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Genres in practice3 min read

LESSON 41

Wildlife

Patience, field craft and long lenses.

IN THIS LESSON

  1. Skills beyond the camera
  2. A slow start
  3. In practice: the animal comes first
  4. In practice: settings and framing

Skills beyond the camera

Wildlife photography records animals in their natural habitat. It asks for field craft as much as camera skill. Many animals and birds are hard to approach, so knowing how they behave lets you predict what they will do next. Some species call for stalking, others for a hide, also called a blind, where the photographer waits out of sight. Basic gear can produce good pictures, but some subjects need special tools: macro lenses for insects, long lenses for birds, and underwater housings for marine life. Specialist kit also includes camera traps, which fire when an animal passes, and camouflage suits.

A slow start

Early photography struggled with wildlife because lenses were slow and plates were not sensitive. Many early animal photographs show captive animals, including lion cubs at Bristol Zoo in 1854. Faster emulsions and shutters arrived in the 1880s, and in 1884 Ottomar Anschutz made the first photographs of wild birds in action. In July 1906 National Geographic published its first wildlife photographs, taken by George Shiras III, some of them with early wire-tripped camera traps. The Photographic Society of America, the Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique and the Royal Photographic Society later agreed a common definition of nature and wildlife photography for competitions.

In practice: the animal comes first

This section is working practice. A picture is never worth stress or harm to an animal. Keep your distance, use a long lens instead of stepping closer, and back off if the animal changes its behaviour because of you. Never disturb nests or use bait where it is banned. Learn local rules for protected species and sites. Quiet clothes, slow movements and staying low make you less threatening. The best wildlife pictures often come from returning to the same place many times, until the animals learn that you are harmless and go back to what they were doing.

In practice: settings and framing

Also practice. Animals move without warning, so use continuous autofocus with a point on the eye, or the camera's animal-eye detection if it has one. A shutter of 1/1000 second or faster freezes most birds; slower speeds can show wing movement on purpose. Get down to the animal's eye level; it changes a record shot into a portrait. Leave space in the frame in the direction the animal looks or moves. Early and late light is soft and is often when animals are most active. Behaviour, such as feeding, flight or play, makes a stronger picture than an animal standing still.

Try it today

  1. 01Go to a park or lake where birds are used to people.
  2. 02Sit still in one place for half an hour before you start shooting.
  3. 03Set continuous autofocus on the eye and a shutter of 1/1000 second.
  4. 04Lower the camera to the birds' eye level.
  5. 05Aim for one frame that shows behaviour, not just a bird.