Photographing wildlife requires a special skill that can take some time to tweak. If your following these tips you should be able to take some great photos.
1. Make sure you use a Telephoto Lens
Making sure your close enough to take a shot is tough. Making sure your at a safe distance and trying to get close to the action can be extremely hard. That’s why you should invest in a telephoto lens. The Normal rule of thumb is that you should try and remain 100 yards away from the wildlife this will help make the photo look nature and keep you safe. Using a telephoto lens allows you to do this.
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You can also use your telephoto lens when you are photographing zoo animals that are behind a fence. Few know about this little secret. Make sure you move close to the fence and then zoom in 100mm and you will no longer have the fence in the picture. Focus past the fence using a wide aperture. You can then focus the fence out of your photo, take your picture and you won’t see the fence.
If you shotting a white fence it will be a little harder to get this affect. Regular chain link fences can be semi reflective, which can cause a glare in the sunlight and it can be hard to focus out. Don’t be afraid to play with different angles. Experimenting will let you find the best results for your wildlife photography in the zoo and in the wild.
2. Shutter Speed
If animals are moving, you have to quickly determine what type of shot you are going to take. If you want your camera to capture the moment then you need to shoot faster then 1/500. The shutter speed will depend on the lighting and it can be a bit tricky.
Make sure when your using your digital camera that you crank the ISO up. This will make the sensor more light sensitive, providing you with the necessary shutter speed boost. If you want your image to have motion try to shoot with a shutter speed of 1/4 to 1/8. Make sure of couse that you keep an even level and move with the animal. You will need to be steady handed while you are panning. You will get the best pictures if you choose uncluttered backgrounds to have the animal “pop” in the picture.
3. To Fill in Shadows Use a Flash
Allot of professional photographers use this technique, but main people don’t know or have heard of it. If you told someone to use there flash on a sunny day, they might look at you strangly, but it’s important that you do because this will fill in the shadows that the natural light creates. We will not be using flash to illuminate the animal as if it was dark. But when used in the sunlight it will fill in the shadows and give you a better looking picture.
However, before you get busy using a flash around wild animals be conscious about whether the flash is going to scare the animal. You’ll want to avoid such situations. If your animal is behind a glass pannel then you can not use the flash as it will result in a white picture.
We’ve looked at three great tips to help you take great wildlife photographs. There are others. So if you are interested in the best possible photos you can explore further, but this will certainly set you in the right direction.
