Wildlife Photography Tips.

All images courtesy of Carol Stevenson

Carol Stevenson is a San Francisco-based photographer who specializes in landscape, wildlife and documentary photography. Her love of travel has allowed her to photograph some of the more remote areas of the world while she lived and worked in the Asia Pacific region. If you are planning a trip that involves wildlife spotting and want capture the natural theater of animals with your camera, here are some thoughts and tips from Carol for photographers of all levels.

Whether it’s an African safari, a caravan of camels or an elephant camp in Thailand, it’s a once in a lifetime experience for most travellers and one that can be really fun for photographers.

When photographing wildlife, there are so many changing variables to consider; light, humidity, animals change colour with the tiniest movement, get wet or are muddy and they also have unpredictable temperaments. With this in mind, it is so important to have a good idea of what to expect and make sure you have the best tips for safari wildlife nature photography is to practice patience. If you spend enough time with a wild animal they will eventually do something that will cause your pictures to come alive, so make sure you stick around when you find a big cat or a troop of baboons.

Equipment

A digital SLR (not point and shot) it’s a must for good wildlife shots. With technology today, it doesn’t need to be expensive. Point and shoot cameras however are great for shooting video, the quality of the new generation is amazing.

The one lens to take with you is a telephoto zoom, such as a 18-200 mm, that can cover everything from close ups to wider angle landscape shots. The zoom means you’ll be able to frame different kinds of shots faster covering all conditions.

Stabilizing your camera is critical to clear and crisp photographs as animals are constantly moving. For example, an elephants trunk tends to move constantly, so take a light tripod or a monopod (one legged camera support) which allows you to move around the animals. Also make sure its high enough to comfortably reach the eye level. Bring more memory cards than you think you’ll need. You can never know how many – 3 x 16 GB cards are my minimum. For storage on the road I use small portable external drives and at minimum make two copies of everything. These are always carried in my hand luggage.

Power may be an issue. Always take a spare camera battery, in fact, take enough charged batteries. Try to get a car charger for your batteries as well, so that when out in the field, your driver can charge it for you in the vehicle. Keep the ISO as low as possible in daylight for crisp pictures and reduce noise (grain).

For low light conditions, up your ISO to 400-800 even 1600, you’d be amazed at what the new generation of cameras can capture.

Light

Good light is the most critical element in good wildlife photography. Plan on photographing at dawn or dusk, never during the middle of the day especially in Asia where the light is particularly harsh in the middle of the day leading to shadows, lack of detail or dappling, all of which make for bad images.

Soft daylight brings out texture and detail in close up photographs and shape and form in landscape images. When you think the light has gone, just keep shooting, you’ll be surprised at how much the camera can capture when you think the light has gone.

Framing the Shot

For close ups, zoom in to fill the entire frame. Focus on a specific area eg. an elephant’s tusk to show great detail. For landscapes think about minimizing the immediate foreground, focusing on the animal and surrounding sky or background to fill the frame.

Other Tips

In hotels with air conditioning in high humidity conditions, put your camera outside for 15 minutes before you need to shoot to avoid the lens fogging. Another vital tip when visiting locations with high humidity, keep silica gel packs in your camera bag to absorb moisture. I highly recommend taking along a small portable hard drive. They are also great for viewing images. Even though you can store so much, don’t keep too much. You probably will never find the time to view them, let alone sort them out if you arrive home with 5000 images.

The GEAR

• Nikon D3x
• Nikon 18-200mm VR
• Other lenses: 12-24mm, 24-70mm, 70-200mm
• Tripod
• Batteries
• 3 x 16GB CF cards
• 3 x 1TB hard drivers

Armed with heavy camera gear and an unstoppable desire to bring awareness to the plight of the Asian elephants and their caretakers (mahout) at The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) in Northern Thailand has become Carol’s personal campaign. The images she’s collecting are part of her five year “visual record” for the organization, and with them she intends to show the story and personality behind each elephant she meets – motivating others to care about and want to help preserve these endangered animals.

Visit www.elephanteditions.com to see more of Carol’s work.

(Article from Footprints, Minor Hotel Group, Issue 1/2012)

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to be always updated.

To view the complete Anantara Vacation Club blog series, and stay informed about tips, reviews and news, please click here.