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Wildlife
Tips & Tricks
by Philippe Clément
username photophil
Nikonian in Belgium
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NIKONIANS
WILDLIFE SERIES OF TIPS & TRICKS
As
Nikonians Moderator of the Wildlife Forum, Philippe Clément,
"Photophil", has contributed -over a long time-
most interesting, valuable and entertaining content; plenty
of excellent advice. With his help we begin here the Wildlife
Series of Tips & Tricks. Below, his contribution to attendees
to the 3th
Annual Nikonians Photo Adventure Trip.
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"Mama
Bear" by Nikonian Tom Trujillo (tjtrujillo)
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1. Most animals have a "fear circle" around them.
If you enter that circle, they are inclined to
take flight (or fight). Unfortunately, you need to be
within that fear circle in order to take frame-filling
photos. So, take plenty of time, avoid eye-contact and
don't approach the animal directly, Act as not being
interested in them. Once you get close enough, talk
to them in a calm voice. Always wait till you get "connection"
with the animal, rather than shouting, as soon as it
is in focus. If you want it to look into the camera
lens or sit perfectly still for a moment, make a funny
noise to attract its attention.
2. Take great care about your backgrounds. Move around!
Especially when working with big lenses, only stepping
aside a few feet can provide you a totally different
and perhaps more pleasing background.
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3. For those with smaller lenses: making strong
pictures of animals in their environment is often more challenging
than shooting a frame-filler. If your subject looks small
in the frame, make sure it fits in a composition of interesting
shapes.
4.
Take great care when you approach black bears. Personally,
I am more scared of the relatively smaller black bears
than of the big grizzlies. They look cute, but can be
very aggressive, especially when defending their young.
Keep your backpack on at all times to protect your back
in case of an attack. Not that I want to scare you guys
but you never know. Don't drop and play dead when a
black bear attacks, but fight back. |
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| 5.
Slide film and per frame cost of CF cards is cheap. When
you expect great action and you notice you're left with
only a couple of frames, don't be stingy, change film
while you can. Nothing worse than having to change film
in the midst of heavy action. Or carry two bodies. Get
into the habit of reloading film as soon as a roll is
exposed, or change CF cards before they are full. |
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