My Tips for Wildlife Photography
Otters in Monterey - what a special morning!
My friends, I come to you with the most delightful news. Spring has ARRIVED. Growing up in Florida did not teach me the significance of such time, with the Fahrenheit temperatures already at 85+ as the extended summer was back in full swing down south. However, places such as western North Carolina, Northern California and certainly the Pacific Northwest have shown me the beauty of the life cycle each year and my newfound appreciation for the sun like flora and fauna. The weather slowly warms and the snow starts to fade and the sights become vibrant once again.
It’s also the time we start to get moving more again - and it’s not just humans that get active. Spring is a great time to start seeing wildlife again and you better have those cameras ready. It’s a privilege to see any of these animals in operating naturally and I have enjoyed capturing some incredible images through the years. Having learned from some mistakes, you can notice some great strides just by keeping some simple tips in mind on location if you’re lucky enough to be graced by the presence of majestic animals.
A friend I made in Hayden Valley, Yellowstone.
Prepare yourself (and your Camera!)
There’s nothing like catching that shot you’ve been dreaming of. Since you’ve been dreaming of it, there’s a chance there’s a lot of thought that’s gone into it. At least in your head. Sorting through animals you want to photograph, then finding locations such as national parks, and regions of said parks to find them are part of that process. Putting that same thought into your camera is equally as important. Here are some of my most coveted pieces of equipment (my personal equipment in parenthesis):
DSLR/Mirrorless Camera (Nikon Z5)
Telephoto Lens - 300mm+ (Sigma 150-600mm f4-6.3) - To capture dramatic wildlife photos, anything shorter would force the photographer to get closer, most times putting you in serious danger. Even if you can’t afford a lens like it, you can rent telephoto lenses on many websites prior to your vacations.
Circular Polarizer Filter (B + W 95mm CPF)
With gear like this, you can produce quality photos by applying the proper settings combined with a capable camera. Having those settings preset upon arrival is essential for outdoor photography, especially for wildlife photography.
Now, start to put yourself on location. You are walking into a gorgeous place with boundless opportunity for photographing wildlife, such as Yellowstone (just being biased). There are 3 major areas of your camera to think about when on location.
That’s one BIG boy of Wyoming’s wilderness.
Aperture or “F Stop”
This controls how much light your lens allows into your shot. Most cameras go all the way up to f/22 but, when focusing on subjects like wildlife, you want to open your aperture up as wide as possible being the smallest number on your selected lens. Most telephoto lenses drop as low as f/5 which will work so well, while some extremely high-end (and expensive) lenses can drop to f/2.8. Lenses like those are included in what I call “my dream setup.”
ISO
This assists your camera in producing artificial light. Most cameras can drop all the way to an ISO of 100 which is ideal for any photography so you can capture your image with the least amount of “noise.” possible. In those cameras, you can usually go up to somewhere between an ISO of 5000 and 8000 before seeing noticeable noise, which is one of the drawbacks of raising it. However, it’s unlikely that you will be as low as 100 - a general rule is to stick to somewhere around ISO 320-1000 when shooting wildlife, and the reason why follows below.
Shutter Speed
In my opinion, shutter speed is the most important aspect of wildlife photography. Animals can get moving, slowly or quickly, at any given moment. You want to be ready for any movement at all and stick to a higher shutter speed. As a general rule for landscape photography, shooting double your focal length is as low as you should go (ex: shooting at 1/400 when your lens is at 200mm). However, that’s why you should raise your ISO to keep your shutter speed roughly 4x as high. I usually do not go below 1/800 when shooting wildlife, and that’s at the absolute lowest!
EYES on the prize!
When shooting any subject, remember to keep checking your focus points. Your primary focus, which is the square in your viewfinder, should track the eye of the subject. Most DSLR cameras and above can track the eye of a moving subject in automatic focus (AF), which takes that important element out of your hands.
The Waiting Game
Wildlife is controlled by nobody and when photographing any animals, there is no telling what could happen. In one aspect I mean safety-wise, which is why it’s important not to get too close in hopes of the “perfect shot.” In another, I mean you cannot be sure you may even get the photo you were hoping for or even a single good one. I can say with confidence I have visited locations without capturing a good picture of wildlife for many reasons: due to their low/high activity or distance, poor weather conditions, or simply not seeing any. Especially when at the beginning of your photography journey, there are failures you can learn from. In that, there are some ways that the learning curve can include “creating your own luck.”
Go Early
This is one of my favorite things to do for so many reasons. Most wildlife is active in the warmer parts of the year. That also means the heat is something they are not a huge fan of. Sunrise and sunset are the best times to photograph these creatures of nature. Going early not only sees a higher chance of viewing wildlife but the main reason I favor it: LESS PEOPLE. Both things occurred at Monterey when I captured this beautiful set of otters in the bay, as I caught a mother carry her baby.
Go Often (if you can)
Although this can’t always occur, it’s the best way to see what you want to see. Simply because the more the go, the higher your probability will be. That is more difficult when traveling for vacation but as a local or frequent visitor, you can create those chances. For me, this happened during my summer in Yellowstone. With quite an early sunrise, I visited Lamar Valley numerous times before 4am to catch wildlife in action; sometimes with friends and sometimes alone, hoping to see anything possible. After hearing of wolves, I was hooked and only wanted to go more. One morning, with a few friends, we saw many cars and bison carcass, roughly 100 yards from the road. After about 20 minutes, we saw them. WOLVES streaking through the area. Everyone stayed for a few hours for an incredible viewing of the parks coolest animal.
Wolves before our eyes. Such a privilege.
My Most Important Piece
There’s so much to learn and remember in any field of photography but one thing should always come first: enjoy it. The moments out in nature with wildlife will come and go and can be very good or bad, and there is nothing you can do about it because it’s nature and we cannot control it one bit. What you can control is soaking in those moments. Whether it’s wolves, orcas, or simply waiting for wildlife to come out, I love to take in the sheer fact that we are on this planet and have the privilege of using our time to view these other animals. Take a second to put your camera down and be present before their gone because no picture is going to give any moment its due justice. Happy shooting, everyone!
