4 Jun 2009
5 quick tips for wildlife photographers
With this article, I hope to start a semi regular series of quick tips for wildlife and nature photographers.
Without further ado, here is the first installment.
1. Keep your eye on the viewfinder – Action can unfold in front of you at any time, and Murphy’s law dictates that you will miss the best opportunity when chimping (If you do not know what chimping means check this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimping)
2. Know your gear – Wildlife photography is somewhat like baseball, you spent lots of time waiting for those few seconds of real action. You NEED to be ready for those few precious seconds; in order to make the best out of those few seconds you must know your equipment better than the back of your hand. You are certain to miss that great shot if you are fumbling with your equipment during those precious seconds.
Bull Moose on the Snake River, WY
3. Keep your gear ready – Make sure your camera is on, you have a recently formatted memory card, and the camera is set to your favorite settings. Double check these settings every so often, it is easy to bump your mode dial to an undesired mode inadvertently.
4. Be patient – As stated in #1, wildlife is unpredictable, and do their thing at their own time and pace. Know your subject, learn their behavior and predict their next move.
5. Keep an eye for changing light conditions – When shooting outdoors you can be guaranteed that the light and weather will change. Make sure you keep the sun to your back and pay attention to changing light conditions, and adjust your camera and flash accordingly.
Prothotonary Warbler, Chatham County, NC
Hope you found these useful and I hope to be posting many more of these in the near future.
As always, if you have any questions or comments use the comments section below or you can reach me via twitter at http://twitter.com/jpons.
Juan
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Hi Juan,
I just found your blog. I really enjoy it.
I love watching birds and your Prothonotary Warbler has me excited. Not only is it a great photography, you took it close to where I live. Can you tell me where in Chatham County, NC you took this photo?
Thanks,
Jeff
Jeff Bailey
June 4th, 2009 at 4:55 pmpermalink
Jeff,
Thanks for the comment. I took this image on Jordan Lake, more precisely in the swamp by Big Woods road. However to get the best views of these guys you need to paddle in. During this time of year I spend quite a bit of time in the swamp with my kayak taking pictures of Prothonotaries as well as other migrant songbirds.
Hope that helps!
-J
Juan Pons
June 4th, 2009 at 5:01 pmpermalink
Thanks Juan, It helps a lot.
Looks like I need to take the canoe with me next time I head out that way. There is a wetlands in Schenk Forest (close to Umstead) that I may scout out. I want to get a great photo of these guys. They are beautiful.
Jeff Bailey
June 4th, 2009 at 8:54 pmpermalink
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June 5th, 2009 at 12:27 ampermalink
I found myself laughing at the term “chimping”…I’ve lost shots doing it… Great blog, and I’m happy I found you on Twitter! I’m now set to follow your RSS feeds!
Rich Leighton
June 5th, 2009 at 2:43 ampermalink
Thanks.
A lot of useful info here. Great photos too..
Soe
June 5th, 2009 at 5:42 ampermalink
Excellent tips !
Thank you so much.
Michael Wolf
June 8th, 2009 at 2:20 pmpermalink
These are some wonderful shots.
I like the moose and the canary bird.
The shots are crisp and clear.
The shot of the bird singing makes me feel like I should hear something!
ForestWander Nature Photography
June 9th, 2009 at 8:12 ampermalink
hey,i loved this post.great tips for wildlife photographers.Wildlife photography is an exciting glimpse of photography which helps us to see the fantastic world of wild life in their natural habitat.amazing pictures…..gud work…
digitalpicturezone
wildlife photography
July 15th, 2009 at 2:21 ampermalink
“chimping”
))) yepp, i’ve just lost a shot of a fantastic sparrowhawk gliding towards me in dusk. and i was fiddling with something on the lcd. why didn’t i find your site earlier? 
nice site, beautiful pictures and good reading. Keep on the great work!
Csaba Tokolyi
July 20th, 2009 at 8:01 ampermalink
I just found your site and I love it! I loved your tips and can’t wait to read more!
Erik
August 16th, 2009 at 2:16 pmpermalink
Great tips, thanks for sharing! I’m always looking for ways to improve my nature and wildlife photos
Hiking Lady
August 24th, 2009 at 2:56 pmpermalink