THE BIGGER PICTURE

THE BIRDS AND THE BEES-WHERE IT ALL BEGAN-SHOOTING WILDLIFE

Small Tortoiseshell

To those of you who know me personally-you will be aware that I love animals and am wildlife crazy. From ladybirds to red kites and butterflies to badgers I get over excited about wildlife of any kind. It was this love that first drove me to purchase my first camera, a Canon 550d with a Tamron 70-300mm zoom for shooting what I wanted to shoot most.  

I remember being initially disappointed having graduated from a bridge camera with a very strong optical zoom. I was taking pictures of the birds in my garden-but I wanted to be closer. My lens just wouldn't make things BIG enough for me. I remember naively going back to Jessops grumbling about my kit and the assistant assuring me that I could get great results from what I had. I Googled images taken with my kit. The issue it appeared was me.

                      

Tufted Duck

I think one of the main frustrations when you are new to photography is that you want to know everything yesterday. You want to create perfect images quickly and are baffled as to how others seem to do it so effortlessly. I soon began to realise that it really is trial and error. You can study photography books all day, have ready made tables set out for what settings are best for different situations and drool over lenses you can't really afford but nothing will get you to where you want to be unless you get out there and practice. That said there are some brilliant YouTube tutorials out there that are really informative. I used to (and still sometimes do) take a notebook out with me to write down anything I learnt on an outing, whether it'd be positive or negative. Obviously you can make use of your cameras histogram but I'm a bit of an old fashioned girl and love a bit of pen and paper.   

Now, back to the wildlife......

Coming into Land 

When I started getting into photography about a couple a years ago I was quite determined to do everything 'properly'. Straight out the box I switched my camera onto manual thinking this would be the best way to learn. I kid you not it was quite a while until I realised what aperture and shutter priority were. I only used manual focusing and all the pictures on the blog today are taken completely on manual settings. By no means are these 
perfect pictures-they are not tac sharp and in some cases lack some detail but they are just a little example of making the most of what you have at your disposal. The Tamron 70-300mm has a good macro function on it if you are into insects or flora. I've also been reading recently that if you mount your bog standard 18-55mm kit lens back to front this can make quite a reasonable macro lens and some of the results I've seen have been great. This is something I've yet to try but will keep you posted!

Red Squirel

How we all take images is completely a personal choice and as photographers, be it complete beginner or pro, we are constantly discovering new things. For me, shooting wildlife is challenging enough so why make it more difficult by manually focusing everything? We often have a split second to capture a fast moving or elusive creature so we need to have as much on our side as possible. Higher shutter speeds are preferable to try and freeze the action therefore it will be necessary to push the ISO up to compensate for this. Before you start, get to know your camera's limits. How high can you push your ISO to achieve acceptable results? How low can your shutter speed go until objects become blurred? A good rule of thumb for this in day to day shooting is using your focal distance as a guide. If you're shooting at 300mm then your shutter speed for hand held shooting shouldn't be set below 1/300. For wildlife  you will more than likely be using a higher setting than this to capture your image. It also helps if you know the behaviour of your subject. Is it a diving duck that's about to dip in or out of the water? Be ready for that classic behaviour you're trying to capture.

Whopper Swans

Another obsession with wildlife photography is to get as close to your subject as possible. This seems like something you should be focusing on but it can be nice to take in the environment of your subject and not make it too detached. Using a wider angle to show the habitat of what you're shooting is also important. A lot of the time the environment you are shooting in can be just as beautiful as the animal you are photographing. 

Final words of wisdom - be patient. With your subject and with your equipment. We are all limited no matter what kind of kit we have, but try to get to know not just its limits but also its potential.

Until next time......



<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13886121/?claim=smqvx4anwcq">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>