Photographing birds and wildlife is a wonderful past time. It is something I do for half the year, when I’m not busy with people photography or photographing landscapes. There is a way of getting better bird and wildlife images that many amateur photographers forget about, but you will see top professional photographers mention and do this technique regularly.
It doesn’t really matter what camera you are using for this technique, as long as you have some sort of telephoto lens attached. I’ve seen amazing results using this technique with full frame D850 cameras and 70-200mm F/2.8 lenses, so that should be your bare-minimum focal length, although I recommend a minimum of 300mm (full frame equivalent).
“The Technique”
It’s a technique that all the professional wildlife photographers use, armed with the latest full frame monster cameras and their prime lenses. No pray is out of range, because they take care of the range factor.
Get closer to what you are photographing!
You can have the longest lens on a flagship micro four thirds camera, but getting closer with even a basic full frame or aps-c camera will always yield superior results with the better low light capabilities, better noise capabilities and shear beauty of their larger sensors. It’s why almost every professional wildlife and bird photographer use full frame cameras. Fact.
Getting closer means planning, and every avid wildlife photographer knows how important it is to plan. Do a recon of your area, set up a temporary hide or look for a place that camouflages you. Sometimes you’ll see bird photographers scattering food, but whatever your plan, sit and wait.
Often, you can sit and wait for a short time and the birds, deer, squirrels or other animals will start to re-appear after their initial dispersal. You become one with the landscape, and suddenly even a 200mm lens means you can fill the frame.
Images below from Nikon ZF and Nikon Z6ii filling frame with little to no crop in most of them.
“You Can’t Always Get Closer”
If you are on a safari, or in a fenced off area or the trees or land you see the animal is just very far away, it’ll mean often that you can not get closer. But let’s be honest, how often is that really an issue if you’ve planned where you are going? You would not keep going to a place where the wildlife is inaccessible.
Honestly though, it can be a real problem that we all run into on occasions. It’s why so many photographers buy long lenses! But this article is not aimed at those opportunists or those dedicated to buying longer and longer lenses and smaller and smaller sensors (a few photographers are migrating from micro four thirds to tiny sensor Nikon P1100 type cameras).
It’s aimed at those willing to take the time to invest time in planning, time in waiting and the skill of the chase. The person who becomes the predator, waiting for it’s pray. That is where the skill in wildlife photography really is.
“Conclusion”
We don’t all want to be like those old men with their micro four thirds and super zoom bridge cameras that you generally see in bird and animal hides at nature reserves. You know the type, if you’ve ever been near one of these, you can almost guarantee what equipment they use and the age of the person behind the camera. Visiting dozens of different hides all over the country, you know it’s just the norm, which is perfectly fine and it makes complete sense. A nice lightweight set-up, a comfortable seat and shelter to pass away your retired years as an enthusiast amateur.
But life doesn’t have to be like this, just talk to anyone who earns money from wildlife and bird photography, or read up on amazing wildlife photographers and time and time again you will see that they want the very best cameras and lenses enabling them to not worry about light. They also want to create images that you can hang on your wall, so most often they will use wide aperture lenses to separate the subject from the background. Most importantly, they will all try and get as close as they can to their subject (while keeping safe). It’s also just a matter of physics, as the further away you are, the more atmospheric conditions can destroy your image, and that is a real issue!
As I conclude this, I need to point out, the focus on this article is to give you the initiative to try and leave behind the safety of man-made hides, and plan your wildlife hunt with your camera.
Getting closer means more than just getting a better image, it means you can enjoy the animal in real life, by being close and seeing them with your own eyes, not just through a lens. We have all seen the images of various animals sitting on photographers, or the lenses of the photographer while they are keeping out of the way as much as possible.
That’s what separates a serious wildlife photographer from a guy with a long lens.
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My name is Mark G Adams and I run Photography By Mark G Adams. I am a professional photographer from South Wales, shooting weddings, events and portraits as well as running meets and workshops. For fun I like to shoot landscapes, wildlife and occasionally do street photography. Enjoy my website as I share my knowledge learned over decades of working and having fun in photography. Feel free to like, comment and subscribe!
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