Tip for photographing animals

I woke with a headache and various maladies so we're not going to drive the loop today. I think with it being as chilly as it is I'll end up all crickety and unhappy what with getting in and out of the truck dozens of times and getting frozen hands (I lost my fingerless gloves awhile back and haven't found a replacement).

Here's a pic from yesterday. I snapped everything handheld just to see how my camera and I would do. Here is a free tip.

Picture Takin' Tip and Trick

All critters run or fly away fast if they see a human approaching. There are exceptions, naturally. For instance, a black bear, a grizzly bear, a moose, or a mountain lion might come right toward you. I have no tip for dealing with that, except stay in the car in the first place!

For everything else that's cute, if you're in a vehicle and you spot a furry or feathered creature close by the road and you want a photo, if no cars are behind you, slow way, way down or even stop, but don't get out of the car. They're not afraid of cars and trucks! That's the tip. They're used to vehicles. What I do is roll down the window fast as I can and sit on the door if the animal is in front of us and snap best as I am able while my husband navigates. That's how I caught the horse above. But only people with good balance should try this. In all other cases, put your camera on Sports Mode (people will argue but it works for me), put all distractions out of your mind, concentrate fully on focusing and not shaking, and just shoot out your side window when you see animals on your side of the road. You might get a memorable shot.

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I've been practicing silhouettes. At the campground we winter at I didn't get a chance to drive out to any good silhouette locations so I got a lot of creosote bushes pretty much. Here, there's open range and so the animals can cross the road. It's a delight! The soil is so red here that in the afternoon if there are big clouds, we saw the bottom of the clouds reflect a light pinkish hue.

If this photo had an awesome sky I'd be satisfied.