Tips For Taking Great Wildlife Photos
posted November 4, 2009 - 5:54pm
Good wildlife photos convey a strong visual connection between animals and their natural environment. The best images don’t come from fancy gadgets and expensive equipment. Instead, they come from understanding animal behavior, mastering a few simple techniques, and having the
patience and perseverance to wait for a good shot. Here are some tips for taking great pictures of wildlife.
Get to Know Your Subject
Knowing the behavior and habits of your subject is vital to creating strong, meaningful wildlife photos. Learn as much as you can about the wildlife you want to photograph—their hunting, feeding, and mating habits; where they live, the time of day they are active, their primary means of defense. Find out what makes them successful as a species. Once you know your subject, you’re better able to put yourself in a situation where you can get the best photographs.
Keep the Composition Simple
When taking pictures of wildlife, sometimes you have a very limited amount of time to capture the shot. Don’t get so caught up in the moment that you over look the distracting branch or cluttered background. Aim for clean and simple backgrounds (e.g. a blue sky or an expanse of water) that will allow your subject to remain the visual focal point. To subdue a distracting background, use a large aperture to create a shallow depth of field. This will blur out the unnecessary clutter and keep the emphasis on your subject.
Find Patterns and Interactions in Groups
When photographing herds or flocks it can be difficult to create a strong composition among a group of randomly scattered animals. One solution is to create visual interest through patterns. Reflective surfaces, interesting angles, and dramatic lighting can work in your favor to create intriguing patterns—especially when shooting from a distance. If you can’t see patterns emerging from the larger group, try to narrow your focus to interactions taking place between two or more individual animals.
Emphasize the Action
To create a sense of movement in your wildlife photos, set your camera on a tripod to keep it perfectly still, and use a slow exposure to slow down your camera’s shutter speed. This blurs the moving subject while leaving the background in sharp focus. This is an excellent technique to use on slow-moving animals or when trying to capture moving water. Another useful technique is called panning. This is done by rotating your body and camera in sync with the moving subject. It creates the opposite effect of using a slow shutter speed— it blurs the background while leaving the subject sharp. This technique is great for isolating birds in flight or “freezing” animals that are running. On point and shoot cameras, try changing your setting to “landscape” before panning.
Use Light to Your Advantage
Professional wildlife photographers know that some of the best light is during sunrise and sunset. This works well for photographing wild animals, which are generally more active early in the morning or late in the afternoon rather than midday. For capturing wild animals on the move, bright sunlight will enable you to use a faster shutter speed to isolate your subject. Like portraits of people, close-ups of wild animals are the most flattering when taken in soft, overcast light. On point and shoot cameras, changing the white balance to “cloudy” or “overcast” mode will increase the red and yellow tones and give your image a richer, warmer tone.
Stay Focused On the Eyes
If you’re using a zoom lens that allows you to fill up the entire frame with your subject, try shooting from the subject’s eye level. By looking directly into the animal’s face, the image will communicate more of the animal’s individual character. Even if other parts of the animal are out of focus, the eyes of your subject should always be clear and sharp.
Explore Your Own Backyard
Wildlife is everywhere. You don’t need to go on an exotic African safari to get good wildlife photos. Look closer to home and you’ll find forests and fields filled with small mammals, birds, and reptiles; wetlands hosting migrating or native waterfowl; and rabbits, squirrels and songbirds living in your own backyard. Some of the most interesting wild animals are also underfoot. Don’t forget to get down on your hands and knees to focus in on the fascinating world of insects. Most of today’s compact digital cameras are equipped with a “macro-mode” or “close-up” settings, which can produce some fascinating images. Above all, be prepared to take hundreds of pictures of wildlife to get just one image worthy of keeping. And remember, it’s not the camera that takes good pictures, it’s the photographer!
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Comments
Well Done!
A very informative, well written article. Great photo, insightful, and well-written. I saved it to use as a reminder to myself to stay focused when writing, as well as for the info itself. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Re Flying Drake Photographer
AndAnotherThing2,
I stand corrected. This photo was actually taken by Andy Gehrig, not Christine Gehrig. Here is what he told me about the image:
"...It takes a lot of time to make good photos of animals. So if the weather is bad I'm outside too and I'm searching for good locations. I live in Bamberg an old city in Franconia, a part of bavaria. Most of my forefathers left Germany 150 years ago and settled down in the United States.The photo of the flying drake was taken on a river named Regnitz near Bamberg. I used the Canon Camera Mark III and the 2.8 70-200mm Is lens of Canon. After several weeks the mallard ducks knew me and came nearer and nearer. Finally it was very easy for me to make good photos of them..."
This photographer shoots exclusively for the stock photography web site www.istockphoto.com . His works appear there under the username Andyworks. He said he plans to shoot another series featuring Mallards in the coming weeks which will appear on the site sometime in December. Apparently it's raining cats and dogs in his part of the country right now and he's been patiently waiting for the weather to clear.
Ellen
Christine Gehrig and Mallards
I'll look forward to reading more about Christine Gehrig and perhaps looking at more of her work.
Mallards are beautiful (the drakes at least) but they leave much to be desired with their behaviour, particularly the way they partition gender roles - Seahorses but them to shame...
Thanks again for the article and for your reply (you don't get that from magazine articles).
AndAnotherThing2 writes COMEDYand is Xomba's first featured HISTORIAN
photography terminology
Thank you for explaining some of the terms relevant to photography. When I hear shutter speed and aperture, I cringe. I have no patience or perseverance in getting the right shot, which is why I'm not a photographer.
But I do love to take photographs, which is why I'm bookmarking this page. I've just learned some valuable tips from you (thank you). Maybe my personal photographs will now look better.
Your Blog & Article Writer
My Xomba Articles
Thank you for the comments!
Thank you for taking time to read this article and for posting your comments everyone. I really appreciate the feedback!
AndAnotherThing2,
I agree-there's just something about Mallards. This photo was taken by a German Photographer named Christine Gehrig. All I can tell you about it is that it was taken with a digital camera (as a Raw-file) and developed for the web using Adobe Lightroom. It's entitled "Flying Drake". I've asked the photographer if she would pass along some additional information on it. I'll let you know when I hear back from her.
Male Mallards
I'll never get to using your advice - I haven't the inclination to photograph nor the camera - that's a pity on both counts.
Looking at wildlife photography can be just as rewarding as looking at Art... can be! The image in your article is as captivating as the Art I appreciate. I'm unsure as to how the resolution the image is produced on screen compares to looking at a hard copy, nevertheless (for me) it really works. It has a painted quality which relates the translucence of the mallard's green head and the deep blue of its wings.
It could be that I'm well acquainted with these ducks but the image reminds me of time in their company while I ponder it. Over and above this the shape of its wings in flight, which I've never noticed and can't say I would have ever without seeing this, is somehow pleasing as explanations when understood can be. Same with its webbed feet in flight - very aircraft. How many thousands of Mallards have flown overhead and taken to flight or landed nearby in my life is difficult to estimate. I'm thinking that those I see in the future will be better appreciated! Thanks - its worth more but +1
If you could post some details about the image it would be most appreciated. Is it yours?
AndAnotherThing2 writes COMEDYand is Xomba's first featured HISTORIAN
Love the tips...
And great article. Beautiful picture too. Amazes me how some people are able to capture such reality with photos. Thank you for posting this.
Good Photos
I agree that it is not about how much you spend on a camera but how you approach the subject. I know people who have incredible bird pictures taken just with a regular camera after sitting quietly in a blind or by a feeder.
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