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5 essential wildlife photography tips

©️ Tim Horton

If you're a wildlife enthusiast that wants to get started with photographing what you see, it's important to get the basics down so you can make the most of those precious trips. Kent Wildlife Trust's Content Creator, Tim Horton, talks through his essential tips in this blog.

Note: These cover wildlife photography tips specifically – other tips on photography topics such as the direction of lighting, subject framing or file type recommendations etc. are not included here.

1. Do your research

Fail to plan and you’ll plan to fail. The more research you do on your desired subject (i.e. the habitat they’re found in, the time of year they’re most active, behaviours, locations where they’re most commonly sighted, etc.), the more likely you are to be successful. It’s no good travelling to the right location if you’ve got the time of year wrong!

The method I find that always generates the most success here is to get in touch with local wildlife enthusiasts/photographers etc. usually through social media. Remain polite and respectful if they refuse to be of help – many locals are concerned that revealing locations will lead to damage or the complete destruction of habitats and local populations, which often are vital to threatened national populations.

As always, when visiting these locations, leave them as you found them and respect the requests of landowners.

A hoverfly from below, in front of a blue sky and a single cloud.

©️ Tim Horton

2. Stay hidden

You may need to adapt and experiment with your methods here to suit different subjects. Using a camouflaged hide of some sort normally gives you the greatest chance of success but may take a significant amount of time for the wildlife to become accustomed to.

Remember to stay still and, if absolutely necessary, move very slowly. Eliminating noise is key – all animals are highly sensitive to their surroundings in order to avoid predation. As a human being... you are the apex predator! When walking, slowly place your heel down before the rest of your foot. Try to ignore insects crawling on you where possible.

Never chase or distress your subject – it could lead to harm; either to yourself, others, your subject, or all of the above.

3. Remain level with your subject

You will likely improve the quality of your imagery significantly if you remain at the same height as your subject. Below is an example:

Moorhen with its beak open amongst greenery.

©️ Tim Horton

In this photo I took of a feeding moorhen, I’m at the same height as my subject which gives the viewer a sense of the moorhen’s perspective of the world. If I’d taken the photo from my height, I would have been looking down at it which would have looked very odd.

Remaining at the same height as your subject should come naturally anyway a lot of the time, as most wildlife within a close proximity is very unlikely to stick around if you’re standing up!

 

4. Use the appropriate lens

for most wildlife, using a super-telephoto or higher zoom lens of some description will likely result in higher success, as wildlife is more likely to make an appearance and display natural behaviours if they’re unaware or are less interested in your presence because of your lower proximity to them. 

Although this isn’t really possible for those wanting to photograph smaller subject such as invertebrates, where possible, try to keep your distance from your subject and instead let the lens do the majority of the work for you. 

However, there is a balance here between a higher zoom and physical distance from your subject; the higher the zoom needed, the less ambient light will be available and the lower the sharpness of the image will be.

Essentially, do not choose the wrong lens and then pursue your subject – this will distress the subject and reduce success dramatically.

5. Use a burst or continuous mode

A group of chough flying across a blue sky.

©️ Tim Horton

Most modern photography cameras now come with a ‘burst’ and/or ‘continuous’ shooting mode. In these modes, the camera will essentially rapidly continue to take photos while you’re pressing the shutter, instead of just one.

This can be particularly useful when tracking and trying to capture a highly motile animal, such as a bird flying. Using these modes can increase your chances of getting that clean, sharp shot that you’re after (provided, of course, that your shutter speed is high enough).

Best of luck with your wildlife photography endeavours! And don't forget that at the time of publishing, our photography competition is still open for entries.

Photography Competition
 

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