Monday in Nature/Nature Unlimited Request

I would really like to know the species when pictures of wildlife, particularly birds, are posted.

I'm thinking there may be others that share my sentiment.

Happy holidays, all.

Rod, it's fine to let people know that species identification is appreciated. If endorsed by Shun, our threads' moderator, I may add that suggestion to the intro text. However, my own experience is as an architect and photographer, not as a botanist, and it can take 4-5 times the effort for me to correctly identify a species as it does to prepare and post the image. I'd rather not add a requirement, or even a strong recommendation, that contributors correctly identify the subjects of their posts. This is, after all, a photography forum, not a botanical exercise. Thank you for your engagement and participation. It is sincerely appreciated.

I think it would be difficult to require everybody who posts to identify the species, but we can certainly suggest people to do so. In my case, if I post something unusual, as once in a while I visit some far corners of the earth to photograph, I would identify the species. But if it is something common around North America, e.g. great blue herons, great egrets, brown pelicans, etc. etc., I might not do so. I do aware that something very common to me is not necessarily common for someone who lives in a different continent.

 

On the other hand, if you have questions about any image, please feel free to ask for bird or animal ID. I find that most people here are more than happy to share.

 

Stay safe and happy holidays.

 

P.S. Years ago I was with a photo group from the US visiting Kangaroo Island in Australia. We saw a wallaby (essentially a smaller type of kangaroo) on road side. A few of us quickly set up 500mm lenses on tripods to photograph it. Some locals walked by and asked what we were doing. I am sure wallabies are like squirrels in the US. They thought us tourists were crazy and walked away.

Edited December 22, 2020 by ShunCheung

Yeah, me too. I do try to post IDs of critters, plants, etc WHEN I KNOW THEM.

 

It would also be nice if people would post the name of the artist of a painting or such, when known.

 

 

On the other hand, some people pictures are best left unidentified unless they are "public" people, aren't they?

 

For a time, before the courts struck it down, it was against the law in Illinois to photograph the police

Edited December 22, 2020 by JDMvW

I think it would be difficult to require everybody who posts to identify the species, but we can certainly suggest people to do so. In my case, if I post something unusual, as once in a while I visit some far corners of the earth to photograph, I would identify the species. But if it is something common around North America, e.g. great blue herons, great egrets, brown pelicans, etc. etc., I might not do so. I do aware that something very common to me is not necessarily common for someone who lives in a different continent.

 

On the other hand, if you have questions about any image, please feel free to ask for bird or animal ID. I find that most people here are more than happy to share.

 

Stay safe and happy holidays.

 

P.S. Years ago I was with a photo group from the US visiting Kangaroo Island in Australia. We saw a wallaby (essentially a smaller type of kangaroo) on road side. A few of us quickly set up 500mm lenses on tripods to photograph it. Some locals walked by and asked what we were doing. I am sure wallabies are like squirrels in the US. They thought us tourists were crazy and walked away.

I guess there are more people that DON’T share my sentiment. For me the photography and the learning go together. And I was thinking it would be something people could do voluntarily if they knew the species or wanted to learn it before posting. Some already do it. But I understand this is a photography forum and appreciate the reasons suggested for not doing this.

Edited December 25, 2020 by Rod Sorensen

I guess there are more people that DON’T share my sentiment. For me the photography and the learning go together. And I was thinking it would be something people could do voluntarily if they knew the species or wanted to learn it before posting. Some already do it. But I understand this is a photography forum and appreciate the reasons suggested for not doing this.

Rod, I have no idea how many people share your sentiment. I am all for including the species' name, but that is more voluntary rather than something we can require people to do. Once in a while we need to remind people what nature photography is and we only allow one contribution image per person per these weekly (or twice-a-week) thread.

 

We try to moderate the forum as little as we can, and if I do, I do that in the background. The atmosphere in the forum can go south very quickly otherwise.

 

Again, don't be shy. Please ask if you have questions about a species in an image. Perhaps when there are more questions, people will recognize that it is important to include the names.

+1 to Shun's.

David and Shun, I think you may be misreading Rod's post. He wrote he "would like to know species"; he did not write it should be made a requirement. I agree with him I, too, would like to know it, but I don't think it should be a requirement.

 

I would like to know the shooting data, too. I don't think that should be a requirement either; although it would be nice if photo.net made the EXIF data available as Flickr seems to.

I think we are all talking about the same issue. There are a few data point that are often of interest, at least to me:

• Species in the image, if any
  
• Location
  
• Date and time, since nature photography is often seasonal, and timing is important. Potentially 7am could be very different from 8am
  
• Lens, aperture and shutter speed info, perhaps camera body also
  

Sometimes such info is sensitive. E.g. if there is an endangered or sensitive species, you don’t necessarily want to disclose the location or photographers could flood that place.

 

In any case, is anyone chooses to, I think providing some or all of the info I outlined above could be of interest, at least to some. But it does take a bit of effort to look it all up.

Below is a recent image (from earlier this month) of a nature photography hot spot not far from where I live. The local park service stocks the lake with trout for amateur fishing. However, the birds also get to feast there. I think most photographers are waiting for an osprey that visits the lake almost daily. Words about these photo ops get around quickly, especially on social media. Essentially everybody is wearing a mask there, but the lack of social distancing, especially on the right side below the parking lot, is troubling to me.