The natural world around us is full of
potential subjects to photograph. If you are anything like me,
taking a few hours each week to enjoy them is a great way to unwind
after a busy week. No matter, if wildlife photography is your niche
or not, these are 20 tips to help elevate your images.
Know your equipment
In wildlife
photography, the best photographs come from the action packed moments
which only last on average 5-20 seconds. If you are unfamiliar with
your equipment, camera settings, or the abilities of the lenses you
are using, you will miss out on the best opportunities. The images
that you do manage to capture will either be lackluster, or you will
have missed the shot.
You must at least know:
- The shutter
speeds at which you can obtain sharp images with your equipment.
- How to quickly
change focus points or focusing modes.
- What your camera
and lens Image Stabilization gives you.
- How high you can
push up the ISO and still get an acceptable image.
- How to make most
of the necessary adjustments to exposure and focus settings without
lifting your eye from the viewfinder.
Know your subjects
Wildlife
photography is all about capturing interesting actions and behaviors
of the subject. In order to accomplish this, it pays to be able to
predict the subject’s behaviors. Some species are easier to
predict than others. You should research the subjects that you plan
on photographing. You should see when they are most active, what
behaviors they typically exhibit, and see what habitat they prefer
the most. That way you can head out to the right spots to see them.
By doing this you will be prepared, and will be able to make the most
out of your time. Knowing your subject can be the difference from
being ready to capture the shot or missing it completely. You need
to sit with your subjects and watch them, learn from them, and wait
for the proper moment.
Know your location
Knowing the
location that you plan to photograph will put you leaps and bounds
ahead of the rest. Knowing your location gives you a better idea of
what the weather will be like and how it will impact your light and
your subject’s behaviors. Knowing the location also gives you a
sense of comfort. You will not need to worry about getting turned
around, or lost. You also won’t hesitate to adjust to your
surroundings and relocate for a better angle, because you know
exactly where you are. Knowing your location, its weather patterns,
and the subjects that frequent the locations will give you the upper
hand and help you improve your chances for great images.
Know and Break the rules
There are some
basic rules and fundamentals of good photography, and then there are
some rules that find application mostly in wildlife photography.
This is not a complete list of the general rules.
For many new
photographers, getting the proper exposure is the biggest challenge
they face. Most of the time letting the camera do the work for you
turns out fine, but there are some times when the camera needs a
little help. For instance very bright light with white subjects.
Knowing how to give your camera the help it needs is the key to
getting the proper exposure of your subject. The best way to tell if
you have the proper exposure is by using the histogram.
A histogram, is
simply a graph showing the brightness levels of pixels in the image.
The right side of the graph represent the bright pixels, and the left
side of the graph represents the darker pixels. Pixels representing
the midtones are in the middle of the graph. A histogram runs from
left to right, showing values from 0 or black, to 255 or white. The
height of the histogram represents how many pixels are recorded at
the given brightness level. The most important aspects of the
histogram that you should be most concerned about are the left and
right edges. Any pixels as bright white or pure black would be
pushed to the edge of the graph. Unless it is intended pixels pushed
to the edge can indicate an exposure problem. This is because the
image will be clipping the highlights or shadows resulting in pure
blacks or blown out whites.
Since a histogram
is simply a representation of tonal range of the given image, there
is no right or wrong histogram. The histogram will change based on
the tone of the image. A high key image would show the pixels mainly
to the right side. A low key image would show the pixels mainly to
the left side. An image with a wide tonal range would show pixels
across the entire histogram. In post processing if you want to be
able to get the most out of the pixel data it is important to capture
as many pixels across the range as possible. If you have pure blacks
or blown out whites you will not be able to manipulate the image as
well, because the color data in those areas is lost.
The general rule
for proper composition is the rule of thirds. Where you divide the
frame into a 3x3 grid, and you normally place your subject on one of
the intersection points. The theory is that if you place the points
of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your
photograph becomes more balanced, and enables the viewer of the image
to interact with it more naturally. Using the rule of thirds helps
to move the viewer’s eye around the image more naturally.
In landscape
photography it helps to keep the horizon line of your image along the
horizontal lines of the grid. That way the landscape takes up just
the bottom third of the image with the sky taking the other two
thirds, or the landscape takes up two thirds of the image and the sky
takes up the other third. Thus making the image more balanced.
Photographing
wildlife is not the same as photographing a landscape or inanimate
object. Your wildlife subject has eyes, and our natural tendency is
to make eye contact. As a result, capturing the eyes effectively is
essential to a great wildlife image.
Making eye contact
with the subject helps the viewer connect with the image. It is also
very important that the eyes are the focal point of the image. This
is what you should be focusing on with your camera and it needs to be
sharp. If it is not, it will not be an effective portrait of your
subject. It is also important that you capture the catch light.
This is the little reflection you can get in the eye of the subject.
Without it your subject does not look lifelike. It also can be
helpful to get at eye level with the subject, but I will cover this
further down in tip 8.
To take this
subject further it normally helps to have a good head angle in
relation to the camera’s sensor. The head angle should be at least
perpendicular to the camera sensor, but ideally it should be turned a
few degrees towards the sensor. Which would then untimely be facing
towards the viewer, thus maintaining eye contact.
Once you know the
most of the basic rules of photography you can break them. If you
always follow these rules your images will look just like everyone
else's. These are just some of the general guidelines but going
outside of them can make your images stand out.
Lighting
It is no surprise
that light is the most important factor in all forms of photography,
but it is especially important for wildlife photography. In order to
take amazing pictures you need to know how to use light to your
advantage. Often light is not ideal or the light is sweet but it is
in the wrong direction in relation to your subject. Shooting into
light can be tricky and that refers back to rule 1, and knowing how
to properly use your equipment.
The best times of
day to photograph wildlife are called the golden hours and the blue
hours. The golden hours are the periods shortly after sunrise and
before sunset. During this period the sun is at its warmest hue,
casting rich colors across the landscape and providing a dramatic
backdrop for your subject. The blue hours are the period before
sunrise and after sunset. During this period the hue is normally a
blueish color, and also provides a great backdrop for your subjects.
11:00 am to 4:00 pm
is the period when the harshest light occurs. So, it is not an ideal
period to photograph your subject. For the best lighting of your
subject it is best to avoid these hours. The exception is on overcast
days. This does not mean that you should not take pictures during
those hours. Getting a picture of the action no matter what the
lighting is still better than not getting the picture at all.
The key to this tip
is not to just get their early enough or late enough to shoot during
these periods, but to use the light creatively in your shots. A
photographer who can play with light and use it to highlight the
features of their subject will produce much stronger photographs than
those who do not.
Shoot wider / Shoot closer
Many photographers
get fixated with focal length. Even I had an obsession with always
getting a longer lens. For instance, my purchase of a Bower
650mm-1300mm lens. I was fixated with always being able to get more
reach with my lens, in order to be able to pull the subject in more
and more. The problem with this is that it isolates the subject from
the background to often resulting in the subject looking like a
captive subject. This could be what you are trying to do but it is
often better to shoot wider, in order to get a better idea of the
environment your subject is in.
Obviously if you
are trying to produce portraits of your subject then you probably are
looking to get closer and isolate the subject from the background.
You can also try and get really close to subjects to get a more
abstract composition of your subjects.
The other problems
that typically come with more focal length is higher f-stops.
Typically larger lenses have higher f-stops meaning they allow in
less light. Normally you should try and find a lens with an f/4 or
less f-stop but f/5.6 is not terrible. Once you start getting
towards f/8 and larger it is just not going to be very useful. This
is because for wildlife photography you typically also need to use
high shutter speeds to capture your subject. In order to accommodate
both high shutter speeds and high f-stop’s, you would have to
increase your ISO to the point where it would introduce to much noise
to make a good photograph.
Are multiple subjects better than one?
If you have a good
view of more than one subject of a species then you should probably
stay for a while. If you have one subject the interactions and
behaviors could be good to capture, but if you have two subjects,
your chances of experiencing interactions increases. Obviously the
more subjects you have the more you’re increasing your chances at
photographing interactions between them. In my opinion photographing
the interactions between your subjects is normally better than just
photographing the one subject. It normally makes the image much more
interesting to look at.
Get down
The point of view
of a wildlife photograph is very important. You should try to get at
the subjects eye level or even lower. Doing this, brings the viewer
of your image right into the scene and brings the viewer down to the
subject’s perspective. This also helps with getting the eye
contact of your subject. If you take the picture from your eye level
all the time, you will most likely be always looking down on your
subjects. This view is the standard view that most people take
pictures from. Obviously in some situations you will not be able to
get lower. For instance, if you are not allowed out of your vehicle,
or should not go outside your vehicle, you will be stuck with that
one perspective. For flying subjects it can help to get to a raised
area, or an area where the subjects will be flying at your eye level.
Again this is not always possible but being at eye level with the
flying subjects leads to better pictures in most cases.
Patience
Modern life happens
at a break neck pace. We are always in a rush, but in wildlife
photography good things come to those who wait. Anything can happen
at any time, but most things only happen rarely. At least they don’t
correspond with the exact time that you are in that specific spot. It
is one of the hardest things to grapple with out in the field. If
you are not seeing anything in one spot you are more likely to move,
than continue to sit there. But you don’t know if moving is the
best option. Sometimes sitting in one place and waiting for the
animals to come to you is much better. It is like hunting. Sometimes
it is better to just wait than it is to stalk your prey.
What a photographer
normally shows you on their website it the best of their work. They
do not show the hundreds and thousands of pictures they took that do
not work out. All the wonderful pictures that they have on their
websites took a lot of time and effort to get. It does not show you
the hours that they sat out in blinds or walked trails. You can sit
out in a blind all day and not see anything. It just takes a lot of
patience and persistence to follow through. If you want to capture
action, you must watch and wait. If you are lucky, you will be able
to capture that brief moment that makes a great image.
Another important
lesson in patience is not to snap off a photograph too soon. In some
cases the animals can hear your camera’s shutter release. In these
cases you could scare them off. So you will want to wait for the
right moment to snap the photograph. Because more skittish animals
will run off and you may only get one chance.
Telephoto
There is no question that a long lens is a vital part of any wildlife photographers gear. Telephoto lenses play a couple of important roles. The first important role is magnification. A lens over 400mm will make the subject appear much closer, and take up a large portion of the frame. This allows you to focus more on your subject and cut distracting elements out of the frame.
A telephoto lens also compresses your depth of field. Long lenses are particularly good at blurring foregrounds and background, making the subject stand out from their surroundings. The magnification of the long lens allows you to isolate the best part of the scene from side to side. The shallow depth of field allows you to isolate the subject from front to back.
Macro
Macro photography is extreme close-up photography usually of very small subjects like insects, in which the size of the subject in the photograph is greater than life size. The ratio of the subject size on the sensor to the actual subject size is known as the reproduction ratio. Likewise, a macro lens is classically a lens capable of reproduction ratios of at least 1:1. Macro photography can be a lot of fun and the images that you produce can be amazing. They can allow you to see things that you would not see with the naked eye. That is what makes macro photography so intriguing. It allows people to see a world that they didn’t even know existed.
Clean backgrounds
What is happening
in the background can make or break your shot. Busy and cluttered
backgrounds can quickly become muted. Elements of human activity
such as fences, can ruin the authenticity of a shot. For small bird
photography please do not shoot birds on feeders or other man made
items, it does not make for a good shot. For wildlife photography
natural backgrounds always look the best.
Don’t over edit
Editing is where
images often come alive and become more impactful for the viewer.
But, over editing a photograph can make it appear unnatural. High
dynamic range is most often better left alone. Your best option is
to only make slight changes to sharpness, exposure, color palette,
and saturation. It also helps to photograph in RAW that way you have
more data to work with.
Depth of field
Getting lower down can help you implement this in your photographs. By being at the subject’s level it can thin out the plane that needs to be in focus. If you use f/4 or lower you can drop areas of your foreground and background into a stylish blur. By lowering your f-stop you are widening your aperture size, which results in a shallower depth of field. Doing this can help to make your subject leap out of the image. You can also use this technique to frame your subject with blurred out foliage which can lead to more dramatic images. If you raise your f-stop you are narrowing your aperture size, which results in a deeper depth of field. This can be helpful to increase the amount of area that is in focus. This is normally used when you want to see what is in the foreground and background of your subject. Also higher f-stop numbers are used a lot in landscape photography to get the entire landscape in focus.
Sharp Images
To take a sharp picture of wildlife with a telephoto lens, you will need to use fast shutter speeds. A general rule of thumb is to set your shutter speed to at least as fast as the length of your lens. So, if you are shooting a 500mm lens, you will need to use a 1/500
th of a second shutter speed to create a sharp image. But the faster your shutter speed the better chance you will have with producing a sharp image. Even the smallest camera shake can cause a blurry image. You may not even realize how much you are moving holding a large and heavy lens combo. When possible, you should use a tripod to stabilize your camera. If you cannot, you should brace off of something instead. At the very least you should keep your arms in as tight to your body as possible. Sort of like how a ballerina spins with her arms in tight. The closer your arms are to the center of your mass the less they will move, thus reducing camera shake. Also most lenses are at their sharpest a stop or two down from wide open. That means if your fastest aperture of the lens is f/4 you will normally get sharper images around f/8. But this is not always practical since it will cut down on the amount of light that it allows in.
Blurred Images
Animals always seem to be in constant motion. Images that show this movement in the form of a motion blur can be effective. Creating a good motion blur requires some experimentation. 1/60th of a second is more than slow enough to show sufficient motion blur for moving animals. Sometimes with flying birds you want to show the motion blur in the wings. This can be accomplished with speeds under 1/400th of a second normally. For blurring moving water I would recommend using about a 2 second shutter speed. The longer the shutter speed in this case the smoother the water will look.
There are two main types of motion blurs. One where you have a steady camera and the subject is moving. Like most of the examples above. Then there is motion blur caused by moving the camera. Often called a panning blur. You typically move your camera in this case to stay even with the moving subject. This creates an image with both the background and the moving parts of the subject to be blurred. These can be very tricky to pull off, but when done correctly can be beautiful.
Whenever you are playing around with slow shutter speeds. Remember to always set you shutter speeds back to a normal range for getting sharp shots when you are done. There is nothing worse than turning on your camera to capture a split second shot and your shutter speeds are set so low that you miss the shot. So always make sure that you set your settings back when you are done.
Weather
Don’t be afraid to photograph in bad weather. This is one subject that I am just learning. I used to always think that rainy days or snowy days were days that you should just stay home. I always had a fear of getting my equipment damaged during bad weather. I have since purchased some equipment to cover my camera and lens combo. You can also stay in the car, or use other forms of cover. Rainy and snowy days can lead to dramatic shots of animals and the experience they are having during bad weather. Freezing the action of rain drops and snow can make the background more exciting as well. The other reason to embrace bad weather is that a lot of people stay home, so the photographs that you do manage to capture will look very different giving your images a little edge. Other weather factors like wind and fog can also play a vital role in your images.
Tell a story
In any type of photography the best images tell a story. In wildlife photography a simple image of a subject in its surroundings can really tell a story. An interaction between two subjects or more can be even more intriguing. Always think about the species that you are photographing and the environment that they live in. Then consider how your image can tell the full story. For instance a polar bear in a snowy plain can give you the feelings of isolation and harshness. It can really showcase what the bear goes through to survive in that habitat. It tells a story.
Respect the wildlife
Your top priority as a wildlife photographer is to do no harm to the animals and the environment you are photographing. Nothing upsets me more than seeing people chasing animals around or leaving their trash behind. Where I live it seems like people think that wildlife management areas are great places to dump their trash, because there are less people in the area at night. It is very upsetting to see that people have dumped garbage in these areas, or any area for that matter.
Animals should always have a route to escape. Don’t corner them in. You need to pay close attention to their behaviors. If an animal begins to look agitated it is better for you to back off. Whenever an animal flees, it means that you got to close to it. Every time this occurs you are causing the animal additional stress, so don’t cause it.
Always follow the rules of the places that you are photographing. Stay on trails, and respect the other people in the area. Don’t be the person who walks in front of other peoples photographs or goes off the trail into a closed area. Eventually if we do not police ourselves, someone will and will eventually restrict us from using these areas.
Enjoy it
By this I mean you need to be in the moment, and don’t get caught up to much with the technical issues and settings, that you don’t take in the moments that you are witnessing. We need to be more mindful of the privilege that we have of spending time in nature. What is the point of taking all the pictures if you do not enjoy the time you are spending out in the field? So be mindful of what is going on around you and really enjoy the time you have, and the amazing things that you will get to see.
