Photos tips for Wildlife Shooting (contd..)

Tip 1 (Read up about it): This is actually a tip that is valid for most photo scenarios, especially for wildlife cases. In the case of wildlife, with subjects that are elusive, or visible only at night, or fast moving; the photo gear and techniques are critical to get success in this area. One way to succeed in this area is to read articles / magazines / books that focus on wildlife photography, you get a lot of information and useful tips from the same area.

Tip 2 (Shoot a lot of photos): Expect to shoot a lot of photos when you are trying to shoot wildlife. Animals don't pose, move around a lot, and many times the environmental conditions (night, etc) are not ideal; as a result, you would have to take a lot of photos to get the right photo. You should have a good battery (including backup), and large memory cards (fortunately, they are fairly cheap now).

Tip 3 (Be preapred to drop photos): For people who have been photographers for some time now, they are used to shooting and then being selective about the photos you want; however amateurs are more connected to the photos that they have shot and find it harder to delete photos even if the photos are not good. Not being able to quickly sort through photos and delete the ones that are not required can lead to a lot of clutter, something to be avoided.

Tip 4 (Patience): I spoke about patience some time back in terms of waiting for wildlife to be in the right patience, and the same thing holds good even when waiting to get a great shot of a beautiful butterfly. Insects, birds, etc flutter around a lot, and it is only rarely do they seem to be sitting down on a flower to get the great photo. You need a lot of patience for this kind of photo.

Tip 5 (Be attentive): When shooting wildlife, especially when shooting wildlife in the open, you need to be very attentive. Some of the great shots happen suddenly, where there is a fight at a watering hole, or a chase suddenly starts. Some of those happens irrespective of whether you are looking in that direction or another direction, so you should be able to quickly change your focus.