are probably right.

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
A lot of what makes the pictures look good is the program used to touch them up. The three camera models used were:

Having the ability to "touch up" photos is one of the great benefits of digital photography. That said, it also can be overdone in regards to unreal color (not for creative stuff) and too much contrast.

Also, touching up photos that are obviously bad to begin with will do little to make them better. This is most notably the case with pix that are out of focus from the get-go such as one of your bison photos. Best to just delete them from your computer and start over.

quote:

Originally posted by Outdoor Writer:

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
A lot of what makes the pictures look good is the program used to touch them up. The three camera models used were:

Having the ability to "touch up" photos is one of the great benefits of digital photography. That said, it also can be overdone in regards to unreal color (not for creative stuff) and too much contrast.

Also, touching up photos that are obviously bad to begin with will do little to make them better. This is most notably the case with pix that are out of focus from the get-go such as one of your bison photos. Best to just delete them from your computer and start over.

Which Bison picture are you referring to?

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
Which Bison picture are you referring to?

Wade,

About the 6th one down from the top -- B&W head-on close-up.

BTW, I'm not meaning to be critical, per se. So any negatives I mention are meant as tips/suggestions to improve both your photography and post-processing.

I've been taking and selling photos for a living over the last 35 years with my byline on more than 100 magazine covers and over 3,000 other photo sales. Many of the tips are ones that well-established wildlife photgraphers gave me when I first started in this business.

And those same tips work for both professionals and amateurs.

Oh okay.....I see now. I thought you might have been talking about the first one. Thanks for the suggestions. In any case, these aren't true representations of the original photos because these are severely downsized, low-resolution versions copied here from my Facebook account.

I do appreciate the input very much though.....thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
In any case, these aren't true representations of the original photos because these are severely downsized, low-resolution versions copied here from my Facebook account.

Wade,

Yup, I understand that processing often degrades an image somewhat. That said, I'd bet your family's ranch that bison pix is just as out-of-focus in the original.

What's that adage, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear"?

I was somewhat reluctant to post any images so as not to hijack YOUR thread, but...the elk image below is only 64K. Not only that, but it is processed from a much larger scan from an original 35mm slide because most of my 85,000 photos are in that format. I have dozens of other scanned digital files of various critters just like it.

The moral: if you start with a good image, even the smaller, very compressed ones will look good.

Wade,

Your fawn pic is good. Here it is with a bit different, more natural approach to the post processing. I removed some of the color saturation and contrast, which it appears you added and also made the too-bright areas in the lower part a bit darker to match the overall brightness of the rest of the photo.

Tony,

Thanks for the input. Your elk pic is great. I also like the rocks in your edit of my fawn pic, but honestly I think it is a little "dull" looking regarding the colors. I remember vividly the day I took that picture. It was extremely bright during the middle of the day. Maybe something in between my original post and your edit would be more appropriate.

quote:

Originally posted by Eland Slayer:
but honestly I think it is a little "dull" looking regarding the colors. I remember vividly the day I took that picture. It was extremely bright during the middle of the day. Maybe something in between my original post and your edit would be more appropriate.

Well, the proof of what the true colors are will be in the original, which I don't have access to

The reason I know you bumped up the colors --especially red -- was because of the purple hue that became evident in the log sticking up in the air and also the too red hide of the fawn itself. I doubt either looked that way, even on a bright day. If anything, I might darken the midtones a bit more, but leave the rest as is.

A couple of the others have similar unnatural looks with too much color saturation and contrast. I like natural more than surreal.

Anyway, the final product should be the way YOU want it to be for your purposes.