Wild life shots

[iclayton]

Here are a couple of wild life shots from my vacation in South Africa.

Go wild ;) with the critique

Does anyone know how to set up color on PC monitors, I have 2 a LCD and CRT and the color is totally different between the two and I have no idea which one is right.

Thanks Iain.

[jcharris]

Hello Lain.

All three photos are very good , my favourite is the first one of the lion cub in the tree.
I like the composition of the one of the elephant and the colors are great.
What time did you took the one of the giraffe ? Looks like it could be around midday ?
If you could have that shot maybe later in the evening just before sunset the light is nearly at its best for photographing wildlife . But then again one do not always have that timelimit
to wait for sunset and you have to do whatever you can with the light available .

Btw where in South-Africa have you been ?

Hope to see more of your photos you took here .

Regards
james

[BamaFru]

As mentioned time of day is crucial...not that you always have a great deal of control over that! But DANG, these would have been twice as awesome later in the day...warm warm warm! Your rule of thirds played in here, but SOME rules are meant to be broken. (Cliché, I know, sorry.) I think these are pretty exciting even if the lighting wasn't perfect...

I know these would most certainly be proudly displayed in my keepsake albums. Maybe a little cropping for my personal taste would be in order on the elephant in the opposite direction.

Sorry, can't help you on the calibration question...try the help files on that one...the gurus are close at hand!

[JK_Photo]

My fave is the lion cub. Nice comp and the time of day hasn't affected it due to it being in the shade. Little crop off the top and the left side would tighten it and balance it even more in my opinion. The exp. is right on.
The giraffe is falling a little flat contrast-wise. Pump it a tad and you're there. It's a nice comp. though even in full sun.
Same with the elephant. Fine tune the contrast and it will come to life. Maybe next time you can get him barrelling towards you at full-speed a la Frans Lanting (I think he got that one - what hasn't he got?)
Nice shots.

[GB1]

I also think the lion cub is the best of the bunch, but all are very nice and together seem to compliment each other. I like how you filled the frame on the elephant and giraffe (I might have zoomed it out a but, but I like how you did it). The giraffe shot could use a bit more contrast, though not too much (you could add some using a paint pgm like PS).

About the monitor colors, I'm not sure if you can make them the same. There's inherent differences in technologies and brands (e.g., I always found Sony to be a warmer color). Tnks for posting the shots.

[Toronto iCANd]

I like the lion shot the best. The other two are of interesting subject, but the photos themselves are rather simple. Perhaps as sugested, later in the day would have yeilded better results.

Andrew

[CarbonTerry]

Try this:
http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

[iclayton]

Thank you all for the feedback I will try to remember to shoot the photos later in the day though the animals seem to know this and usually have their back to the sun which means that I end up trying to shoot directly into the sun

Pretty damn louse that I have to wait another 2 year to have a reshoot.

JCharris, I am originally from JHB, SA and try to get back every 2 or 3 years for a vacation. So I have been almost everywhere in SA except for Capetown though my favorite is Northern Transvaal.

CarbonTerry : Thanks for the link looks like it has some very good information on it.