5 Fundamental Tips for Better Wildlife Photos
An Elephant in its enviornment - at sunrise
How do the pros consistently capture jaw-dropping shots of animals in their natural habitats? And how do you improve your wildlife photography skills to try to match them? There are a few basic techniques that I learnt over time which will make your success rate in capturing impressive wildlife shoots improve significantly.
This is not really about technical camera settings. A strong image requires the correct exposure, shutter speed and depth of field consideration. Clearly, you need to get those right too to create fantastic shots. The tips in this blog are about the techniques beyond that. The key is understanding animal behaviours, composition, and … to practice, practice! Read on to learn how to consistently nail strong images.
Tip 1: Know your Location
The first fundamental tip for taking better wildlife photos is understanding your location. Do thorough research ahead of time to scout potential wildlife hot spots and learn about the location. The more familiar you are with an area, the better your chances of capturing the images you want.
Spend time exploring promising locations during different times of day and the year to map out possible camera positions, sightlines, backgrounds, and the natural light. Make repeat visits to observe animal behaviours and patterns. You'll begin to recognise the best times and vantage points for photographing different species.
Tracking migratory patterns and breeding seasons can help you anticipate prime photo opportunities. Over time, your location expertise will allow you to set up for the shot when brief windows arise quickly. When the wildlife, the light, the action, and the background work together beautifully. The reward will be framing stunning wildlife in their natural environments.
Leaning heavily on locations that have delivered results also improves your odds. Developing an intimate knowledge of a habitat gives you an edge over one-time visitors. Use your experience to maximize every future photo excursion.
So, start scouting your next wildlife destination. Put in site visits to understand the terrain and the wildlife within it. Your results will benefit greatly.
Tip 2: Study Animal Behaviours
Look for patterns of behaviour. This Kestrel mum was flying back and forth regularly with food for the impatient and hungry chicks
Learning your subject's behaviours is the second tip for taking better wildlife photos. Make it a priority to research the routines, habits, and movements of the animals you want to photograph. The more you understand their patterns, the easier it will be to anticipate peak moments for great shots.
Observe your subjects in the field during multiple encounters. Take notes on their daily and seasonal cycles. When do they wake, sleep, eat, hunt, and interact? When are they most active? How do they react to threats or weather changes? Building an in-depth behavioural profile like this is invaluable for photographers.
Knowing when certain species are inclined to care for their young, forage for food, frolic in the water, or engage in courtship displays allow you to prepare for the photo op. With your camera ready, you'll recognise the optimal times to be on location. Knowledge of animal behaviours significantly reduces luck and guesswork from the equation.
Playful young Stags
So, spend as much time studying your subjects in their natural habitats. Also, enlist local knowledge. Talk to the locals and connect with photographers who know the area well. Listen and learn from them. It is incredible how helpful and knowledgeable locals can be about wildlife behaviour. For example, the landlord in the local Pub who can point out the barn owl nest in the old church across the road, or the farmer who knows where the Peregrine Falcons are nesting. When you venture abroad for wildlife photography enlisting local knowledge becomes necessary to help you understand wildlife behaviour.
Your photos will steadily improve as you learn the behaviours unique to different animals. It will help you predict special moments that other photographers may miss.
Tip 3: Focus on the Background
A smooth out-of-focus background makes your subject stand out
Well, not literally ;-)
Crafting a compelling background is essential for taking better wildlife photos. While a strong image of the main subject is clearly key, the surroundings are also fundamental to creating an impressive image. As you consider your shooting position and frame your wildlife shots, make a conscious effort to carefully consider and choose a favourable backdrop.
First, survey the scene to identify clean and uncluttered areas for your position. Busy or distracting backgrounds detract from your central point of interest. Carefully select vantage points where foliage, rocks, water, or other habitat elements naturally frame the subject.
No distraccting background and plenty of negative space in front of the croc
Re-evaluate and consider changing your position to alter the perspective or angle. A few steps in any direction can significantly change the framing and draw more attention to the subject. Shooting from a low angle to throw the background more out of focus is a key trick to improve the framing of your subject.
Likewise, adjust the distance as you zoom in and out. Broader landscape perspectives place animals in their natural environments. Tighter shots isolate subjects against softer backgrounds. Both can produce compelling images with the proper focus on foreground and background.
With practice, accounting for the background becomes second nature. Soon, you'll instinctively recognise compositions that lend themselves to classic wildlife portraits and scenic shots. Your images will routinely stand out because you put as much care into showcasing the animals' homes as the animals themselves.
Tip 4: Connect with the Eyes
Drinking with Lions!
The fourth fundamental wildlife photography tip is capturing powerful eye contact with animal subjects. Sharp focus on the eyes is key, but it is about more than that to take portraits to the next level.
When photographing wildlife, patiently wait for opportunities to connect with the eyes directly. Study the animal's face and prepare your camera for the instant the eyes lock with yours. Timing is critical to activate autofocus and snap quickly before the moment passes.
That direct eye contact in an image creates a strong connection between the viewer and the subject. A strong contact gives you the feeling that you are there with the animal and that you can related to it. In draws you into the frame and the animal’s sphere. Combined with the right background (see tip above) and this connection becomes even stronger.
A somewhat different eye contact - the faded light in the dead Impala’s eye
Modern mirrorless cameras with eye detect auto focus help greatly in ensuring that the eye(s) is tack sharp – a key prerequisite for a strong photo. Tracking the eyes in burst mode gives you multiple chances to nail the instance the eye contact is spot on.
Images that capture strong eye contact form deeper connections and make animals more relatable. Patience and concentration is key to get the timing right – this can be the difference between an ordinary image and a great image.
Tip 5: Practice Extensively
Good eye connect and the low shooting position lifts the stag clear for a nice background
The fifth tip for improving your wildlife photography is simple - practice, practice! There is no substitute for spending time on location and honing your technical skills in the field. The more you shoot, the quicker your ability to adjust camera settings on the fly will become.
Take every opportunity, no matter how brief, to practice your shooting. Experiment with aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to gain muscle memory of how they affect your images. Teach yourself to change these critical settings as lighting and distances change swiftly. Likewise, rehearse your timing on when to activate autofocus and trigger the shutter. The more intuitive these technical aspects become, the faster you'll be able to react when photo opportunities arise.
Practice also makes your composure steadier and movements more precise. Work on panning smoothly, tracking moving subjects, and framing shots through your viewfinder. The more you rehearse, the less you'll miss.
With extensive practice, you'll feel far more confident in the field. Your fingers will effortlessly set the optimal settings, and when the wildlife plays ball you will nail a strong image rather than miss it … the chance may not come again!
Bonus Tip: Ensure Sufficient Lens Reach
Even with an 800mm lens, this image of a Log-tailed Tit was cropped a little - good eye connect and a soft background with plenty of negative space
One final bonus tip for taking better wildlife photos is to use a lens with sufficient reach (see LensesPro for more advice on lenses). Wildlife by nature will avoid human contact and more often than not you cannot get close to your subject. Also, rule number one is to minimise disruption to animal behaviour. Scaring off animals or getting in the way of their normal routine is a big no no.
So, even with animal-scapes (images with plenty of the wildlife’s environment in the frame) you need a lens with adequate reach, and for animal portraits – particularly for smaller creatures – you need the longest lens you can get. You can always crop the image in post processing but too much cropping will quickly reduce the quality of your image as there are too few pixels on the subject.
With sufficient magnification, you can more freely frame tight shots of animals from a distance. Not enough reach and you quickly reduce the impact of a wildlife shot. For example, many wildlife photographers use telephoto prime lenses at 500mm or 600mm focal length. A zoom lens in the range 150mm to 600mm is a great alternative, giving you the freedom to go wider for larger animals or animal-scapes or longer (e.g. 600mm) for more distant or smaller animals. Whenever I have used zooms for wildlife over 80% of my shots have been at the maximum focal length. Often you wish you had more reach.
Also, consider lens and camera combinations optimised for reach. Many mirrorless or DSLR bodies have crop-sized sensors that multiply the effect of telephoto lenses. Pairing these with a teleconverter can further extend your range. But beware that the longer the reach the higher the magnification, and thus a higher shutter speed is needed to avoid blur. Some form of support will help reduce vibrations, such as a tripod, monopod or a bean-bag.
Maximising your gear for reach ensures you can capture tightly composed portraits without stressing your subjects. This opens up for great wildlife shots from a respectable distance. Your subjects stay relaxed in their natural settings while you get images that you are after.
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Shot handheld at 800mm focal length at a very slow shutter speed of 1/50s to capture the rain … not possible without good technique and with the assistance of the camera/lens vibration reduction system … and of course the Puffin didn’t move either ;-)
Taking wildlife photography to the next level requires mastering fundamental techniques. Doing your homework on locations and learning animal behaviours, carefully considering backgrounds, achieve eye connect, and mastering camera settings separate the good shots from the great ones.
Dedicate time to researching and understanding your subjects and environments. Practice extensively to refine your technical skills. Learn to leverage backgrounds to showcase your chosen subject. Work on creating powerful eye contact with the animals you photograph.
Wildlife photography is immensely rewarding when your images continue to improve and get better and better. The above tips will hopefully help you on that journey – they did for me.