How to take good wildlife photos

Wildlife photography can be a very rewarding and relaxing hobby, and encourages us to get out into nature. We are lucky in Britain to have a diverse range of native species, but finding them may not always be easy! Some animals are naturally wary and elusive, whilst others may be nocturnal or spend a large portion of time high up in the treetops or underground in burrows, where they are not easily spotted. I’m by no means an expert, but I am very enthusiastic about nature and wildlife (after all, I did study Zoology at university!) and I have worked on improving my wildlife photography over a few years now. So how can you go about taking good images of wildlife?

Photography kit

Wildlife photography will often require you to photograph animals and birds from a fair distance away, so a long zoom lens is a good investment. I use a 150-600mm lens which gives great reach to photograph a wide range of subjects, although it is incredibly large and heavy to tote around the countryside! Whilst I prefer to handhold while shooting, I do have a monopod to provide extra stability (and to take some of the weight off my arms) when using this long lens. I don’t usually use a tripod when photographing wildlife as my subject is usually moving quickly and I don’t find tripods helpful when repositioning at speed, although a gimball head would be ideal if I were to use a tripod more extensively.

The shots below of the red squirrel and the red fox were both taken from a considerable distance using my 150-600mm lens.

For very small subjects, such as the harvest mouse and tree frog pictured below, I use a macro lens which allows me to achieve sharp focus at a much closer distance, to capture the fine details of these tiny creatures. My macro lens is a prime lens, with a fixed focal length of 105mm. One challenge when shooting with a macro lens is working with the naturally shallow depth of field to ensure enough of the subject is in focus.

If you don’t want to buy a dedicated macro lens, you might consider an extension tube, which is a non-optical element that fits between the camera body and the lens to reduce the minimum focusing distance, so you can get closer to your subject, but at a much lower cost than buying a new lens. The only drawback to using extension tubes is that there is some loss of light, so you will need to use a higher ISO or slower shutter speed to achieve the same exposure.

Flash is rarely used in wildlife photography, as it would startle the subject! So another consideration when it comes to kit is how well your camera deals with low-light conditions. When photographing wildlife it is often necessary to use a high shutter speed to reduce motion blur, and it is often desirable to select a wide aperture to blur the background and keep the viewer’s attention on the subject, which will mean that in low-light conditions a high ISO is required. I started photography with Nikon and have found the D750 to be one of their best models at producing photos in low light without excessive grain at high ISO settings (although recently I have also purchased a Sony mirrorless camera and I am finding so far that it outstrips my Nikon in terms of low-light performance; alas, my Nikon lenses are not compatible with the Sony camera body!).

Understanding your subject

The better your knowledge and understanding of your subject and its habitat and behaviour, the more successful you will be in photographing it. Of course, each species has its own niche and unique set of characteristics, but there are a few general tips I can share with you!

Most wild species are naturally wary of humans, so do what you can to avoid detection! Dress in dull-coloured clothes rather then bright ones (whilst most animals do not see the same range of colours that humans do, most can still perceive colour to some extent). Arrive at the spot where you intend to photograph from before dawn or after dusk, and stay as still and as quiet as you can while in position. If you do need to move, keep low to the ground (when photographing brown hares on farmland I have crawled along to get a better line of sight, and the hares still spotted me!). Try to position yourself downwind too.

Think carefully about what time of day, and what time of year, you are best to try photographing your target species. Some species are equally active all year round, but others may be easier to find in certain seasons than others. For example, I set out to photograph red squirrels in February as they were still sporting their winter coats with more pronounced ear tufts than would be seen in summer. Some species may be easier to see in Autumn and into early Winter as food starts to become scarce, so they spend more time out foraging or hunting. It can be easier to spot small birds in the Winter months as there are no leaves on deciduous trees. You may be able to take photos of courtship behaviours (e.g. hares boxing in the Spring) if you find out about when their mating season is. Puffins are not found on land year-round; they live out at sea for much of the year and only come in to nest in the late Spring and early Summer, when you can capture images of them bringing a beakful of sand eels back to their chicks. It pays to do your research!

Spending sufficient time observing behaviour was key to taking the two photographs above. Puffins are surprisingly small and zippy, so getting a clear, sharp photo of one in flight proved quite a challenge! But after watching them for some time, it became evident that they would fly in large sweeping circles around the cliffs a few times before dropping in to land on the clifftop. So I found the best strategy to capture a good photo is to choose one of the circling puffins, track it as it swoops around and keep the focus on that individual as it comes in to land. I have also used this technique to photograph red kites, who also drop very suddenly when hunting.

The gannets in the right-hand photo are displaying a courtship behaviour - after returning to the cliff after feeding at sea, the mated pair spend time tapping their beaks together when reunited. This photo was taken at the Bempton Cliffs RSPB centre, where the fantastic volunteers were more than happy to share their knowledge of these beautiful birds with visitors. Photographs of species-specific behaviours can often be more interesting and engaging than simple portraits.

COMPOSING YOUR IMAGE

One additional aspect to consider is what type of image you are aiming to capture - a wider shot showing the subject within its environment, or a closer-up portrait? If you are taking shots which include more of the animal’s environment, you might consider using a narrower aperture to keep more of the surroundings in focus, whereas for close-up portraits I always select a wide aperture (usually as wide as my lens allows) to throw the background out of focus, introduce bokeh and keep the attention squarely on my subject.

One final point to make - when I’ve posted some of my wildlife photos online before, I’ve often had people ask me where I took the images, or what kit I used. I always take care to explain that I did not simply turn up at the location, stay for an hour and leave with a memory card full of great shots! In most cases I’ve spent a full day out in the field, having previously done a fair bit of research into my target species and prepared accordingly. My understanding of the subject, paired with a lot of patience and a willingness to sit still and quietly for 8+ hours, are what lead to me taking shots I’m happy with, much more so than having used a certain lens or having visited a particular spot.

Photography kit

Understanding your subject

COMPOSING YOUR IMAGE

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