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35 Beautiful Examples Of Animals Photography
Animal photography is probably one of the most dangerous types of photography. The outcome totally depends on the skills of photographer and the time when the shot is taken. A photographer who uses good exposure, color and blur settings along with appropriate shutter speed and focusing techniques can produce stunning photographs.
Animal photographers have to be prepared and be ready for the unknown. They need to study action and language of animals to know every move. Many animal photographers use camouflage to hide themselves and to give photographs a natural and “natural” look. When shooting in wildness, photographers usually shoot with long telephoto lenses from a distance.
Below we feature 35 beautiful examples of animal photography, photos of wild, tamed and other animals. All photographs are linked and lead to the source – the respective photographers. Do not forget to explore further works of these talented photographers. Please notice that the collection presented below is supposed to only give you some inspiration, it can and should be extended; please feel free to suggest links to further resources in the comments to this posts.
You may be interested in the following related posts:
- 50 Stunning Examples Of Reflective Photography
- 60 Beautiful Examples Of Night Photography
- 50 Stunning Underwater Photos
- 25 Beautiful Macro Photography Shots
- 35 Beautiful Examples Of Rain Photography
[Offtopic: by the way, have you already visited Smashing Magazine's Facebook fan page? Join the community for a stream of useful resources, updates and giveaways!]
Beauty Of Animal Photography
Last Click
Further Resources and Sources
- Animals in Love
- Flickr Group: The Wildlife Photography
- Flickr Group: Nature, wildlife and outdoors
- Flickr Group: Wildlife of the world
- Flickr Group: Indian Wildlife Club
- Flickr Group: California Wildlife
- Flickr Group: Wildlife Photography
- National Geographic Animal Photo Galleries
- Photographers Gone Wild Fllickr Pool
- Nature’s Finest Flickr Pool
- Nature Photographs Flickr Pool
- Spectacular Animals Flickr Pool
- Animal Kingdom Flickr Pool
Tim Mercer is a photography enthusiast, graphic designer, artist and blogger. His blog offers free resources for the digital artist and graphic designer, as well as tutorials, artist interviews, inspiration and more.
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February 15th, 2009 2:53 pmAmazing. Would be great if the type of camera etc. could be displayed.
Great collection again. - 3
February 15th, 2009 3:11 pmVery nice and inspiring images. I was recently at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition in London and I was able to see some absolutely stunning examples of wildlife photography. The only problem I often have with these kind of selections is that people usually go for the cute and cuddly side of things. My favourite wildlife images are the raw, wild ones that show an animal in it’s often unforgiving and brutal environment.
My dad is a photographer and over the last couple of years has been getting heavily into the wildlife side of things. You can see some of his work (which includes landscape and portraits too) over at his website
Overall though a very inspiring gallery. I particularly like the Eagle and the Bat.
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February 15th, 2009 3:17 pmGreat pics! Shooting animals never easy. And only photography! Never hunting…
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February 15th, 2009 3:33 pmBeautiful
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February 15th, 2009 3:45 pmI could NEVER take photos like this even with the right gear, so people who can, I admire you, but the picture of the dog as an example of ‘Beautiful’ photography. Not so sure on that one.
Gotta love Reyes pic of the monkey. Great moment captured in b&w. No colour needed there to convey the beauty in that shot.
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February 15th, 2009 4:14 pmWHERE ARE THE SQUIRELLS??
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February 15th, 2009 6:23 pmFull of life.
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February 15th, 2009 7:02 pmBeautiful…
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February 15th, 2009 7:08 pmawesome collection…..
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February 15th, 2009 7:09 pmYes more squirrels!
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February 15th, 2009 7:30 pmI especially liked the picture of the crane with sunset background. Beautiful!
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February 15th, 2009 8:41 pmWawoo really great collection :)
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February 15th, 2009 9:01 pmThis is amazing. Some of them are so perfect that they do not even look real. Truly stunning photography!
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February 15th, 2009 9:05 pmbreathtaking work. each and every one.
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February 15th, 2009 9:34 pmGreat collection! Awesome captures.
Nature has sooooooo many beautiful colors!! - 17
February 15th, 2009 10:47 pmi love animals – long live animals. nature truly is the base inspiration for the greatest in design. every image in this set is a GEM! Thank you.
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February 15th, 2009 11:34 pmAmazing!
My favorit german photographer:
http://www.april-design.de/
I love her shots. - 19
February 16th, 2009 12:03 amTruly Awesome captures/pics
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February 16th, 2009 12:25 amThe one marked as “unknown” is part of Tim Flach’s portfolio the photos below link to his website which include the picture,
Great collection all round
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February 16th, 2009 1:09 amWAAAAT! No guinea pigs? :o
Those cute little buggers are so terribly underrepresented. ;_;
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February 16th, 2009 1:42 amSome really great photos there, especially of the lion, just love lions – I have always liked this one Link as well.
My only query would be how much after processing was done for each photo. Having seen so many photos RAW to used it is quite amazing to see the difference from original to end product, seems there is no truth to any photos these days – but I guess that is why they call photography art :)
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February 16th, 2009 2:08 amWooo! Amazing.
I can’t believe how beautiful the Owls are!
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February 16th, 2009 2:55 amGreat Collection, I really liked the Toucans eye photo.
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February 16th, 2009 3:37 amAmazing!
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February 16th, 2009 4:14 amAnimal photography is probably one of the most dangerous types of photography
Really? Don’t you mean can be one of the most dangerous types of photography?
Sorry for being a pedant – nice photos :)
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February 16th, 2009 5:07 amwow.. thatz amazing… i love the lions pic
good stuff, four thumbs for ya - 28
February 16th, 2009 5:11 amThis is a spectacular collection. I especially liked the bat and the eyes of an aligator. I admire people who not only venture into wild but also take wonderful pictures there. thanks :)
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February 16th, 2009 5:43 amhmmm… I don’t think wildlife photography is dangerous ;-)
I practise aerian photography with ultra light plane and this one is really dangerous ! Not photographying bears or roe deers…
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February 16th, 2009 7:00 amThese are very nice photos, but I would like to know which of them, if not all of them, are HDR. High Dynamic Range photos to a true nature photographer is cheating. A picture should tell a story, not lie. What the photographer saw is not what is represented.
There is a difference between cleaning up a shot and using HDR to completely change the shot.
All my photographs are true shots. Exposure, and noise reduction may be used, but no extreme photoshop tricks. - 31
February 16th, 2009 7:21 amvery nice, love the ladybird!
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February 16th, 2009 8:02 amAre they real? no photoshop?
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February 16th, 2009 8:48 amthe racooon seems to simple – but i really like the elephants, you can tell they are using a lighting system.. my favorite has to be the crane in the sun- Camera settings have to be perfect and timing aswell- great shot!
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February 16th, 2009 9:57 amVery good, I love the greyscale monkey on the black background…very creative.
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February 16th, 2009 10:02 amThis site is absolutely amazing.
You are the best!!! I have been visiting this site regularly for about a year almost every day and I just can’t thank you enough for your help.Thank you very much!!!
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February 16th, 2009 11:52 am#30 Dan said it right. None of those pictures are natural. They’ve all had Photoshop trickery done to them because the colors are not natural. I myself work in photography and photoshop, and can pick it out no matter how well it is hidden. A kid with a camera in his phone can take a picture like this, and use photoshop to add the colors and lighting in for the effect these have. Please stop encouraging these people for not really having any skill. It takes away from the people who do.
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February 16th, 2009 1:10 pmOMG. PON1ES !!
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February 16th, 2009 1:12 pmThanks for including my photo in this list!
To answer a few of the comments, I corrected the exposure and nothing more. I used a 50mm/1.8, was sitting about 2 feet from the bird and spent 20 minutes baiting him closer and closer.
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February 16th, 2009 1:14 pmbeautiful photos. amazing.
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February 16th, 2009 1:34 pmI like especially the birds pictures. Very colorful.
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February 16th, 2009 3:06 pmthanks for great compilation
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February 16th, 2009 3:10 pmWent to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natual History Museum in London last week, below is one picture that i thought absolutely stunning.
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February 16th, 2009 3:18 pmaaww. the pictures are so beautiful. thanks for sharing. :)
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February 16th, 2009 3:35 pmnice post
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February 16th, 2009 3:37 pmThanks for Putting my Eagle shot in,Only photoshop used was to crop and slightly darken the bushes behind the bird,#36 Meilican i would love to see these shots your talking about kids/mobile phones i really dont think so!!!
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February 16th, 2009 6:53 pmThank you for including my Merlin the Lion King picture. This was taken using available natural light in the afternoon behind a glass window at the Philadelphia zoo. It was cropped and sharpened; it’s not an HDR and no Photoshop ‘tricks’ were used. This lion truly is as proud as he looks here.
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December 2nd, 2009 12:50 amhi?
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February 16th, 2009 8:29 pmAwesome photographs.
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February 16th, 2009 10:09 pmsuper picture
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February 17th, 2009 2:22 amI love animals. And I really like the pictures shown here. I spent a lot of my time taking pictures of my pug.
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February 17th, 2009 2:27 amAmazing photographs. I want to know if they are edited after shot or not.
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February 17th, 2009 7:19 amGreat collection! The pictures are so amazing!
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February 17th, 2009 8:13 amA lot of these pictures are very nice.
They do have sharp contrast and vivid colors.
These days contrast is king.
I prefer black and white and less contrast but this is only a matter of taste.Most photographers are showing great skills notwithtanding my personal taste.
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February 17th, 2009 8:15 amoh shit wonderful photos
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February 17th, 2009 9:17 amIn my blog recently today i publish a post with wild animals photos in black and white from the portafolio of nick brandt.
is a amazing gallery i hope you like so than this amazing collection of SM is great.
animales salvajesbest regards…
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February 17th, 2009 9:28 amGordy, Terrie, and Nathan… no doubt you three didn’t cheat on photoshop. Not sure about the chameleon, the first pink pelican, the orangutan, the ladybug, and the sunset bird though. To me, those backgrounds are just too good to be true.
PS. I’m in love with all of the eye close-ups. Especially the crocodile. - 57
February 17th, 2009 10:09 amIf you think that this is beautiful, wait to see it useing God’ Eyes.
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February 17th, 2009 1:15 pmBeautiful x2
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February 17th, 2009 2:13 pmAnyone that says that Animal Photography is dangerous probably hasn’t spent much time shooting punk gigs.
The main things that could add to the danger are the type of the animal, and the political situation in the country where those animal photos need to be taken.
Maybe you guys should do a feature on live music photography, would be happy to chat to you about experiences/technicalities of doing the job.
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February 17th, 2009 4:46 pmThank you Alice,Any one else can see my other Eagle shots just by clicking on my name above the shot,My photostream has the shot before and after the Scream!!! LOL Thanks to all that have viewed my shot’s
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February 18th, 2009 6:40 am“High Dynamic Range photos to a true nature photographer is cheating.”
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All you folks who claim using HDR techniques is “cheating”…it’s painfully obvious you have never worked in a real darkroom. Never pushed your film, never dodged and burned, strictly “straight” photography, eh? Took your film to the drugstore or sent it off to York, eh? Never, EVER did ANY manipulation to ANY of your images, eh? Not even a ND filter, eh? I won’t even bring up the stupid “camera phone” crack. That was just plain ignorant. - 62
February 18th, 2009 10:24 amAwww, so cute! Beautiful…
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February 18th, 2009 11:27 amSome superb images here thats for sure..
My image of the “Toucans Eye” was almost as shot…..just a levels tweak thats all.
I’m pleased its on display but would have liked to have been asked for permission first.
Other images of mine can be seen at http://roberttaylor.smugmug.com/ - 64
February 18th, 2009 12:14 pmI would add this photo taken by Åsmund Seeberg as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vasano/3066573844/Amazing Lizard photo!
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February 18th, 2009 8:07 pmoh my.. beautiful photos, more cats please the bigger the better :D
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February 18th, 2009 8:45 pmwhat a beautiful !
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February 18th, 2009 11:06 pmgreat pics…
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February 18th, 2009 11:56 pmGreat pictures,
Thanks - 69
February 19th, 2009 9:52 pmdamn the croc photo was intensely good.
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February 21st, 2009 8:35 pmWow!! so amazing n stunning photographs..! you guys always smash.!
thanks for this post ! :)
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February 23rd, 2009 2:08 amWhat the fuck is “Animals Photography?”
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February 24th, 2009 9:24 pmAmazing!! Just wondering whether the photos had been digitally re-processed…
Willy Yanto Wijaya
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February 25th, 2009 10:28 amPlease have a look at the stunning photos from Nick Brandt at his web page (http://www.nickbrandt.com/). You will be impressed!
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February 25th, 2009 1:09 pmMakes me want to go out and take some pictures.
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February 26th, 2009 5:53 amA great collection of images. Thank you for the show case.
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February 27th, 2009 10:57 pmThese are great shots, and I am really impressed that you took the time to flag the name (or flickr name) of the photographer, with links. Most bloggers don’t take that small courtesy. So, I’ll be back to view more later!
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March 1st, 2009 8:02 amwonderful …
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March 4th, 2009 5:40 pmwow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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March 5th, 2009 8:52 amI love it. Now that I have grandkids, I find that taking time with them to pour over the amazing pictures of God’s creation online… is time well spent! (I hadn’t taken time for that for awhile, so this is good).
I’m amazed at what a big impression it makes on my 4-year-old grandson, too. He says, “Grandma, let’s find more cool pictures of animals online!” - 80
March 6th, 2009 8:39 pmits very beautiful images of the net
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March 7th, 2009 8:15 amIt would be so nice if man could be as peaceful as these animals . To them color does not matter. We would all live such better lives.
Great Photos. No matter fixed or not still nice to look at. Thanks - 82
April 12th, 2009 4:28 amPhotographs look good. But lots of photoshop in place – which makes them more works of digital art rather than photographs.
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May 1st, 2009 9:48 amThanks for posting my picture of a Douc Langur, however it says I am unknown and their is someone else stamp on the bottom of it..when you click on it it does say, “god Bless” by Cheri…..I am not on that website and a little confused as why it has that stamp on it…
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May 7th, 2009 3:56 pmI adore the ladybug pictre. It’s so cute.
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May 17th, 2009 1:19 amits really very beautiful images. Thanks
Good luck - 86
May 21st, 2009 1:01 amwonderful!
I was really surprise! - 87
May 27th, 2009 11:09 pmits so beautiful and i am happy to see those pictures.
thanks - 88
September 24th, 2009 6:48 amit is amazing , i am spellbound.
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September 24th, 2009 6:53 ami am a true animal lover,it’s amazing so i am spellbound.
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October 2nd, 2009 7:38 amWhat the heck!!!!!NO KOALAS!!! how dare you!!! Im done with you people. have a horrible day!`
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October 14th, 2009 11:49 pmwow great pictures, its so beautiful and i am happy to see those pictures.
thanks for ur best animal pics - 92
November 7th, 2009 9:46 amrealy this is amezing
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December 31st, 2009 1:55 amThey are really awesome , i like
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February 6th, 2010 10:22 pmrealy this is amezing
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February 21st, 2010 12:06 amAbsolutely breathtaking! All of these photos are amazing! Bravo
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February 26th, 2010 12:44 pmthese are so beautiful wow this is so impressive
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Beautiful, I recently bought a DSLR camera, and these have given me some great ideas.