I’m doing something a little different for this post than my others. Our photography was given the task to reflect on our wildlife photography and the photos we have taken over the course of the field trip. So without further ado, here are some of my most significant reflections throughout this assignment.

I had a very nice time these past few trips down to the trail, and always have fun whenever I make the visits. I feel that I have had a lot of good experiences as well as some interesting learning accidents. One of the biggest challenges I had whilst doing this project was being fast enough to capture the wildlife in motion. I have had a difficult time spotting the bird in flight, getting out my camera and turning it on, then checking the settings to make sure they fit with the lighting. Usually, I am too late by the time I check everything, or forget about the last step and have bad quality images that are not something I am pleased with. Something that would help me to create better shots would be to be faster and more accurate when it comes to taking photos of birds in flight. It would help if all of my settings were preset and I could see the bird coming so I could get ready to take a good photograph.

A second challenge that I encountered was the lighting. Though on some days it was exemplary, most of the time the lighting was bad. Especially when it is an overcast day, and the weather is taking a turn for the worst, the colors are less sharp and much more flat and dull. It is difficult to fix this when in the field taking photographs and is something that can only really be fixed in a good photo editor, and even then, the photos can still sometimes be bad.  I guess that the only way I could get better photos would be to have a better camera or to go to the trail on a day that has better lighting and more sun. A day that when the perfect bittern shows up in a wonderful spot close to the trail basking in the sunlight.

A third and final challenge I  have had when shooting wildlife would be my focal length. It is quite difficult when my lens does not reach a certain point where I can clearly see a given animal. With my lens, the given creature I am trying to photograph must be relatively close to the edge of the trail. It is sometimes frustrating when I see the perfect photo opportunity, but am unable to get close enough to the subject to get a nice shot of it. The only way I can really make these photos better would be to buy a nicer lens, or to randomly go to the trail on a great day when all the wildlife is accumulated close to the trail’s edge. For the most part, this problem is out of my hands.

Lastly, I would like to mention some things that I am looking to accomplish the next time I venture down to the trail. I did not say this before but in terms of lens length, my dad recently purchased a nicer lens with a longer focal length that he is willing to let me use. My last problem listed above can most likely be fixed by the use of this lens. The first thing that I am looking to accomplish is to get closer to the animals and to capture them clearly while being equally close to them. I would really like to do this so I can get more detailed photos of the wildlife. A second thing that I would really like to accomplish is to get better photos with nicer lighting. A way that I can do this is to have the sun to my back, facing the given animal which I am trying to photograph. This is the greatest thing that I can hope to accomplish, even over getting closer to the animals. Overall, these are the main things that I would like to accomplish during my next visit to the trail. If you have read all the way to the end of this, I am genuinely impressed with your endurance. On the other hand, if you have simply scrolled to the bottom of this page and are reading strictly these ending sentences, I am disappointed in you, and you should be too.