Here are 5 tips that I have found to be very useful while photographing wildlife. Some of these will be very obvious but I hope you can come away with some valuable information.
1. Get up early / Stay out late
The best light is indeed in the golden hour. About an hour after sunset and an hour before sunrise. Also animals are more active during this time of day so the chances of seeing wildlife increases.
Taken right after sunrise. The light is much better than harsh daytime light.
2. Use a blind / hide
Staying hidden from wildlife is crucial in order to capture natural behavior. When people are present animals act differently. When you can watch the wildlife unseen you can come away with some very unique photographs of interesting behaviors. A great, and somewhat unthought of blind is a car. Driving around roads in a national park and shooting out the window of the vehicle can be very beneficial. Animals that live in frequently visited areas are used to seeing cars so they will pay no attention when you park to photograph them. Other options can be to use a hunting pop up tent or lens coat has a special made photography hide that works very well.
I sat for hours in my blind in order to capture this coyote hunting.
3. Patience
Patience is a necessity when it comes to wildlife photography. Wildlife photography is not as exciting as it is sometimes made out to be. You must spend a lot of time out in the field waiting and watching for the perfect moment. I have spent weeks going out to photograph animals only to come back without taking a single picture or coming back with a terrible image. You must be persistent and never give up or you may never get good results.
I spent 6 months working (hospitality) in the Red Centre of Australia. I went into the bush on almost every one of my days off trying to find dingos/kangaroos to photograph. This is one of the '“better” images I was able to capture.
4. Know your subject
It is very beneficial to know animal habitats and behaviors. Knowing what they like to eat and at what times of the day they are active can help you find a location to set up your tripod and big lens and wait. Tracking is also a very good skill to know. You can identify which kind of animals are in the area and also tell how long ago they have been present in an area. I use tracking a lot to tell where animals frequent. Game trails are great to wait by to see what kind of animals come along.
I set up next to a game trail knowing that deer frequent in the area due to an excessive amount of tracks.
5. Eye level
You will get better results by photographing at eye level. When you are looking down at a subject it makes the image look a bit unnatural. in exception to this, If you shoot far away with a long lens then the subject can appear to be at eye level even if you are above or below your subject.
This cockatoo was high up in a tree. Since i was far away shooting at 550mm the bird appears to be somewhat at eye level.