We've talked a bit in the past about what makes an effective wildlife or animal image, including a discussion on how important it is that the eyes be in focus, and how important it is to ensure there is a catchlight to add life to the animal's eyes. We've also very briefly discussed the fact that images that illustrate a behavior or interaction between animals are always more interesting and engaging. This assignment concentrates on capturing an interesting behavior of your subject. Don't forget about the other aspects that also contribute towards a successful image, such as isolating your subject from a busy background, or "telling a story" with the image.
I've included a couple of examples for this assignment. The first image is of a mountain goat kid and mom touching noses. To set the context for this image, I had been attempting to photograph the mountain goat kid for several minutes, and it was full of energy and bounding all over the place. It wouldn't sit still for even a moment. In the process of bounding from rock to rock, it bounced over to a rock next to it's mom, briefly touched noses, and then bounded on to play with the other kids in the herd. I managed to capture the image only because I was actively following the kid in my viewfinder, with my finger poised on the shutter release, waiting for the right moment to snap the shutter. I only had one chance, and then the mountain goat bounded on.
Mountain Goat Kid and Mom
The second image of a bull elk was photographed recently while we were at Rocky Mountain National Park. For most of the time while we were watching this bull elk, he was either resting, or running after his harem of cows to herd them back into a tight knit group. Every now and then he would get up to answer a bugle from another bull challenging in the distance. This was one of the few shots I managed when the elk was standing still enough for the slow shutter speed and in front of a background that wasn't a distracting jumble of dead trees. There are several reasons I consider this a successful image, but the most important is that it captures an interesting behavior of the bull elk bugling.
Bull Elk Bugling, Rocky Mountain National Park
The assignment for the week of 27 September - 3 October 2010 is "Behavior." You should strive to compose an image that illustrates an interesting behavior. Although my examples are of wildlife, images of domestic animals or even people are welcome, as long as the image captures an interesting behavior or tells a story.
NOTE: Since we will be traveling throughout the remainder of September and the first week in October, and will have very limited internet access, I have posted the assignment topics for those three weeks, but will most likely delay the voting and results and feedback threads until after our return home in the first week in October.
Please post you images to the "Behavior" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the gallery. Since several of us will be traveling when the assignment submissions will normally be due, I've extended the deadline for uploading the images until midnight Mountain Time (GMT - 07:00) on Sunday, 10 October 2010.
I'll look forward to seeing your images.
Keith
