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.

An Unexpected Encounter

After several trips to the Rocky Mountain states with my point and shoot camera I finally decided to buy a DSLR. I bought a Nikon D3300 with the 2 kit lenses. I only had the D3300 for a week before I was heading on a trip again. I barely knew how to use it but I was excited to see what results I could get from my new camera. I loaded up my camping gear and new camera and I headed out for a week in Colorado. I have always had an interest in wildlife so I decided that was what I wanted to mainly try and photograph on this trip.

I drove all around Colorado exploring and taking pictures of everything at all times of the day. I knew of the golden hour time but I did not fully appreciate the significance of shooting during this time to get great images.

I arrived in Great Sand Dunes National Park and decided to camp for 2 nights. Around noon on my second day I went hiking on a trail near the campground. I was trying to find some wildlife. About a mile in I came to a small valley and made my way off trail about 300 yards up the valley. I sat at a terrible location on top the valley looking down at the small river. I was inexperienced and didn’t know that at eye level with the wildlife I could get the best results.

I unnecessarily set my camera up on my $20 tripod and began to wait to see what would pass by. I waited for around 15 minutes then I heard something moving through the bushes below. I was filled with excitement, for I thought it may be a mule deer or an elk. It was neither. As I looked through my viewfinder I saw just the back of an animal and I immediately knew what it was. It was a mountain lion.

I frantically began taking as many pictures as I could. I only had the 55-200mm kit lens at the time so at about 30 yards the pictures were not turning out too good. I then noticed the cougar was looking straight at me and it started to hunch down. It looked as if it was going to start sprinting right towards me at any second. I felt a bit uneasy so I jumped up and stared it straight in the eyes so it knew that I knew where it was and that it couldn’t surprise me. It sat among the trees for a few minutes just staring at me. I began to feel a bit more comfortable with the situation so I looked over and grabbed my camera. I looked back at the spot where the cougar was and it was gone. I saw no trace of it and heard no noise. I was a little bit spooked so I packed up my gear and hastily hiked back to the campground. As I walked back I frequently kept turning around and tried to stay on high ground just incase the mountain lion was stalking me. Needless to say I made it back to camp safe and sound.

After this encounter I checked the photos I took and I was disappointed. They were not sharp and I had to severely crop and edit them to make the mountain lion more visible in the image. Seeing one of these wild cats in their natural habitat was a very special encounter. They are rarely seen in the wild. I was very fortunate to be able to photograph this animal even though the images are well below good quality.

This event really got me even more into photography. I ended up buying a 150-600mm lens a few months later so if an opportunity like this arouse again I would be able to come away with a better image.

In wildlife photography you never know what to expect. More times then not you can wait for hours and days and not take a single photograph. Some days you can get lucky. Some days you can come across a spectacular subject but the perfect image just slips away.

5 Wildlife Photography Tips