The effort, dedication, planning, skill and determination demonstrated by wildlife photographers is to be admired.
I am referring particularly to serious photographers. Many thousands send their images carefully crafted to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, then the winners and the highly recommended images are chosen and exhibited.
Some of these pictures have taken years to create revealing great detail, creativity and technical ability.
Contrary to general belief, great wildlife subjects can be found close to where the photographer lives. There is no need to travel to exotic or far away places.
Many photographers select a subject they can study and maintain control over lighting and shooting conditions.
A winning image from last year's competition took two years to compose and light it. Great patience and determination needed.
However, at times it is a question of the photographer recognizing the signs, get his equipment ready and quickly take as many pictures as he can, hoping to get a winner. See image # 1, this was such a case.
Image # 1
Generally speaking, good wildlife images require a lot of patience - hours, weeks or more.
Where can good a subject be found?
Start with your local park, river, lake and woods close to you. What wildlife lives there? Cities all over the world hold a good number of wild creatures. The city of London, one of the busiest and croweded places in the world, supports millions of birds, ranging from birds of prey to the common garden bird.
More foxes live in London than in any other selected place in the world. At dusk they venture out from their dens looking for food in garbage bins, small rodents, garden worms and food that some animal lovers leave out for them.
Where else can we find wildlife to photograph?
Most cities have good Zoos where animals are no longer kept in cages. However, success in this field depends on familiarity with the location. You may need to visit the Zoo a number of times looking for the best possibilities. Bags of patience will be required, do not be discouraged to return home without a useful shot. It will happen if you persist.
A good technique and the right kind of equipment for successful Zoo photography cannot be ignored.
A SLR camera with a medium zoom lens ( 80 - 200mm or so ) will be invaluable. A sturdy tripod will be necessary for quality work, even if you own the latest lens or camera body with vibration stabilizer.
Included in the good technique is knowing when and how to use flash. The on camera flash can be the right tool but only if the intensity of the light is controlled by the photographer.
A tip - if you place a thin piece of tissue paper over the flash light you cut down the power of the light by a stop or two.
As an example of flash control see image # 2.
Image # 2
The highlight shown in the eye of this bird indicates that a flash was used. The flash power was two stops weaker than the main light. If the flash had not been used the colours would have been flat. The black body of the bird would have merged with the dark background - there would be no separation.
The error that many make when using flash is to use too much power, burning the highlights and often creating unwanted shadows.
If you look carefully at the bottom of the picture, even with this comparatively low power flash, it created unwanted shadows. The camera was against the wire mesh to blur the fence, the light from the flash revealed the wire mesh as a black line at the bottom of the picture.
Some subjects reproduce well in colour while others do well when they are converted to black and white. See images # 3, # 4.
Image # 3
Image # 4
Puma from Lisbon Zoo - with fill-in flash.
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