P#8 Q6A: Secrets to Taking Great Wildlife Pictures

Easy tips to make your wildlife pictures more interesting

Roy Toft: This is a fun question. I have to say I really don't think there are any secrets. I think photography is not magical. It's just hard work and knowing your craft.

The idea of a secret to me means that there's something that, "Wow, you're doing something so different and crazy that no one would ever think of it," and I'm not doing that.

I'm just out there early, working hard. I obviously know my craft. I know my equipment.

Anyway, I'm going to tell you some tips but I don't really think they're secrets. They're nothing magical but they're definitely going to help you get better wildlife photos.

They might be secrets to some people but they're not to me because I like to let people know everything there is.

Using Slow Shutter Speeds

The first kind-of secret or tip that I would give that a lot of people don't think about when they're out photographing is shooting slower shutter speeds when you're working with animals that are moving.

Automatically, people think of freezing motion -- that's what they think of photography. I don't think of that at all.

I think of photography as a way of showing your vision about something.

You're watching wildlife and if you can portray it in a way that has more feeling and more mood by using a photographic technique, I'd say, "Great, do it."

Slow shutter speeds are wonderful for showing movement. If you like pictures that have an edginess to them... where there's movement and everything isn't just rock solid and sharp. I love sharp pictures as well, but I like these moody pictures where there's movement and there's edginess.

A lot of that can be done by using slow shutter speeds.

What I'm talking about is a fifteenth of a second or a thirtieth of a second. Those tend to be magical shutter speeds for catching movement when you're panning with a subject.

What I mean by panning is if you have a subject walking or running or flying by you, you follow that subject with your viewfinder.

With your camera, you follow it so it's moving. While you're following it, you push the shutter button. That's called panning.

If you do that with one of those slow shutter speeds -- once again, a fifteenth of a second, twentieth of a second, thirtieth of a second, it really depends on how fast your animal is moving and what lens you're using -- you're going to get some really interesting and wonderful results.

What happens is you're panning with the subject so with that slow shutter speed, you can still capture the subject without it moving too much because you're following it in the frame.

The interesting part of the photo will be the background. Your backgrounds are going in the opposite direction that you're moving the camera, so they streak. They move while that shutter is open.

Depending on that background, you can get some marvelous movement in the background, while at the same time still capturing your animal without it being too blurry or too freaky.

That's kind of a fun thing and it is something that you have to think about. You can't just be reactionary to an animal walking in front of you or running because that would mean just pointing and shooting and not thinking about changing your shutter speed.

In summary

Know your subject and recognize your own vision of what you want your pictures to look like. Roy Toft recommends a slower shutter speed, and using panning to create blur in the background of your subject. Consider creating a mood for your photograph by using movement.

Don't be reactionary when taking wildlife pictures -- simply pointing and shooting won't usually create a great photo.