From walking owls to roaring lions, wildlife photography can be the most difficult, and the most rewarding photography. Wildlife photography is prominent in all seasons whether it’s snowy squirrels in winter or bustling bees in summer there is never any shortage of wildlife to capture. To help you get to grips with it we have asked our LUMIX ambassador Tania Esteban, who specialises in wildlife photography, to put together 9 important tips to get those perfect shots.
#1
Make sure to separate your subject from its background, create space and simplify the background to draw out your subject and allow your animal to take centre stage. This, with a shallow depth of field and searching for a nice clean background, should give you a nice clean image of your subject.
#2
Try to pick up on any details that makes your animal unique to help introduce your character memorably. Scars, broken tooth, torn ears, unusual patterns – show what your animal has lived through!
#3
It’s all in the eyes – get down or up to your animal’s eye level. You can engage and capture the emotion and intensity that the animal will have, allowing your viewer to better connect with it.
#4
Light – always try to shoot when the light is at its best, morning or dusk, to capture your subject in a soft warm nature. Golden hour is always best. But also don’t forget that storms and cloudy weather can prove interesting too and add drama to your shot.
#5
Composition – try not to frame your subject straight in the middle of your frame! Unless it’s for a specific reason.
#6
Know your species. This sounds obvious but if you’re not aware of the animals movements, biology and even down to that individuals own characteristic gait, flight, hunt/walk mode, then you will miss out on those details that means the difference between a great shot, and an amazing image.
#7
Get in REALLY close…with your lens – focusing on the finer details of your animal subject. Often you can create quite abstract portraits that doesn’t let your viewer know what animal it is. Slowly reveal this and tease your viewer (with ears, whiskers, teeth/mouth). Equally it can be to draw your audience in and create an intensity and drama, for instance through the eyes.
#8
Shoot assignment images; 4-5 images that tells a story. This is a great way to learn about the animal and capture either one aspect of its life, or elements that really brings together great storytelling skills.
#9
Patience! Potentially the most obvious one, but certainly one of the most important. You need to be immersed in your animals world for longer than a morning session to truly capture it’s essence, and really understand what it is that makes your character tick. Also to capture those magical moments where your animal displays some remarkable behavior – it makes it all worthwhile.
We hope you have found these tips helpful and good luck on your wildlife adventures. If you have any images you are particularity proud of please share them with us by tagging @LumixUK on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!
All photos taken by Tania Esteban on a LUMIX GH5. If you want to see more of Tania see below.
Website – https://www.treproductions.co.uk/
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/tania.rose.754
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/tania_esteban23/