newcomers wildlife photos..please critique and critical question for photographers

redskies421 · Aug 26, 2014

hello,

I am very new to photography, however, I am absolutely beginning to love taking photos of wildlife. The files attached represent a few photos that I have taken within the past 2 months (I couldnt take photos for a month due to work). In any event, I would love your critique (yes! the frog is mid-croak!)

Moreover, I have a question that has been on my mind for some time. I try to take photos in either aperture or shutter speed mode. I am trying to learn the techniques on how to successfully take photos without relying on auto. All of the photos taken are either through the two settings mentioned. However, I primarily take photographs in the evening (around late sunset) due to many animals being more active around that time. I am truly trying to figure out how to ideally set my camera (Nikon D5100) in one of these modes without having to turn up the ISO. I like taking behavior shots..yet, when I apply shutter speed mode (I shoot at about 1/1000), the aperture dives down to f 4.5.I know that I can manually set the aperture to a higher level, yet, I am curious if anyone has any insight on the best settings for taking photos of moving wildlife in low light settings (around sunset).

Cheers

coastalconn · Aug 26, 2014

Welcome to the forum. Looks like your off to a good start. I shoot with a D7100 so the settings are the same. I always shoot in manual mode with auto-ISO. I then use exposure compensation to tell the camera what I want the exposure to be. You control the shutter speed and the aperture. The problem is unless you have a very fast lens (like a 300 F2.8) taking wildlife images in low light requires high ISO. So if you want a lower ISO, you need a lower shutter speed or a faster lens..

I like the egret the best. Think about perspective and composition. It's hard to do when your out there. I always think is there anything distracting in the foreground and what does the background look like?

Hope that helps...

dennybeall · Aug 26, 2014

There is only so much light available for any given photo. You set aperture and speed and if you still need more you can only set a higher ISO or buy a faster lens. And sometimes nothing will do it.
Wildlife you almost always want to set speed high since they just have an aversion to standing still for you.
In my opinion your photos could be improved with a longer lens to get closer. They are good captures just need to be closer. On action photos many people frame the animal moving into the frame as the grey crane is but the white crane and the frog are not. The big swimming rodent is somewhat nondescript to me.