Wildlife Photography Tips – Putting It All Together

Hello Everybody,

There are some basic aspects of photography that one would have to strive to master no matter what type of photography you do – and these are light, composition, content, timing, camera settings, presentation. There is plenty of information on these subjects that is well written and very useful.  In this article I wanted to bring attention to some less thought of elements of my photography (mainly wildlife) that I find are extremely important, and why they are important to me. These same topics also happen to be items that were heavily commented on by readers in my past articles on PL.

Photo: Tiny black bear cub (wild) in pouring rain,  New Hampshire 2016 (hand held resting on bean bag)

Wildlife photography is my passion, it’s not a job, it’s not a chore, it’s a passion that drives me towards my goal of getting photos, I perceive to be good by my standards. What makes me happy when I photograph wildlife is not  just  “getting the shot”  but also the act of getting it. Almost like an adrenalin junkie – one experience is never enough, always crave for more. That drive gets me off my butt and out in nature where I love to see and experience wildlife as nature intended it to be seen. One of the most important reasons I do what I do, is to show and share with people another side of wildlife, break  the stereotypes and convey my understanding and emotional connection with my subjects. I hope that people will see the beauty of wildlife, respect, but don’t fear and make room for them in our environment .  Understand they too have emotions and intelligent actions, that they have a right to share this planet with us.

So, I started my wildlife photographic journey 16 years ago with basic equipment, basic goals and no real plan or understanding of photography in general. During those years, I have graduated from a novice to a fairly competent wildlife photographer, but fortunately the journey never ends and there is always something new to see and things to learn.

I have learned some of my most important lessons the hard way, through many iterations of Nikon cameras, lenses and various other equipment, but over that journey there are some key lessons all could benefit from hearing. Let’s try and tie some of these important lessons together in one article as I find these things critical in wildlife photography.

Photo: Bald eagle over water,  Homer Alaska 2016 (hand held)

1) Hand Holding versus Tripods and Gimbals

Hand holding is not for everyone, but for those that have the strength and steadiness to hold telephoto lenses (200mm plus), there are many benefits to having that ability. The most important reason I hand hold most of the time is the agility and flexibility it provides me and in turn this increases my hit to miss ratio in getting the shots. First of all, tripods are bulky, time consuming to set up and there is a fundamental difference in photographing while hand holding versus using a tripod. When you hand hold, the lens becomes part of your body, an extension of you, which means there is a natural flow and movement of the lens and it happens fairly subconsciously. When using a tripod, the tripod is stationary and you have to move your body around that stationary object to follow or track a subject. This is more difficult and a less natural way and thus it can result in missing opportunities. Overall I prefer to handhold whenever possible but don’t get me wrong, there is a time for both, I often use a tripod and gimbal, but never if I expect it to be a fast moving subject like a bald eagle or similar.  There are many times a tripod is suitable over handholding, it’s up to you to decide which way will get you the best shots, the first time.

Photo: Nice 10 point whitetail deer buck in pouring rain,  Cades Cove TN 2015 (hand held)

So what I am trying to convey the most on this hand holding issue is, tracking and following a subject is more natural and easier to do hand held versus tripod. Hand holding and tracking are a learned skill set, you don’t start an expert on day one, and you learn and improve over time. Eye to lens co-ordination is also an important asset when hand holding, I can look at a bird in flight, immediately swing my lens to point where my eye sees the bird and lock onto it in flight. This skill takes time to master, when I first started I would try to pick up the eagle, but not see it in the lens, have to move the camera away from my eyes, re-look for the eagle, try to pick it up again and try again. Now it has become a reflex, like riding a bicycle, it just happens automatically. Of course the faster the object is moving and the longer your lens is the greater the challenge. This skill is extremely important in increasing you shot hit/miss ratio and is an important skill for wildlife photography.

Some of the most precious moments I have photographed have happened in a blink of an eye, by immediately being able to swing your camera/lens combination into position and lock onto the action or moment is a valuable wildlife photography skill. Train yourself to do it, practice makes perfect. There are many times a tripod is a great choice and that choice will always be yours to make.

Photo: Huge bull moose bedded down,  Chugach State Park Alaska 2015 (hand held)

2) Evaluate / Adjust Fluidly

Taking the fluidity of hand holding a bit further, you need to be able to quickly point the camera at whatever your eyes are focusing on and quickly evaluate that scene and frame the subject appropriately. In other words, as I see the moment happening or about to happen, I am already bringing the camera to my eye, adjusting the framing, then quickly moving the focus spot to the eyes of the  forefront subject.

If the animal is moving and constantly changing position in the view, you need to be able to move the focus point on the fly, while tracking the animal and also leaving room in the frame for the animal to move in. There are times when the animal in question mostly has its head down or in a non-photographic pleasing position and you have to predict where the best place for the focus point would be if the animal in question turned or lifted its head. You also need to be able to predict or at least see the possible upcoming movements and make appropriate adjustments, for example switching from landscape shooting to portrait shooting.

This stuff is still a little difficult for me, because essentially you are multi-tasking quite a bit in that moment, looking at framing / focus spot / view finder content / f-stop needs / shutter speed etc. The more comfortable you get with all this, the higher success ratio you will have and more keepers will come your way. The core point here is to be able to make adjustments on the fly while keeping  that focus point on the eyes of the subject. There are times, especially on walking or moving subjects where I am constantly moving the focus spot, taking a burst, moving the focus spot , taking a burst. Sometimes even putting the focus spot where the head and eyes are going to be in the next few seconds and not where they are now – predicting the movement, predicting the moment. It took me a long time to make moving the focus spot on the fly a natural thing for me, it was a learned skill and I still have to think to make it happen.

3) Precious Moments Hardly Ever Repeat

If you are like most people, you don’t have endless amounts of money and time to repeatedly go on trips or photo tours to try and capture a moment missed on a previous shoot. More importantly, moments of photographic perfection hardly ever repeat, you may never see a black bear nursing her cubs in the woods twice, let alone see it once in prime photographic conditions.

Photo: Wild female black nursing her two very tiny cubs in the woods,  Northern NH 2016 (hand held with bean bag)

So, what I am saying here, is, that if you take your wildlife photography seriously, you need to understand the importance of the moment and have the ability to capture that moment the first time. Look, you are going to miss shots, either through bad timing, wrong settings, wrong choices, un-co-operative subject or just bad days behind the camera, it happens. Understanding the opportunities presented to you and their possible importance is a great skill to have.

When animals share their most personal side with you in an un-inhibited fashion, you need to be able to recognize that, it may be the time you get your most emotional and touching photos, that become the best ambassadors for your cause. I got to see such a sight (wild bear nursing cubs) and on that day, my years of trying and learning all came together and my skill set made the right choices to capture the photo. I could have made all the right choices (camera wise) but still have been messed up by a multitude of factors out of my control like weather, animal position, light etc.

So when I say moments hardly ever repeat, I mean, think of all the elements that are required for that amazing almost perfect photo, you have to be in the right place at the right time, you have to have the right lens available, you have to be at the right distance, you have to have suitable light, the animal has to be in a position where the moment is best captured from your angle etc. This wasn’t even close to a complete list of all the things that have to be right, really think about it, think about it, I’ll add a couple more to the list: subject position / subject head position / eyes (open, closed, looking away) / environment / something between you and the subject (obstacle) / multiple subjects (depth of field) / weather and how it might influence the photo / framing.

This is a lot of stuff that has to be perfect on that day, what are your chances of getting all that perfection a second time just like that, so don’t under estimate the value of your opportunities.

4) Take plenty of shots

In this digital age of photography there is no reason to be conservative with your trigger finger. Use your shutter wisely to get the required number of frames to ensure you got the moment you were trying to capture. I take short bursts at the maximum frame rate my camera allows, if the action is continuous I will keep the trigger down as long as needed. Over time you get a sense as to whether or not you got the shot, but there are always elements that happen you may not see through the viewfinder that may turn a keeper photo into a trash can job. The two down sides to taking lots of frames is using up your memory card space and the time it takes to sort through lots of photos. Memory is cheap these days, so that’s not an excuse, time is important to all of us and sorting through 3000 photos versus 300 does take longer, or does it ? If you develop a ruthless set of rules and strategy for sorting photos, it can be rather quick, because you essentially are only trying to pick the best of the best and maybe one backup, so quickly filtering through large quantities of images can be quick if you know what you are looking for and willing to delete in quantity. The upside to taking more frames outweighs the downside, unless you are a pro and know exactly what you have. In my opinion even the pro’s don’t always know if the tongue was out when you took your shots, or the eye was half closed, or a great big bug flew in front of the eye, or / or / or / or many other possibilities that screw up a photo. I usually take short bursts 10-20 frames, you can pick the best of the best – delete the rest. Over the years, I have started sensing when I have the shot I was looking for, so I kind of know when to stop shooting, but I never just take one or two frames of a critical moment, there are just too many things that make that a failing strategy.

Photo: Wild bald eagle grabbing a fish,  Homer Alaska 2016 (hand held)

5) Shoot Raw

This has never been an issue for me; I have shot Nikon NEF raw since day one. Unless there is a specific need to shoot jpg, you really should be shooting in RAW mode. Without going into the technicalities of it (an article on its own), RAW files store extra data and can be adjusted at home to compensate where ever needed (white balance / exposure / temperature / sharpness / highlight / shadow recovery are to name a few). For those that grew up with the internet and the jpg format being everywhere, get over it, learn what shooting and working in RAW can do for you, once you have the workflow down, making jpg images from your raw files is a breeze. The assumption made by me here, is you want to create the best images your camera can get, and you want to be able to post process your images for maximum quality at home, if that description does not fit you, shoot in whatever mode you desire.

6) A Bad Photo will always be Bad

Ok, you almost get the photo you have so desired, but something is wrong (bad lighting / soft eyes / motion blur etc.). Whatever it is, you can’t bring yourself to delete the photo. You spend hours in Photoshop to try and fix it, you try everything, but it’s not quite right, you know it, but you won’t accept it, you just keep wanting to fix it. Yeah, I have been there, many times and it never gets any easier. My advice to you is, you can’t fool yourself and ultimately you will never really be happy with that photo, just delete it. Suck it up, do it right away, save yourself the pain of that almost photo and save yourself endless time trying to fix it. The way you will fix it, is to get your butt out there and do it better next time, learn the lesson of your mistake and improve on it.

If it was motion blur, learn what shutter speed is needed to stop the motion or maybe track better or or or, use your bad photos to improve your skills, don’t use your bad photos to show people how bad you are by sharing them with everyone (if you get my drift). Photoshop is good, but not that good, even if it was that good, there are some ethics involved in photography and you should try and stay on the right side of those ethics.

7) Distance to subject

Not all photos are in your face up close and personal as some of those I have included in this article. Some photos will be more focused on showing a scene (ie: a bull moose in a pond with a mountain scene in the background), while other photos will be showing specific traits / details / beauty / demeanor / affection etc. and for those photos sometimes you have to be way closer than you think. The following two photos in this article have captured crucial moments that happened in a blink of an eye and the focus (story telling) points of those photos are the interaction between the mama and her cub or the male and female black bear mouthing each other.

Photo: Wild female black bear greeting her cub (kissing) as she brings it down from the hiding tree,  Northern NH 2016 (hand held)

The first photo, where mama black bear kisses her tiny cub as it climbs down the tree in the rain was shot using a 600mm lens and even though this is a fairly long focal length, you would be surprised how close I had to be to capture this moment at this size and crop. I estimate I was approximately 90 feet from this bear kissing her cub, that is pretty close (physically) for an animal such as a bear with her cub, the point here is, sometimes you have to be much closer to the subject than you might think to capture the very essence of the moment with a high level of detail in the photo.  This can be a challenge for any photographer and one of the skills you must develop is the art of getting close without being seen or disturbing the moment or getting yourself in a dangerous situation.

Photo: Wild male and female black bear mouthing during mating period Northern NH 2016 (hand held)

The second sample I want to use in showing you, how close you sometimes have to be, is the two black bears mouthing each other in the field, this is typical mating behavior between black bears during their mating period. This photo was again shot with a 600mm lens at an approximate distance of about 80 feet to the subjects, it was a fairly tight crop without any cropping in post processing really needed. But I wanted it that way, this photo is about the interaction, the mouthing, the teeth being shown and the intense facial expressions during such a powerful moment. I am always surprised how close I have to be physically, even with long focal lengths, people think I can take photos of the craters on the moon when they see my long lenses, nothing could be further from the truth and it really is a test of distance to subject versus detail and expression.

As I have grown better and more determined as a wildlife photographer, I often find myself in the field, in the woods, amongst the trees and settings where these animals live and play, sometimes tracking them, sometimes spending all day with them just to have one precious photographic moment. This requires me to understand my subjects, closeness involves some level of risk and I must understand the behavior and danger signs animals I shoot may show if they become distressed or too disturbed by my presence.   I never really thought I would be photographing larger animals such as moose / bear / elk / grizzly with 600mm plus focal lengths, but I often find myself using these long focal lengths for my style of photography. The main point I want to make here is sometimes, you need to be much closer than you think (focally or physically and / or both). You will be surprised, I promise :)

Photo: Nice whitetail deer buck in early morning frost Cades Cove TN 2015 (hand held)

8) Post Processing Skills

I have photos that I post processed 10 years ago, from camera models 10 years old, because I have the raw files from 10 years ago, I can go back and re-process some of my favorite images and using my new knowledge on post processing, make them look way better. In other words, I didn’t really have good post processing skills 10 years ago, not like I do now, so if I use my current procedures on my older favorite images, its night and day how much better the old images can look. Post processing is part of the art of photography; Ansell Adams was a master of both taking the photo and using development techniques he had mastered to create master pieces. Post processing is an important skill to learn, I have been a computer geek since I was 14 years old, so I had a head start and my understanding of the computer workflow has helped me a lot. There is a fine balance between over processing and under processing, but photography to some degree is an art, so what looks horrible to one person, looks great to another. The main point here is, post processing gives your images that extra pop, done properly; it can greatly enhance the original raw image and highly improve on it. One thing post processing cannot do, is make a horrible image look great,  and don’t go down the path of replacing eyes, sky, whatever else you can imagine, once you start doing that, it is no longer a photograph, but rather an artwork and should be defined that way. There should still be some integrity and pride in photography, in actually getting the image and not Photo-shopping the image. My post processing usually involves cropping / adjusting tone / sharpness / sometimes detail / noise reduction / saturation and occasionally stamping out small artifacts (eg: bug, sensor dust spots, minor corrections).

Photo: Common loon turning egg on nest with 1 day old baby looking on Littleton NH (hand held in a canoe)

9) Equipment Can and Does Matter

This may be a sensitive subject to many people, so I will keep it simple and just highlight the point, that different equipment produces varying results and you have to understand your needs to select the best you can afford for you what you are trying to achieve. Now that I have opened the door for hate mail and purists to shoot me down, let me share some of my 16 years of experience with photographic equipment with you. The features that a camera body offers me that I find most useful for wildlife photography are: Focus Ability and Speed of Autofocus / Low Noise at High ISO / Frames Per Second / Buffer Size / Battery Capacity / Durability in all weather conditions / Quality of the Image Sensor

Lets go into why these items are important to me and how they help:

Low Noise at High ISO: It’s not always so (nothing is always) but I often prefer to shoot in overcast conditions, the kind of conditions that give an even soft spread of light with no shadows, nature’s light diffuser so to speak.  Bears and moose are two of the animals I photograph where overcast is preferred, versus the harsh light of direct sun. There are different levels of overcast, heavy gloomy almost dark light / light bright but no shadows / almost sunny overcast that might be too bright or harsh.  Then there is also the low light associated with shooting very late at dusk or super early just before the sun cracks the horizon. Where am I going with this ?

Bears often come right at dusk, especially the big males; they are trying hard not to be seen. Moose on the other hand are way more active early in the mornings and active, but less active at dusk. The point being, if you want to photograph wildlife, then you have to photograph them when they are active and in the conditions they like to be active in. That was the long way around to say, I often find myself shooting in very low light and I need a camera that can do that – it’s a high priority for me. Now it’s not good enough that it shoots in low light, it also needs to produce usable images (noise wise) at those light levels.  Remember I have low tolerance for noise in my images, but if you disregard whatever mental disorder I have about noise, it’s been consistent throughout my photography career. My first serious DSLR was the Nikon D2X, my high ISO limit for that was around 600 occasionally going to 800, the next serious DSLR I got was the D3x, on that camera I thought 1600 ISO was as high as I wanted to go, the D4 replaced the D3x and my limit on that camera was around 3200 ISO and I often shot at that 3200 ISO max I had set for myself. Each new version (advancement) of those cameras allowed me to expand my shooting options and thus increase my chances of getting the shots. It’s not that I have a goal to shoot at high ISOs, I have a goal of shooting as late or early in the day as needed to get the shots I want, and whatever Nikon camera allows me to do that best is the camera for me.

Focus Ability and speed of Autofocus –  This could be make or break feature for me. There is no worse feeling than being in all the right conditions in the right place and you can’t get your camera to focus fast enough, action is over by the time the blur clears in your view finder. You just missed it! With my Nikon D2x there were quite a few times of “hunting” for the focus plane which did cost me lost opportunities. The D4s and now the D5 are light years ahead – the focus is nearly instantaneous and very accurate even in low light. So even if everything else is equal I will always choose the camera body with most superior autofocus system.

Photo: Nice 10 point whitetail deer buck courting female in backwoods of Cades Cove TN 2015 (hand held)

Frames per second and Buffer size – Another really important features. 10 years ago 4-6 frames per second sounded pretty good. However with fast moving subjects or changing conditions you are missing more than half the action and some opportunities may never come your way again. Something that most people may not think about is that FPS are not just important in fast action situations – it also matters a lot for the choices that multiple frames will give you when photographing a relatively stationary object or in very challenging weather conditions. For example – eyes open vs eyes closed, big bug in front of the eye, big snowflakes obscuring the face/eyes, claws visible vs hidden from view, heavy rain which puts almost like a veil between your lens and the subject, you may only have one of the 150 frames be good but it will be worth it, etc.   On something like an eagle snatching a fish from the water, the higher frame rate could be the difference between having the perfect grab pose or having to try over and over again, a lot happens in less than a few seconds during an action shot, the difference between 5fps and 11fps is huge in that scenario.

The buffer size is what can give you just few seconds of continuous shooting versus “as long as you need” shooting burst to capture that unique moment. This is very important in wildlife photography since it is very difficult to impossible to “time” your subject’s actions. For example an eagle grabbing a fish out of the water – with the D3x I only had about 3 sec buffer at about 5 fps so I had to time when I start shooting and hope that 3 seconds is long enough. However the eagle may decide to circle one more time and then I loose – by the time the bird comes down to grab the fish I am out of buffer. I don’t have to tell you how that made me feel. So having 10-12 FPS and 150 frames continuous shooting may be the difference between achieving your “photo of the year” and “almost got it”.

Photo: Bald eagle coming in to land on beach Homer Alaska 2016 (hand held)

I like the ruggedness of the Nikon pro bodies and lenses, I have had many little accidents over the years and having quality built equipment can save a lot of heartache. The gear does get bumped and occasionally dropped, if you are in the field enough chasing wildlife, it will happen. Some cameras and lenses can handle it, while other break and fail. I also often find myself in harsh weather or changing weather conditions and my equipment needs to be able to survive such conditions.

My lens selection is also heavily influenced by my belief that I have to be ready to capture every opportunity as best as I can the first time it happens because I may never have this chance again. So it is a priority for me to obtain the best glass that I can afford. I think of the lens as my artistic tool to express myself through my images like the different artist’s brushes will have different stroke (look). The shorter lens gives the opportunity for greater depth of field and as it pertains to wildlife the chance to have multiple sets of eyes in focus. The longer telephoto lenses while more challenging to shoot with can produce beautifully detailed image of your subject with pleasing bokeh effect separating the background. Also with a long lens I feel the animal “fills in” the frame, the antlers of the moose look more impressive, that gorgeous male bear is showing his “muscles from Brussels” or the eagle is flying right into the viewer and making direct eye contact. So choose the brushes that allow you to paint the images you envision.

The point I was trying to make on equipment was this: the newest best equipment doesn’t equal the best and most impressive shots, rather that equipment should be evaluated on its merits of what you need and why you need it and your budget constraints. But you need to consciously evaluate your photography goals and choose equipment that best achieves those goals, there are new cameras now (like the D500) that have specs matching those of the high priced cameras (I only could have dreamed of years ago). Taking the time to choose your equipment wisely, could both save you money, get you more shots, get better quality shots. Don’t go above your budget, set your budget, then buy the best you can afford, you can always upgrade slowly over the years (that’s what we did). Good quality glass is important, it does make a difference in your photos, this example is going back quite a few years and things have changed, but seeing photos from my first 200-400mm compared to the photos from the Tamron I upgraded from was literally night and day, the 200-400mm photos were far superior.

Photo: Female black bear kissing and gently guiding cub towards her – Northern NH (hand held)

Just a short note on the above photo. If you want to know why I do what I do, then this photo might explain it, its nearly perfect, its nearly a perfect photo for me. I may never get to see or experience such a moment again, let alone photograph it – wow!. Look at the emotion, look at the love, the interaction here is so precious and the story of the photo, so touching and wonderful. I never in my wildest dreams thought I might one day capture such a photo, but I did, this photo speaks to me, I hope it speaks to you. When I get a photo like this, I feel like all the things I have tried to achieve, have finally come together and “I got one”, it didn’t happen overnight, it took me years of trying and learning, but “I got one” – now, go get yours!

10) Learning Your Subject

Last but not least – Learn your subject. By that I mean you will need to invest your effort, time and money to learn as best as possible the behavior of animals throughout the year. This for me is a never ending process, at some point you reach a level of understanding that will greatly increase your chances to be at the right place at the right time. In another words – Luck comes to the prepared.

Its not just learning your subject, but also the location you photograph your subjects in. It took us several trips to Yellowstone before we knew where to go to photograph various animals, what time of year to go, how best to maximize our time. Now when we go, we can find moose at will, elk, grizzly, osprey, golden eagles and many more, we have learned each area they prefer to hang out and how to find them.

As always get out there and get into it!

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