After long pause in my wildlife photography due to work, in recent months I have been getting out more with my camera. At various times while waiting for an animal to hopefully appear I have been mulling over what factors or issues are most important for wildlife photography - in my opinion at least. Read on...
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In various places on the web I have heard people talk about photographer Jay Maisel referring to the importance of 'gesture'. You can watch a video of him talking about this here. He does not necessarily mean a physical gesture or movement, but an image that reveals something fundamental about its subject. Now my understanding of this concept is probably not quite right, but it makes me think of those - often split second - moments that can give a photograph that extra 'something', with the image above being an example of this. I hope this will be particularly of interest to beginners starting out in wildlife photography.
I have always been into still photography more than video, but since I got a video-capable DSLR a few years ago I have tried to shoot video clips when the opportunity permits. I have created a video from a variety of clips showing deer, foxes, badgers, water voles and more. I will also give a few thoughts on techniques. Why use a DSLR for this rather than a dedicated video camera, which after all are nowadays relatively small and cheap? Well, partly because I do not own one, and try to carry around as little gear as possible (not that you would think that, to look at how much I often carry). Also if you are using the same camera and lens for both, you can switch between stills and video in a second, rather than having to swap equipment. You can get attractive out of focus backgrounds due to the larger sensor size of a DSLR, especially when combined with a 'fast' (large aperture) lens and if you are shooting from the subject's level. This article that I wrote last year about using bag hides for wildlife photography seems to be one of the most popular parts of my website. After using my bag hide some more in recent months, I felt compelled to post again about it. I won't go over all the details that I mentioned before, but will just describe a couple of wildlife watching experiences that I have had. The normal conventions of what is good or bad weather should not apply to a photographer whose subject is wildlife and the outdoors. Weather conditions that cause most people to go indoors should have you heading outdoors to take advantage of the photographic opportunities that can be presented as a result. Left: beech wood in the rain. The rain gave the more distant parts of the wood a misty appearance. Elsewhere on this blog, I have already given my thoughts on “Starting out in wildlife photography.” I thought I would see if I can summarise my views on the key ways to improve your wildlife photography into ten tips. Nothing here is completely original – all these points are tried and tested ideas and techniques – but even more experienced photographers do not always put them into practice. I have found that each of these points has made a significant difference to my photography (if I can remember to apply it!). I have been following the US TV series "Wild Photo Adventures" for several years, which is a good clue of what I think about it. Although much of the North American flora and fauna is very different from that found in the UK, I find the shows a great source of inspiration, as well as being enjoyable to watch. The programme's enthusiastic presenter is professional wildlife photographer Doug Gardner, who visits a different region of the US each time, exploring and photographing the native wildlife while offering tips and ideas along the way. I have spent several years pursuing wildlife photography, have been on a number of courses with professional wildlife photographers, read lots of books, and spent too long looking at websites on the subject. Here are some thoughts on how to start out in wildlife photography. They are just my opinions, but might be useful if you are in the position that I was in several years ago. Left: fox with photographers at the British Wildlife Centre.
Sigma 150-500mm lens with neoprene covers
Everyone knows that a wildlife photographer needs a 'long lens', a huge heavy thing that - many assume - lets you see amazing details from a great distance away. I realised a while ago that there is more to it than this! Even if you are using a telephoto lens, unless you are photographing a huge animal like an elephant, you still need to get pretty close. And although there are lots of advantages to using a longer lens, equally there are disadvantages too: you are exchanging one set of problems for another. In fact, like all photography, it is all about understanding your equipment and then getting creative with it. If you have recently acquired a telephoto lens or are thinking of getting one, this will hopefully help. Bag hides. OK, first things first. To any non-wildlife photographers this will all just seem weird, so maybe stop reading now... And even to wildlife photographers who live in countries where the animals are used to people and don't run away as soon as they spot you, this might seem a bit odd. But here in the UK, many animals have been hunted or persecuted for hundreds of years, so they normally disappear at the first sign of people. Sometimes you have to be a bit clever so that you can get close enough to an animal to take a photograph, and a bag hide can help... |
Reviews, thoughts and tipsReviews of anything connected to wildlife photography, and some 'how to' articles based on my experiences. Archives
August 2017
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