The most importance and instinctive choice you make when you take a photograph of an animal is when to press the shutter. In that 1/500 of a second (or thereabouts!), the all important ‘expression’ is permanently captured.
The second choice for many of us, is what to do with the photo when we get it back on our computer and get to have a long, hard look at it. Often I have already decided how I want to process the photo, but occasionally you get one that has good enough light or base composition to play around with, and it is this final choice that defines how people will see that photo, and how you wanted to see the scene.
I had this dilemma (if you can call it that) with my recent image “Edge”. The Final Version, the version that defines the photograph for me, is this one:
Normally the “potential” versions never see the light of day, remaining unfinished and unused, but I have decided to show them, so here they are below .
So, sometimes learning to ‘see’ comes long after the shutter button has been clicked. Zoo photography rarely allows you to make many choices ‘in camera’, you are bound by enclosures that won’t change no matter how hard you wish it. So your choice comes later, it’s the second choice you make, but it will be the last thing your viewers see.
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