Wildlife & Nature FAQ

lostprophet · May 21, 2008

If you want to ask any questions about Wildlife or Nature photography just post your questions here and members will try to help out.

Or if you know a few hints and tips and want to share your knowledge please post here.

BoblyBill · May 21, 2008

I have found pointing my camera towards the wildlife usually gets my best shots...

OK, seriously though, for most of you that shoot macro of bugs, specifically TB2 and woodsac, are they handheld shots and if they are how do you get such sharp shots? Do you use a flash mount that goes on the end of the lens?

LP, do you use a tripod at all or are all of yours handheld? All of you get tack sharp shots and I'm jealous. Does it help to have your own site to upload shots to that doesn't compress them farther?

N'Kolor · May 21, 2008

Wildlife photographers...how do they make a living? Calendars? I know this may sound like a strange question, but I am serious. Are most wildlife photographers, hobbyist?

Alex_B · May 21, 2008

N'Kolor said:
Wildlife photographers...how do they make a living? Calendars? I know this may sound like a strange question, but I am serious. Are most wildlife photographers, hobbyist?

There are not many pro wildlife photographers, since it is a very tough business. the market is much smaller than say events and weddings, fashion, product and so on.

Wildlife (just as landscape) photography is more often about the single image as an piece of artwork. And the market for that is fairly small in comparison. Hence it is mostly the established and well known wildlife photographers who really make big money.

Some wildlife photography also goes in illustration of textbooks or documentations, and then there is some in advertising, calendars, postcards. But the latter two are not really money machines and usually served by the stock photography.

Chris of Arabia · May 21, 2008

BoblyBill said:
OK, seriously though, for most of you that shoot macro of bugs, specifically TB2 and woodsac, are they handheld shots and if they are how do you get such sharp shots? Do you use a flash mount that goes on the end of the lens?

Not sure about TB2 or woodsac, but I know that TCimages, Doenoe and I are using the Lumiquest Softbox on a flash gun to light our compact & bijou subjects. Mine in combination with a Canon 430EX, 350D & 60mm f2.8 macro lens. Not done a lot yet, but the combination appears to work well.

lostprophet · May 21, 2008

BoblyBill said:
LP, do you use a tripod at all or are all of yours handheld? All of you get tack sharp shots and I'm jealous. Does it help to have your own site to upload shots to that doesn't compress them farther?

I use a Gitzo series 3 tripod with Wimberley II head for shots taken from a portable hide, if I'm in the big hide by the lake I just rest the lens on the ledge, out in the wild or a wildlife centre I go from either handheld or monopod. The setup wasn't cheap but its worth it in my mind, another good thing about the Gitzo range is that they are very quiet to setup unlike the Manfrotto tripods, which always makes me laugh as they come from the same company.

The lens covers are my old ones that were good for about a year but started to get loose so now I have some of the Wildlife Watching Supplies ones which are a million times better than the old Lens Coat ones.

The Canon IS lenses are just something else, and so are the Nikon VR lenses. 600mm plus the 1.3x crop from my camera and you still get sharp images at 90th of a second.

One thing I never do if I can help it is to go beyond ISO 500 as my old camera really can't hack it. Down side is that shutter speeds can be slow but I'd rather get 1 in 20 shots sharp than have loads of sharp shots that are noisy.

As for my site, well the ones on the site are uncompressed but if I embed them here they loose a bit of quality, one reason I always add the 'click image for high res' option on my posts

matt-l · May 21, 2008

who camps out to make the best of the morning light and evening light?

i have maybe 5-6 times at different lakes near my cabin, i love it. lol

Alex_B · May 21, 2008

i camp out in a tent from time to time, for several days .... but most of the time those sports are so lonely that there ain't any animals nearby

Battou · May 22, 2008

I can't say I am a Wildlife Photographer but I do want to say that inner city shooting of wildlife is not out of the question. As long as you have a wildlife pressence in town many of the same principals apply, only you have houses to hide behind and/or in. Also in some occations the subjects are not as skiddish so to speak possibly allowing you to get a little bit closer pending the situation. This was shot right outside my house in the middle of town with a car as a blind with a 400mm lens on 200 speed film.

Anubis · May 22, 2008

Battou said:
I do want to say that inner city shooting of wildlife is not out of the question. As long as you have a wildlife pressence in town many of the same principals apply, only you have houses to hide behind and/or in.

Definitely! We have had foxes, hedgehogs, numerous birds (including birds of prey), and field mice visit our garden in the suburbs. The local park has squirrels, heron, ducks, and swallows to name but a few. I have also frequently seen deer feeding at the side of the motorway exit at sunset.

Anubis · May 24, 2008

This link may be interesting for anyone into weather photography. The BBC are looking for submission to use on their site and perhaps on TV

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/multimedia/gallery/submission_help.shtml

Overread · May 29, 2008

Ok here it comes - the big question to all those pro wildlife photographers.
How do you go about finding a subject - and from there setting up and watching without disturbing. Is it all wlidlife centres and luck or is there some skills and tips you can give over?

lostprophet · May 30, 2008

Overread said:
Ok here it comes - the big question to all those pro wildlife photographers.
How do you go about finding a subject - and from there setting up and watching without disturbing. Is it all wlidlife centres and luck or is there some skills and tips you can give over?

I think the chances of a Pro wildlife photographer being on this forum is pretty low, chances are they are sat in a hide as I type, or they are writing reviews for whorehouse express ;-) oh and yes Andy Rouse does take photos at wildlife centre and sells them.

Overread · Jun 3, 2008

hmm uplander just mentioned tail cameras and as its liked to wildlife I thought it better to ask in here rather than spark off a new thread - so what are peoples experiences with them, what are good models and all that other stuff...

uplander · Jun 3, 2008

Overread said:
hmm uplander just mentioned tail cameras and as its liked to wildlife I thought it better to ask in here rather than spark off a new thread - so what are peoples experiences with them, what are good models and all that other stuff...

Trail cameras are self contained camera/ flash / motion detector units which were designed for hunters to scout for trophy game or establish patterns and times game moved in a specific area. I find them useful to watch a suspected den or burrough and let me know usful info before I take the time to set up and wait.

Most units attach to a tree or can be easily mounted various ways. Some are quite simple and others are more sophisticated. The basic unit is a camera with a motion dtection swith to trigger the shutter. Some have flash units and others have infared illuminators and infared sensors for capture. Some have it all. Most have clocks and timers and programmable logic to set when you want the camera active and for what modes.

For quick look at what is available go to www.cabelas.com and search trail cameras.

They aren't meant to produce high quality photos but are more for survailence and to give you a record of what and when something is passing through.

I hope that helps.