First Year Photography

Thanks to some help from some members here, I started my first year of "shooting" deer. I must say, it is a LOT of fun!!! We had a slow year, but this made it pretty exciting. These are no stx or Hwy_Man shots, but I'm happy with them for a cheap point and shoot camera. Future hopes are to up my camera budget and settings knowledge. It really makes me appreciate the awesomeness of God's canvas!!!

Love that last pic!

They all look really good....

nice. what camera setup do you have?

I got a Fujifilm FinePix S9900W at Hwy_Man's suggestion. I found one used on eBay for about $90. It is an automatic camera - I can't control many settings. I don't think it works totally correct. When zooming, I max out at 46x... anything beyond that and my autofocus will not focus. I do like that it uses AA batteries, as one of leases has no electricity.

Great pics...

I am no expert, I use a $70 point and shoot pocket camera. But I suggest you try a little photo editing, this was done with a free online editor.

I'll take all suggestions or help... Which editor do y'all recommend?

I actually just got a call from Walmart. That buck was shot by my 8 year old nephew - his first deer. I was going to have a picture printed for him, but the Walmart photo guy called to say that the picture looked "dull." I am a self-proclaimed AMATEUR!!!

I just used the one on my Chromebook. Maybe less "dull"???

Before:


After:

I used these 2 to do these pics.
https://www.befunky.com/create/
http://www.online-image-editor.com/

Black and White

Neat pics especially like the childs eye, your kiddo?

Dogcatcher,

I like those that you edited!!!

Yes, sir. My oldest daughter. She could care less about shooting anything, but loves to go. My youngest is going to be the hunter of bunch. She got a 22 for Christmas that she loves to shoot. I really cherish the time that I get to spend with them outdoors.

Where did you catch the monarchs?

At the house. They came through by the thousands this fall.

Nice pics!

So have we created a photo monster"???

Great start! You using a tripod or just resting on the window ledge in the blind?

In these photos, both. Most are on the window ledge, but the mule deer picture was from a BogPod with camera adapter. All but the closest of photos (under 50 yards - like the young 7 and the coyote) are slightly out of focus... to me anyway. The weird part is they can be crystal clear in the viewfinder, then as soon as I take the picture, the "negative" is slightly blurry - even trying my best not to influence the camera at all while pushing the shudder button. Maybe I'm just a real "jerk"???

A good tripod will help a lot. I would also try not to zoom in all the way when taking the pics. If the camera is high megapixel I would then crop the photo to the size I wanted later in photo editing.
The second photo is a cropped version of the first photo. Let the higher resolution photo be cropped to size you want.

Thanks for the insight...

The camera is advertised as 16.2MP. It has a 50x optical zoom plus a 2x digital option (for 100x total). Digital zoom is not an option at "deer" distances... the autofocus will not work.

For example, the first picture in the second set - the older 6 with the does... He is at around 250 yards. I was probably on 42x to 46x or so. Would you recommend not zooming that far and cropping the photo to get the "zoom?"

I may be expecting too much from a cheap camera??? I may need to just limit my distances...

Thanks again for all of the help.

you need better composition and understanding of light

I see lots of washed out