Amazing moments but bad shots?

[Hunter]

Am I the only one who witnesses amazing moments but does quite get the shot? Here are some examples of mine.
1. I live in one of only two places in the world with a population of white moose. Not to be confused with albino anomalies. In the 200 square miles around me. At any given time there are around a dozen of them. They have a pink hide. White fur. They are spotted grey. And have brown eyes. I live here year round and am lucky to see one a year at most. Just never got that perfect picture.

2. I ran into this beautiful black timber wolf spring 2010. And never got the amazing shot I wanted through the brush.

3. A beautiful lynx. I followed it from my boat for half a mile and got no good shots. I see lynx often in the winter. But a summer lynx is rarer and nearly unheard of to see one swimming. They hate water. It must have been flushed out of the bush by a big bear. Wolves. Or a cougar. It crossed the mile wide lake. I could not get closer due to the shallow rocky nature of the shore. I did get q few shots of it swimming. Because that was the rarest of shots. But it never came out. I'll never have the chance again I am sure.

Share your great moments that you barely missed out on.

[Iguanasan]

You are far from alone, Hunter. I've got tons of those kinds of shots though my subjects are not usually that interesting. Now, if you want to see some animal shots by people who were a tad bit more successful pop on over to 500px and check out some of the Animal and Nature shots.

Like this one: 500px / Photo "Northern Hawk Owl" by Axel Hildebrandt

Or this one: 500px / Photo "Mirror, mirror" by Jules Cox

Or this one: 500px / Photo "Belling for the girls" by Jeannette Oerlemans

Definitely inspire you to keep trying

[Hunter]

You are far from alone, Hunter. I've got tons of those kinds of shots though my subjects are not usually that interesting. Now, if you want to see some animal shots by people who were a tad bit more successful pop on over to 500px and check out some of the Animal and Nature shots.

Like this one: 500px / Photo "Northern Hawk Owl" by Axel Hildebrandt

Or this one: 500px / Photo "Mirror, mirror" by Jules Cox

Or this one: 500px / Photo "Belling for the girls" by Jeannette Oerlemans

Definitely inspire you to keep trying

I have used photographs for a long time in my life. I have felt that I have captured some interesting Moments.
Mountain lions taking down a cow moose. A loon catching and eating a 22+ inch lake trout. Otters fighting. Golden eagles at me feet.
I have to be honest. I have never seen, let alone taken, a picture so crisp and flawless as that owl looking into your lens.
I always knew I Only took shots for fun and as proof. That photo honestly change my perspective on what I may be able to do.
I have always just snapped when I passed something. I suppose that just relates to my profession.
But that put me in my place in the best way. I want to take a shot like that on day. I truly am Impressed. Profoundly.
Haha wow.
I have never done anything close to that. But I hope too.
Thank you for sharing what can be done! I suppose I should stop taking half my pictures from moving boats canoes cars and atvs. I should do it right.

[Hunter]

Iguanasan
I would far prefer a flawless picture of the neighborhood dog than a bad picture of a moose.
I want to be a better photographer.
My subject is not relevant to me.
I just want to learn and be better.
Truly.

[Iguanasan]

Iguanasan
I would far prefer a flawless picture of the neighborhood dog than a bad picture of a moose.
I want to be a better photographer.
My subject is not relevant to me.
I just want to learn and be better.
Truly.

Your heart is in the right place... just keep in mind, it will take time. I look at some of those images on 500px and all I can think is that, wow, my photos are crap. The only way to make them better is to keep practicing.

[Marko]

Hi Hunter - did you use autofocus for these shots?
If so, I highly recommend focusing manually for a while.
Autofocus can be great depending on your camera/subject matter.........but it can often fail miserably especially when tracking a moving subject with foliage in front of it....

and we've all missed fab shots - all of us.

[FuzzySlipper]

I am new to photography and have a lens that does not autofocus on my camera body. Only about 10% of my photographs are useable and I do not have the added challenge of climbing through the forest trying to take shots of animals that most likely run at the first sign of humans.
Those may be `missed` shots but I cant yet imagine being able to take such pictures myself.

[Hillbillygirl]

Really cool captures, even out of focus. Would love to catch a piebald moose some day myself.