Learn How To Photograph Wildlife In Their Environment
Animals that were once out of reach because of the constraints by gear have now become wildlife targets with the advancement in lens reach, teleconverters, and camera’s megapixel size.
It is also now possible to fill the frame where every primary feather and facial whisker is highlighted in stunning detail. One might even go as far as to say that this is now the gold standard of wildlife photography today.
Not only do these telephoto lenses allow you to capture intimate wildlife portraits, but it has also changed the way that an image is captured. Just go through your social feeds. You will see images of backgrounds and foregrounds that are thrown out of focus. The animal’s surroundings become an out-of-focus palate of color with little or no detail. Don’t get me wrong, this type of image will really draw the eye because your subject stands out from its surroundings. But as good as these photos are, doesn’t it leave you wanting more? But what is more, and how do you capture it?
To me, “the more” is the environment. Capturing the animal in its environment is the art of telling a story of the day in the life of this gorgeous animal for all my friends and family at home that were not lucky enough to be on this wildlife shoot with me.
There is an art to this, and this lesson is dedicated to laying out the decisions you need to make to create the best possible image for those at home to look at and say, “WOW”.
These decisions can be summed up in the following five points:
1 – Your subject must be well-composed within the frame to stand out sufficiently to draw the eye.
2 – You should avoid unnecessary clutter that distracts from the subject
3 – The idea behind this technique is to create a ‘picture’ rather than a record shot of the subject
4 – Depth of field will play a major factor when creating an image with recognizable surroundings.
5 – You need to consider alternative lenses to create such a composed scene.
Let’s now look at how to make the correct decision when the opportunity presents itself.
1 – Composing Your Subject When It’s In Its Environment
There are a couple of key points to consider when composing a landscape photo with a wildlife component. Wildlife must be a dominating factor in the image. It’s best not to have it blend into the environment.
Watch for horizons that could possibly run through the body of the animal. You should also keep an eye out for tangents. Tangents can be background elements like trees and rocks that may accuse the two elements joined by touching.
Watch for appealing body positioning. You want to avoid drooping heads like a grazing animal. The head is best to be looking straight ahead or slightly upwards. The same rule of making sure the eyes are in focus and visible still applies to this type of photo
It’s advisable to shoot wider than you envisioned. With the size of the images coming out of our cameras, there are many megapixels to crop.
When possible, identify the composition ahead of the animal’s appearance. Pre-compose and have some patience. Don’t wait for the perfect moment; take other photos, but keep that pre-visualized composition in the back of your mind and watch for it to unfold.
Finally, dont just look for a horizontal composition; look for alternatives like portrait compositions.
2 – Avoiding Clutter and Distractions
This is not always easy to achieve. You are going to be including more surroundings that will cause the viewer to pay attention to more details. So, your goal is to avoid anything that distracts from your main subject. One way to help the subject stand out is to place it against a section of the background that does not have detail. Even in the most complex backgrounds, there may where the animal will be more pronounced.
3 – Tell A Story In The Day In The Life Of The Animal
Earlier I mentioned that it is your job as a photographer to capture the animal in the environment to better tell a story for those at home that were not lucky enough to experience what you are seeing. You should be thinking about capturing a theme of photos around the day in the life.
You are going to want to watch for the following:
Interaction with other animals
predation behaviors
nesting and denning
breeding
4 – Choosing the Correct Depth of Field
The focal length and the distance to your subject will determine the size of the subject in the frame. These factors also play a significant factor in the depth of field and change how much of the picture is in focus.
When you’re using a shorter lens, and when the distance between the camera and the subject decreases, the depth of field increases.
The depth of field is also affected by the aperture. f/16 will capture more of the focal plane than one would with f/4. Therefore, by applying one or more of these parameters, it is possible to increase the depth of field and ensure more of the scene in focus, as is usually the case when you are taking a landscape image without wildlife. .
5 – Gear Choices To Create The Desired Result
As wildlife photographers, we have become somewhat accustomed to long telephotos for capturing close-up portraits. But the advantage of using a long telephoto lens to blur the background is also one of its drawbacks when trying to show the environment that the animals exist in.
In situations where it would be beneficial to include the surroundings as an integral part of the picture, the use of a long lens at close working distances is, therefore, a definite disadvantage. It is for this reason that many photographers are now using shorter telephoto lenses and wide-angle lenses to shoot wildlife subjects.
A 70-200mm lens or something like a 24-105mm lens will be the lenses that come into play when you are attempting this type of photography. A good strategy to photograph animals, whether they be tight, or living in a landscape, is to have two bodies and two lenses ready to go. On one camera, you have the super-telephoto, and the other will have a shorter lens.
This has been an in-depth lesson. So let’s recap the highlights.
1 – Your subject needs to be well-composed within the frame to stand out sufficiently to draw the eye.
2 – You should avoid unnecessary clutter that distracts from the subject
3 – The idea behind this technique is to create a ‘picture’ rather than a record shot of the subject
4 – Depth of field will play a major factor when creating an image with recognizable surroundings.
5 – You need to consider alternative lenses to create such a scene.
Why dont you consider joining us on one of our wildlife workshops? We conduct wildlife workshops from northern Canada to Svalbard, Africa to Antarctica, and many locations in between. See our wildlife workshops here.