Wildlife photography at any level requires thought and thoughtfulness. In order to understand the "basics," you must first become familiar with a few concepts and some common terminology digital photographers use daily, whether in the field or at the computer. These apply no matter what equipment you are using and appear consistently throughout this text. Our intent is to hopefully provide a foundation from which an absolute beginner can progress painlessly to producing pleasing output. Although photography jargon can be truly daunting at times, don't be put off as digital has leveled the playing field considerably. Understanding and adhering to these "basics" will put you in good stead over time. As in all endeavours, the perspective is ours and subject to dispute. All errors and ommissions are our own. Although our approach may appear to be overly simplistic, in our experience beginners routinely ignore the "basics," the fallout of which is lost opportunity or simply poor results. Our bias is to try and distill the prevailing level of complexity, allowing a beginner to grasp the bigger picture without the need to dive in and make the same mistakes we did. At the very least, we hope it provides insights into the challenges each wildlife photographer must face when elevating a picture to the level of a photograph.

In The Field

At the risk of sounding obvious, all photography requires a SUBJECT. When planning a field trip, you will often hear this referred to as the TARGET SPECIES, either birds or some other form of wildlife. From a practical perspective, you'll soon discover that it's prudent to select locations where wildlife tends to concentrate. It's far more productive than an unstructured walk in the woods! Once on location, there is absolutely no point in taking a photograph unless you have made the effort to position accordingly. Here, patience is definitely a virtue and the critical variables more often than not are very difficult to control. Your task is to balance the somewhat unpredictable nature of wildlife behaviour with the need to gain a position that maximizes the use of prevailing light while minimizing any distracting or conflicting habitat that detracts from the subject being the focal point of the intended photograph. Easy to say but often difficult to do!

To start, a photograph requires light, either natural or electronically produced. AMBIANT LIGHT is sunlight. FLAT LIGHT is ambiant light projected from directly behind your photography position, usually fully illuminating your subject and casting your shadow as you look forward. Although this position is often difficult to achieve, consider this the optimum positon and lighting condition for most wildlife photography. SIDE LIGHT is sunlight that originates from either the right or left of your position and usually casts shadows on parts of the subject that may require electronic light to reveal hidden detail. BACK LIGHT arises when the sun is behind your subject, creating a dark profile. BACKDROP is whatever habitat either surrounds or is directly behind your subject. Again, the optimum setting is one where you try to eliminate conflicting habitat, leaving a pleasing backdrop that will stand as a contrast to exemplify the subject.

If the above all seems rather self evident, here's where the rubber meets the road! There is also no point in taking a photograph unless you have taken the time to ensure three key camera settings are consistent with the amount of ambiant light and relative subject position and movement: the amount of prevailing light(to set ISO); the degree of subject movement (to set SHUTTER SPEED); and, the position of the subject (to set APERTURE). This latter factor is called DEPTH OF FIELD and is simply the position of the subject relative to the plane of the camera lens, either parallel or at an angle.

Once in position, whether optimum or not, making camera settings at least provides a greater degree of control over the situation. In our opinion, movement is the critical variable. As such, the first and perhaps most important task, is to select ISO or sensor sensitivity that is appropriate for the amount of available light being cast on the subject. In general, a low setting (for example, 200) is good for a sunny day and a high setting (for example, 800) is better for dawn or dusk when light is low. This will get you closer to selecting the appropriate aperture (size of the opening through which light passes as it proceeds from the lens to the sensor) and shutter speed (amount of time the aperture remains open). This latter choice may be as low as 1/200 for a relatively comatose subject to 1/1600 for a bird with moderate wing flap. An aperture of F/8 may be appropriate for a subject standing parallel to the lens hood while F/13 or higher may be appropriate to capture detail between the head and tail. This will depend on how close you are to the subject given the lens you are using. That's it, just three settings! Experience will dictate how you optimize each. You should know from the outset that there are invariably tradeoffs and your challenge is often reduced to simply "working with what you are given." In other words, most wildlife photography results in compromise as light, position and subject behaviour usually combine to produce less than optimum conditions.

It is also extremely important to control camera shake while taking an exposure. This can be done through breathing and posture if the camera is HANDHELD or by placing pressure on the lens hood if a TRIPOD is used.

The best part of digital photography is that it provides instant feedback. Besides a small built-in monitor, most high end digital cameras produce an HISTOGRAM or graphic representation of the dispersion of the red, green and blue colours comprising an image file under review. In our opinion, the histogram has a definite but limited use. Many novice photographers often make the mistake of using this feature as a measure of the quality of the exposure. We recommend you use the histogram to assess CLIPPING only (areas of the image that are either over or under exposed) as a means to fine tune the three critical camera settings identified above. You may have to OPEN UP (let more light in) or CLOSE DOWN (let less light in) to help achieve the objective of producing the best exposure possible. You do this by adjusting aperture, shutter speed or both given the ISO of choice. This is easy to do on-the-fly as settings are visible through the VIEWFINDER (eye piece through which you control composition). We feel the monitor is useful to assess composition only. To maximize use of the histogram, purchase a camera body that has a HIGHLIGHT ALERT feature. This will also help to visually assist with on-the-spot exposure compensation.

While in the field, it's also important to be continually conscious of the moral dilemma we all face while photographing a subject. Wildlife is aptly named as every shot you take is essentially an encroachment into their living space. You will often hear that some wildlife photographers can be very intrusive, generating a negative public response that is not helpful to the more thoughtful participant.

At Home

WORKFLOW describes the myriad of tasks you will face once you return from a day in the field. This encompasses downloading, editing, processing and archiving image files. Although the lexicon of the microcomputer is a literal minefield, there are a few critical issues that stand out. Most important is COLOUR MANAGEMENT, a term used to describe the need to calibrate your monitor and install printer profiles that ensure "what-you-see-is-what-you-get." Most wildlife photographers use the ADOBE RGB (1998) colour system and capture files in either RAW or JPEG format depending on the degree of control desired when post processing in an image enhancement program. Most choose the former as RAW images retain maximum data and allow unfettered access to the higher end software enhancement feature sets. Adobe Photoshop CS3 or LIGHTROOM are the standards for file management, RAW conversion and enhancement. As you progress through this text, we provide recommendations on cost effective and user friendly software alternatives, summarizing all the important concepts and providing a quick, seven step procedure for enhancing image files. However, you should be aware from the outset that no amount of downstream processing can correct a poor exposure.

That's it, wildlife photography in a nutshell! Positioning, three key settings and the computer. As you progress through the text, we expand on these concepts and hopefully help you avoid the major pitfalls that we encountered early on. You'll soon find it's a great adventure, providing challenges and surprises at every turn.