This was an ideal situation for backlight, and it almost 
caught us off guard.  We were in Death Valley shooting 
scenics, when this coyote family began howling just 
before sunset.  It was all we could do to switch lenses 
in time to catch some of the action.  We were shooting 
several degrees off directly into the sun, and the 
backlight made the mesquite leaves and the dust 
kicked up by the coyotes glow gold.  The backlight 
also gave the coyotes a nice rim light, and by placing 
the animals against the darkest part of the background, 
the rim light helped highlight the subjects.

Front light is usually ideal for showing off both color 
and behavior, and it's hard to find a more colorful 
subject than roseate spoonbills in breeding colors.  
Having them engaged in courtship activities was just 
icing on the cake.  For us, the shadow of the open 
bill is what helps make the image special.  Hopefully 
Louisiana and Texas will have similar surprises waiting 
for us this year.

Showing the weather is another good way to 
add interest to wildlife photos.  We were 
driving through Custer State Park in South 
Dakota on a drizzly day in October when 
the rain turned to big flakes of snow.  It was 
the perfect opportunity for photographing 
bison.  Direct sun would have resulted in 
too much contrast between the dark animals 
and the bright background.  The bison 
didn't want to lift their heads out of the 
willows, but with some patience, it was 
possible to get the shots we wanted.  And 
the fading colors of the willows also tells 
what the season is.

Getting close to wild animals is something to be careful 
of.  Walking up to an animal, like a mountain goat, is 
a good way to chase it away.  If it can't escape, you'll 
either end up over-stressing the creature, endangering 
yourself or both.  However, there are times when the 
magic works.  Usually it is because the animal approaches 
a photographer who is standing or sitting still.  We were 
photographing alpine wildflowers when this mountain 
goat fed right up to us.  The goats on Mt. Evans are 
habituated to people.  Here I wanted to show the detail 
in what the animal was doing--eating flowers.  And they 
were tiny flowers, so I had to be in close.  In these situations, 
I can't stress enough that you must be aware of your impact 
on the subject.  This mountain goat was obviously paying 
no attention to me.

I like this shot even more than the previous one 
because it shows better detail of the goat's nose 
and the flowers.  The previous image includes all 
of the animal's horns, but I like the hoof in this 
one and the pink dwarf clovers are more colorful 
than the spring beauties that dominated the flowers 
in the previous image.  Anyone who disagrees 
obviously knows nothing about wildlife photography.  
Just kidding.  It's a very subjective thing.  Don't let 
anyone use technical terms to talk you into liking 
or disliking a particular image.

The situation doesn't happen often, but when I can use a wide-angle 
lens effectively with a wildlife subject, I love to do so.  The Columbia 
groundsquirrels at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park are very 
habituated to people, and it is possible with them.  I was laying in 
trail beside this hole, and I was using a 17-35mm lens.  The 
groundsquirrel was less than 2 feet away.  A shot like this shows the 
animal's relationship with its environment, and if the environment 
is a beautiful one, like Glacier, it makes it even better.  I would 
have preferred to put the animal against a background that made 
it stand out better, but I still like the feeling of the image.

This is an image Cathy took during the ICF Pro-Tour 
Contest in Texas, and it illustrates the importance of 
knowing your subject.  I had known for decades that 
scorpions glow under ultraviolet light.  Scientists look 
for them at night this way, and the Desert Museum in 
Tucson has a neat exhibit showing this very thing.  This
was our first chance to put this knowledge to use, and 
we purchased a UV light expressly to photograph scorpions.  
This was a situation in which a digital shooter would have 
an advantage over a film shooter because digital is more 
sensitive to light.  And even with digital, at an ISO of 1600,
we were using shutter speeds around 1/4 second.  By the way, 
it was just a happy coincidence that the lichen on the rock 
also glowed under a UV light.