P#7 Q3B: What Photography Gear Do I Need, Other than a Long Lens, for Great Wildlife Photos?

Using a flash in wildlife photography

Roy Toft: As photographers, we have tons of stuff. I'll give you a list of things and what order to get them, because I know a part of the question was how expensive this is, right? "Can you do it on a budget?"

I would say once you think about getting a telephoto so you can get image size, now you can photograph an animal without being right on top of it.

Next, a tripod is extremely important. It opens up a whole new range of photographs that you can take: all those slow shutter speeds, in low light situations (as well as just giving your arms a break when you're working with a bigger telephoto). So, a tripod is probably a must at some point.

Third is a flash -- people don't think about flash very often, but flash is a wonderful tool if used correctly. I use flash a lot.

In some of my imagery, you can't tell that I'm using a flash. That's what happens when you use a flash correctly. You use it with subtlety, so you don't really notice it.

A flash is a wonderful tool. It is another thing I would think about down the road.

Finally, as you get into other aspects of wildlife photography, you start wanting to take pictures of small things: little frogs, little insects, etc. Then something like macro photography (using a macro lens) really opens up that world for you.

There is tons of stuff you can get. But I think a solid body, your first main telephoto lens, and then a tripod and a flash and you'll be good to go. Get out there and start photographing wildlife.

Audri Lanford: That's great. One of the other things that we really learned from you was using fill flash. We took pictures with and without it. The differences were just striking. You couldn't tell that we were using the flash by looking at the images.

It made such a big difference to do that.

Roy Toft: It's all about subtlety. You want to take advantage of technology. A lot of people, when they use flash, use too much. They throw too much light out there and it becomes too obvious.

In wildlife photography, so much of what makes a photo more intimate and more memorable are the subtleties, not only in the positioning and the behavior of the animal, but things like lighting and shutter speed.

Summary

Getting started taking wildlife photos doesn't require a lot of fancy equipment. Roy Toft recommends a good camera, a long lens, a tripod and flash. With these basics, and an understanding of a few basic techniques, you can start taking some excellent wildlife photos.