Jumpers

Wildlife "action photos" are a little more challenging than sports photos -- not that sports photos are easy either. With wildlife -- as with sports -- the action often comes without warning and is quickly over. However with wildlife, you more often don't get a chance to position yourself for the best angle and frequently the action is away from you. I have countless photos of animal's "backsides" whose only value is to remind me of what I saw. In the three photos below, I had an idea that the animals would jump a fence. But even though I was ready with camera in hand, it was challenging to get the photo I wanted: The first, Mule Deer in Southcentral Oregon (the best of the three):

The next one, a female Moose in Northwestern Colorado (Also an example of how often a branch is in the way, either covering the animals face -- or changing the focus point. I would have also liked to have centered the moose a little better in the photo to be able to see the ground he was jumping from):

And, the last one, a female Elk in Northern Arizona (I was far away and it was very early morning so the lighting wasn't great. The result was loss of detail in the photo):

Tomorrow "running."