I've got to go with this Doll Sheep from Denali. It was on my honeymoon for starters and after a long hike up a big hill/small mountain we spent about 30 minutes sitting 20 feet from 7 rams. This memory will always be with me.
Amazing pictures here. Here's 1 from me. Photographing Royal Bengal Tigers in the wild was my dream especially ever since I saw one Tiger in the wild last year (for 30 seconds). This year, it happened...I achieved Tiger Nirvana (well, almost).
#1 EYE CONTACT
This is my personal favorite since I was on an elephant back, with two cameras dangling from my neck, everything was moving, my legs were 6 feet from the ground. This beautiful male Tiger was walking towards us, coming out of the shadows(about 30 feet away) . I hit the 5 FPS on my lowly 30D/400mm(handheld) and only got this 1 portrait shot in the frame, the moment was just perfect to get the Tiger's eyes light up with sunlight. Who knew a Tiger could have green eyes ? :-). The situation was a bit tough with another Tiger in the vicinity. The sheer fact that a mere few thousand roam in the wild today also makes this a very precious picture for me.
Shasoc wrote:
Hi Laura I was waiting for you "annual" thread. Great shot, BTW.
This is my favorite 2008 shot because it reminds me when I had water in my backyard. Now, after the drought, there is only mud, weeds and no birds.
Socrate
This is one great shot Socrate. How did you manage to keep both the subject and BG properly exposed?
martines34 wrote:
Nello:
Is that duck somehow related to the wood duck??
Spectacular shot.
Glad you liked it!
Close but not quite...that's a male Mandarin duck in breeding plumage
You can read more about it here if you're interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_duck
I've just got my DSLR a few months ago. I hope I will approach the extraordinary quality of the pictures posted in this tread a little closer next year....
I just want to say Welcome to the forum to Jeroen at the same time as I have to say this is an amazing thread. Everyone has posted amazing shots. At this time I can't say I've even picked my favorite shot of the year. I don't know which one that would be. I think I'm too close to my photographs...... Probably why I'm having such a problem with my book.
Wow, there are so many wonderful shots on this thread.
Here's my own best effort for 2008, a shot taken on the Zambesi river during a short stay in Zambia earlier this year. I've wanted to get a good shot of a Kingfisher for quite a while, so I couldn't believe my luck when this female Giant African Kingfisher stayed on this dead branch long enough for me to get a few frames off.
Great shots everyone!!! My favorite bird photo from this year is of a Ruby Crowned Kinglet. I found these little guys bouncing around in tree, so went into my home and grabbed the camera. After waiting awhile one decided to sit still, thus giving me a few photos:
I started taking bird pics stating in May 2008. I have some shots that I think are terrific, but I maybe bias. It comes down to 3 very different birds, but this one is one of my favorites. This is a captive male Goshawk that is used by a local falconer for hunting.
