Over the last few years I have taken some stunning images of North American wildlife. Many of the people who have seen my work have asked how I took such good pictures. Part of the answer is that I have high quality equipment, but that alone will usually not get you the quality of wildlife shots found in National Geographic and other nature magazines.
I have been fortunate enough to spend a good deal of time exploring the National Park system, with most of it in Yellowstone, which is sometimes referred to as the Serengeti of North America. Yellowstone is a target rich environment, and provides a great opportunity for seeing the larger species due to its open vistas, especially in the Northern Range area, the road between Mammoth and Cooke City is open year round.
You do not have to travel far for good wildlife images. I have seen some exceptional wildlife images taken by people with a point and shoot camera, people who just spent time in a local park or had a bird feeder.
There are no secrets to wildlife photography, just some tips that help. I have outlined some of the more important ones below. Follow these concepts I have provided and take lots of photos. Like anything, it takes time and practice to get good.
1. Show Some Patience, the best things come to those who wait. Crouch behind a boulder or use the available vegetation to hide your outline.
2. Use a Fast Shutter Speed in order to compensate for fast animal movements with your camera settings.
3. Disable All Camera Sounds, even the slightest beep produced by your camera may scare away wildlife.
4. Use a Zoom Lens - Do not scare away animals by trying to get close. Remember, the ultimate goal is to get pictures of assured, dignified animals instead of stressed, panting victims. A 400mm lens or longer is optimal, but great images have been captured with smaller ones.
5. Keep the animals eyes focused and clear in your photos.
6. Learn about the habits of the species you want to photograph. It does not do you any good to be out and about at noon if the animal you are looking for is a morning or evening feeder.
7. Talk to a Park Ranger - Take photos of animals in National Parks or Wildlife Reserves. Do not neglect Park Rangers and park volunteers as valuable sources of information on animal behavior and locations. They will know where certain species hang out.
8. Take advantage of the digital media available and take plenty of photos to compensate for random animal movements. It is not like you are using film and have developing costs, sometimes the best shots come at the end of a burst run.
9. Avoid using a flash with your camera whenever possible to keep animals from getting startled.
10. Polarizing filters can reduce reflections that might otherwise overpower images of animals when shooting near and around water.
11. For your personal safety and the future safety of others, never feed the wildlife! Sharing your sandwich may harm their digestive systems and get animals hooked on junk food. As a bonus, you will end up learning more about the animal by observing what food it prefers.
Good luck and happy image hunting!
Dave Stiles
Written on 26/01/2007 by Turbowolf
