I like some of these shots, but they are cropped a little too tight for me - particularly the owl and hawk. What did you shoot with, and can you recrop the pics?

 

The camera is an Olympus C750UZ.


Not cropped photo's of the Sharpshin that was hunting in my back yard:






Not cropped photo's of the Barred Owl that I was able to get within 10 ft. of on 2
seperate occasions:

 

The tight crops are fine, imo.

caterpillar shot is the best of the bunch; vibrant colors, sharp, well framed, nice bokeh.

 

There's nothing wrong with tight crops but in the shot on the left the owl's head is "hitting" the edge of the the photo, while on the right the owl doesn't look so caged. You could also get even tighter on the owl's face, but to me the first crop was one of those places a where you don't want to stop.

I really like how you have the owl's attention and it didn't fly off. The catepillar is a great shot too.

 

would've worked better in portrait mode =)

 

I think the tight crop on the chipmunk/squirrel are fine, as there is action in the shot.

I like the shot of the caterpillar as well as the other insect.

I like the sharpshin on the fence (not the cropped one where there is no room for it to move in the shot).

I think a super tight crop on the owls face/eyes would be cool.

 

You have some good shots here. One thing you might want to experiment with is off-center composition.. A lot of people try and center their subjects and this makes for a photo that in some cases is lifeless. Add tension to your images by experimenting with compositions that you normally wouldnt use and you migth be surprised with what you get.

Below are some examples of fauna that I have taken (notice that they aren't all dead center)










Would love to see some of your shots when you are done!

 

A couple of other general tips - eye height is the best/most flattering height to take a shot of any kind of animal (including humans)

And making the eyes the focus point usually results in the most engaging shots.

Unless you're deliberately taking a photo of a claw or something.

 

Very good point!