DSLR Photography Forum

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.
- Martin Buber

Animal photography can be both extremely challenging and very rewarding, whether its a crisp photo of a hawk in flight or our own pet caught in a moment that shows her true character.

We have some excellent wildlife photographers here, as well as many people with pets. Some people may even have some pet portraits that they can share -- I'd love to see it all.

I don't have many photos of wildlife, so here's some of the domesticated variety. My own two dogs:



And two of my brother's dog -- I had a couple of studio lights set up for something else, and quickly reconfigured them for portraits:

Unfortunately not new stuff and some of these I have certainly posted here before.

This is much more recent and newly uploaded.

Any number of pelicans where I live, this one seemed to be saying 'What's up Doc?'

Wow, beautiful pelican shot, Pat!

One from christmas...

Yep - the Pelican's a cracker!

These were shot about a week ago - 3 dogs that are owned by a homeless person who is living in a car at the moment. All the dogs are mongrels, also all very friendly and sociable, well cared for, well trained and obedient, clean and happy despite the current unfortunate circumstances.

First is called "Coco"



This one is called "Precious"



... and this one is called "Gypsy"




I gather here's some hope that the owner + dogs will soon be re-homed on or near a farm. Fingers crossed it'll all work out well for them!!

Polly

#1 Hope thats not a spider.


#2 Do you like my easter bonnet?

All great pictures...

I can't pick a favorite

Hey Polly,

I've known a couple of homeless people with dogs, they'd feed the dog before themselves. For them it's all the family they have sometimes.

Hey everyone some great shots here. Apologies for those that may have seen this photo of the buzzard before but it fits so well with the topic. Makes me scared when I look at it!



And another shot of this sleeping duck. Kind of strange image.

I like a lot to take pictures of animals.... and I have a lot, but for this assignment I wanted to take new ones. As it was beautiful today we (Lucky and I) took a trip to the garden and we saw this...

Blitz
One of my neighbours' pet. Not exactly Lucky's best friend, but they respect each other.




I was taking pictures of this tree when the fly stopped by to say Hi!!




Spring is here!!



Tomorrow I will take pictures from the front part of the house, there we have also some other friends.

Please take this with a grain of humor!

It's just that food is at the centre of attention and all effords for most people here, and few can afford to keep pets as their companions, so most of the time I see animals they are not alive anymore.
I spare you the real bloody shoots... :-)









For a happy ending, here is an older one of a friend's cat:

Oh my Gawd! I thought cat was on the menu until I saw the caption!

Great shots of life in China, doesn't look hygienic - do you buy your meat from these markets? Interested in where you buy your food and if you have had to change your diet.

Thanks, Uli, for some interesting and unexpected shots. I was reading your related thread in the Photojournalism forum as well, but stopped when I hit your disclaimer.... maybe I'll come back to that tonight.

And thanks everyone for sharing excellent and varied photos. I'm sorry that I haven't had the time to comment on them individually.

My mate Simba....


This was my first attempt using the continuous shutter....


Pelicans are always a favourite.....


This is Rhett, he seems to be saying...'frankly my dear, I don't give a damn...'

Water horse, slightly miffed..


So much for the aerobics. My legs are stuck.

NT73 Wrote:Water horse, slightly miffed..

I understand that hippos are pretty much always slightly miffed and are responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other species. Funny how we always portray them in cartoons and children's books as gentle, friendly, happy, and generally benign. Must be because they are so cute (seriously),

We have recently had a series on TV from a wildlife park. According to the programme, Hippos can run at around 30mph on land and they are at their most dangerous if you are between them and the water where they feel a little safer.
My one was in a zoo park in Fuerteventura and I think he was startled by us walking round the corner.
The pool erupted like a volcano and he was thrashing about up and down about 6 or 7 times, and then calmed down. When you see the size of them you are amazed as they have a small head on a huge body.
Maybe they are cute from 'Fantasia' in the ballet skirts.

There are some great photos here, my favourite would have to be the two giraffes.

the perspective is certainly surprising, looking at a giraffe....

The enclosure had a path running round three sides. At each end was a built up area where you could stand and look down. In between was at ground level and you get the normal perspective of "hey shorty!"
This one I named 'Van Gogh'

I must apologise as I don't post in this forum much. I don't get much free time to get out and take photos of specific assignments. But I thought I would post these couple of shots taken on my very fisrt digital camera - a Canon Pro 90 IS.




Cheers,

Chris

I still don't have any wild animals, but I was able to take a few of the domesticated variety today. All photos were taken with a telephoto lens (to avoid disturbing them in their natural environment) with the closeups all being at 400mm-equivalent. The camera was on a tripod and the light is a series of north-facing windows.

The girl contemplative:




The girl alert:




The boy concerned:




The boy at rest:




The pair together:

that no 3 is great Matthew!! these guys look very skinny, but I guess they are meant to be that way....

uli