Photographing animals

[Pratchettsmom]

William Wegman is a famous animal photographer. He did a particular breed of dogs, but don't know what kind. Here's a link to his bio: http://www.wegmanworld.com/about.html

Cathy P
Nikon D60, wide angle, mid range, telephoto, macro lenses

[k9mom]

Originally Posted by lisa

Not sure how famous he is but this guys good at animal photography: Ben Hall http://www.benhallphotography.com/ this goes straight to his gallerys http://www.benhallphotography.com/gallery.htm i know im impressed with his work and when i have the money and time im going to a local photography place where he offers a few days out taking pics!

Ben Hall's nature photography is unbelievable. But check out this photo of Ben in action. I will never reach this level of photography, having neither the equipment (my god, look at that lens!) nor the mettle (crawling through a swamp??!!)

[TenthDoctor]

Originally Posted by Pratchettsmom

William Wegman is a famous animal photographer. He did a particular breed of dogs, but don't know what kind. Here's a link to his bio: http://www.wegmanworld.com/about.html

Cathy P
Nikon D60, wide angle, mid range, telephoto, macro lenses

Ooh thanks!

Originally Posted by rbmartiniv

Try using a little catnip for action shots and crazy expressions.

Naaah. My cat does crazy expressions and action shots pretty well without the help of catnip. he's actually not too fond of the stuff for some reason.

Originally Posted by Tranquilize_Er

I like the last two pictures you took of your cat. I think I like them the most because they dont look as "staged" as the first two. I like taking pitures of animals as well, and I agree, its not the easiest thing in the world.

See, the whole staged thing, all but one of them were actually staged. My mom was off camera getting his attention, or I was getting his attention (in the last pic). the third one was spontaneous, he was semi-asleep on my bed, i just hopped on and took a pic. Although i guess that can also imply it's staged as well I guess.

Originally Posted by lisa

how did you get on with this? Found someone else in a mag the other day if you wanna know them?

Eh, allright. not too great a mark, but at least it's a passing mark and second highest in the class, so i guess it's allright. I needed the input for an essay, a final portfolio i was planning on doing. and we needed research, background stuff, esp how professional photographers do it, for our final portfolio; I couldn't find many professional animal, cat especially, photographers who discussed their art.

But, do let me know who you found, I'm still very much keen on the subject of animal photography even if i've picked another thing to do for my final portfolio (simply because I had to be out of the country on a family emergency and got the chance to shoot some (around 800) excellent landscape and landmark/monument photographs in Krasnodar (Sochi). ) I've yet to pick which 10 I'm gonna use! Heh

[TenthDoctor]

Originally Posted by k9mom

Ben Hall's nature photography is unbelievable. But check out this photo of Ben in action. I will never reach this level of photography, having neither the equipment (my god, look at that lens!) nor the mettle (crawling through a swamp??!!)

Holy cow! Now *that* is a lens!
and yeah, crawling through a swamp... not my idea of a fun time, but I guess that's why he is so good at what he does.

[k9mom]

Here are a couple of my favorite pro pet photographers, both local to my area (San Fran Bay Area). The first specializes in just dogs and does both environmental as well as studio work -- amazing work portfolio. The second is who I want to be when I grow up His work is incredible - he also shoots for many large commercial ad accounts, like Purina, etc.

Murphy Dog Studios

Gary Parker's CatDog Photography

[k9mom]

A "must have" for all who endeavor to photograph cats!

http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/supplies/b640/

[Rolling Stone]

I'm a big Art Wolf fan! A great nature photographer. Has a show on PBS stations also, so you can see him work. One of my faves.

[ham]

Just a thought. I love Macro photography. I have been working on getting very close up shots of any variety of animals; alligator's eye, white egret head, bee on a flower. I enjoy pics of animals but after a while they appear to be the same, shots from a zoo. I did really like the pic of the seal in the water in the above responses, the water & seal blended together (also just the head of the seal). I hope this makes sense & can help you.
Be sure to post pics you take so we can see.
ham

[matt6047]

Well one thing i find that works well with animals (I photograph horses and dogs) is running shots it works well because when they run (those two specifically) it makes them look happy and excited or even wild and brings out awesome features especially if shutter speed is slowed to about 1/40 and you follow them so that they are in focus while everything else is smudged more than blurred

[lisa]

Yeah i had seen that sort of pic of Ben in action! Over here he does days out where he helps you in action, things like a day out to the puffins/ seals ect ive got to go on one one day!

The other person i found was Tim Flach, they did a few page spread on him in Digital Camera mag in may 2008, they show some really amazing stuff! www.timflach.com His equine stuff is soooooo stunning!