Captive Animals can sometimes be the easiest or hardest subjects, depending upon the facilities you are visiting.

Accessibility - Many of these animals are either kept in enclosures that are far away and have to be shot with a zoom lens, or they are behind glass with smudges and smears. Don’t let these factors deter you from getting a great shot. There are often ways to get around this. If they are in area that needs a zoom lens, talk to the staff. There may be a time that they are closer to the front, or that the animals will be brought to an area for special showings. If they are behind glass, try to time your shots for early morning when fewer people have been to the area and there will be less smudging. Also, keep some baby wipes with you to clean the glass....

This is something that I've learned recently, and the two here are my 4th and 5th attempts... Below are the instructions...

Directions (Photoshop Elements Version):

Choose a photo: Once you have selected your image and opened it in Elements, duplicate the image (Image>Duplicate), close the original without saving it, and save the copy in your projects folder.

1. Duplicate the background layer and make the Background copy active. Click the new layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette to add a new layer above the background copy layer. Double-click the layer icon for the new layer, and name this layer Frame. You should now have three layers: Background, Background Copy, and Frame (the top layer). Make the Frame layer active. Get the rectangular ...

Most people don't photograph alligators in the wild. They go to zoos or theme parks (like the one where this one was taken). I'm blessed with the opportunity to live very near some of these dangerous creatures. This is NOT the time to use tripods. They are typically found near the water.

For every one that you see sunning themselves on the bank, there is at least one hidden from view in the water or vegetation nearby. In the area where I live in Florida, it's not highly populated and the alligators are not used to tourists coming by to photograph them.

Most of the time I take the photos from the hood of my car or from inside. For the ones that I'm familiar with, I'll sometimes get out and (staying at a safe distance) photograph ...

I've been asked where I get so many different flowers to photograph. I thought I'd share some tips on the subject and I hope others will share theirs.

Locations - Not everyone lives in a warm climate, but that doesn't mean you can't get some great shots. Look in your area to see if there are any plant nurseries, hot houses, green houses, botanical gardens, etc. A lot of my shots come from Lowe's and Wal-Mart. If you ask the manager of the store, most of the time they are not only happy to let you take pictures of their plants, some will even help you find the best ones or hold them up for you to get a great shot. I have agreements with several local places. They let me take photos and I give them a few of the files for their advertising. One even calls me everytime ...

I get a lot of people asking me how I manage to get the butterflies to sit still or to stay on a particular flower. I do have a couple of tips and look for more to share.

Time of Day - As with most photography, early morning has not only the best light, but often lower tempratures. Cooler weather has the butterflies sitting still longer trying to capture the heat. They prefer sunlight.

Weather - Cooler weather as I said helps. Also, just after the rain is a good time. They like to let their wings and will leave them more open at this point.

Food Source - Find a stand of flowers that attracts the species you prefer. Spray them lightly with a sugar water solution. If the species you like prefers fruit like mango, spray with a mixture of water and that juice....

My Peackock Fireworks Photo (not the one shown here) has been selected for Photo of the Day on 2/5/08. It'll cycling every few minutes in Times Square that day and will be showing on Kodak.com in the photo of the day section every few minutes.

This photo wasn't selected by Dreamstime, but its good enough for Times Square... LOL!

Link to Peacock Fireworks Photo

If that link doesn't work, just go to www.naturalphotos.org, go to the gallery and search for Peacock Fireworks.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this.