Wildlife photography is a very popular area to specialize in, and for good reason.
It gives you a great excuse to spend extended periods of time outdoors, keeps you fit, and allows you to develop a real appreciation for the natural world.
But it can also be a very challenging field too, especially since your subject is often running away from you! Plus, wildlife is usually active in low light conditions at dusk or dawn.
If you are a beginner who is looking to capture beautiful wildlife photographs, you are in the right place.
We are going to share with you our top wildlife photography tips so you can start improving your nature photos straight away.
Study Wildlife Behaviour
Getting to know the animal you’re photographing can be a really helpful trick. If you know about an animal’s typical behavioral traits, you’ll be able to predict movements or particular things you can focus on capturing.
Do some reading online, or in textbooks, to learn a bit of background about the animal you’re looking to photograph.
For example, some animals at particular times of the year. You might be photographing deer stags, and you can expect males to fight during the rutting season.
If you know about this beforehand, and the types of behavior that signal a fight is about to occur (in this case parallel walking, roaring, pawing the ground, etc.), you stand a better chance of capturing it on camera.
Use Your Lens Hood
Lots of people ignore their lens hoods, especially for shorter focal length lenses. I’m not sure why, as they really do help.
Lens hoods are great at preventing annoying lens flare, something that is pretty apparent when you’re shooting towards the sun.
They also eliminate stray light coming from the sides, improving the contrast and clarity of a photo.
Experiment with Light
Light makes or breaks an image.
So you need to know how to use it to your advantage if you want to come away with something unique.
My favorite type of lighting for photographing wildlife is backlighting.