Bird/Wildlife Photography

[Richard Dowling]

Hi All,

Thought Id post here because I know there are a fair few Wildlife photographers amongst us, some of which Im extremely envious of!

Assuming all of your work isnt just in your back garden, I wondered if you had any tips on how you approach animals, mainly Birds, Is it always by Hide? Do you put food out days in advance? That sort of thing.

Ive been doing some wildlife photography for a few years but ive only had success with tamed wild animals (Like Puffins on the Farne Islands, or Deer at National Trust Parks) Id really love to get some of the great "Christmas Card" quality images of birds that ive seen so many people acheive.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Not a photographer, but I know a few fanatical ones. Have a look at <CVL BIRDING>, <Digiscoping > & <gear and processing>.

cheers Darrel

 

[bridgey_c]

Ive got a good friend who is a pro photographer and spends a lot of time photo'ing wildlife. I love the outdoors and photography myself and Ive spent loads of time with him a few years back out and about shooting wildlife.

I had this vision of wildlife photographers being intrepid adventurers and living in the wilds for weeks on end to get the perfect shot. Im sure that is sometimes true but I reckon it is a lot less common than you think. If I ask him about any type of wildlife, bird species, foxes, hares, water voles etc, he will tell me about some pub (or other random place) in a remote part of the country where they are known to have become slightly friendly and it is fairly easy to photograph them. They all like to keep their secret places fairly secret too.

Maybe Im being a little cynical because sometimes there is a high level of field craft. Learning the animals feeding habits and routines etc. For most garden bird species though we used to set the whole scene up. Get the perfect branches, the perfect backdrops, the perfect time of day etc.

This is my avatar shot of a wild Bengal tiger in Karnataka, India. 500mm lens and 1.4 TC.



It is actually a wild tiger but in a massive reserve for injured wild tigers 😉. We had a guide drive us around in a land rover with me hung out of the window. He knew roughly where they would be, which watering holes at which time of day etc.

 

[Richard Dowling]

Ive got a good friend who is a pro photographer and spends a lot of time photo'ing wildlife. I love the outdoors and photography myself and Ive spent loads of time with him a few years back out and about shooting wildlife.

Thanks for the interesting post.

Yes I think its a bit of mentoring that I'm lacking. Luckily I have a voucher to have a day with some pros so that may help.

Nice tiger, very jealous, id love to see these animals outside of a cage before such time that there are none left!

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