In general, the best time to view wildlife is early morning and late afternoon as this is when they are most active. Coincidentially, if the elements are with you, this usually produces the best natural lighting conditions. Approach is a matter of common sense.

Stalking Wildlife

It is pointless to rush toward a subject. More often than not, this will simply produce a stress response and you will be left looking at thin air. It is far more productive to assess light, background and habitat conflicts and determine how to position accordingly. We soon discovered that the cab of our truck produced a great natural blind and that a slow approach using a bean bag for support usually produced good results. Getting out is invariably a recipe for disaster!

We also recommend that you go to where the wildlife congregates as it creates many more opportunities than an unstructured walk in the woods. Really, you say! Well, with the exception of the ever comatose flower, the moment is pristine and no subject simply sits forever in that perfect pose awaiting your creative pleasure. As such, it's best to spend time where wildlife is abundant as you will find that early on your stalking techniques or camera manipulation may need some fine tuning. Often the best locations are parks or piers where wildlife is accustomed to human activity. Here, subjects are often quite compliant.

Our best advice is to experiment or practise early on as this will make your life a lot easier in the field where decisions must invariably be made in a hurry. As time passes, we guaranty that the more manual camera techniques will become second nature and that the fear of "missing-the-perfect-shot" or "dial-fumbling" will decline significantly. In the end, your fingers will simply do the walking! In fact, it won't be long before you develop simple rules-of-thumb for capturing great exposures under various lighting and subject colour situations. Remember, digital is not film and the rules need to be subtlely adjusted. Perhaps the most difficult problem to overcome is simply knowing when to "pull the trigger". It's best to keep in mind that digital is cheap, the subject usually doesn't stay put and poor shots can be readily discarded. Although Joe McDonald's "The New Complete Guide To Wildlife Photography" is oriented toward film, it is still a great reference text for advice on stalking and composition techniques.

As previously pointed out, a good first step is to go where the wildlife are accustomed to human activity. This often produces a compliant subject. Examples are a wharf or visitor center at a wildlife refuge. In the latter case, if a nature walk is scheduled, it may be prudent to join in and ask the guide what resident wildlife are in the area and where they hang-out. This often produces locations where photography can be quite productive. Rural driving can also yeild great results as farm fence posts make good perches, especially for raptors. As noted above, consider using your vehicle as a natural blind, resting your camera apparatus on a bean bag using the window or ledge for traction. It's usually best not to get out and approach the subject as this is a definite stressor and invariably produces zero results. If you camp while traveling, consider bringing a portable bird feeder or water station. You'd be surprised how productive this can be after a few days, especially if you use seed that is a natural attraction (wheat and black oils seem to work best). If you're new to an area, an obvious tactic is to simply ask local birders or photographers where the best sites are. We always "Google" an area prior to visiting in the hopes that a blog exists that provides insights into wildlife locations and potential photography opportunities.

Habitat Photography

Notwithstanding, you will soon discover that pure "habitat" photography is tough sledding at the best of times. Finding compliant wildlife, waiting for good light, positioning for background and selecting appropriate camera settings are daunting tasks. In other words, "working with what you are given" has its challenges. Finding productive habitat is definitely a trial and error process. Once there, you'll need to spend time concentrating on light, wildlife behavior and how to best position yourself without unduly stressing the subject. This is easy to say but immensely difficult to do as the variables that must be dealt with are quite trying at the best of times. Our advice is to enter each field situation with a relatively well defined objective - for example, perch, portrait or flight shots - then work with what you're given. Any extraneous excitement is a bonus.

For the most part, luck is the predominant factor to producing a truly great photograph in habitat at the amateur level. However, your chances will definitely improve through a little judicious study of wildlife behavior. Spectacular photos are for the most part set up or at the very least well planned out and usually take some time to execute. Good wildlife photographers simply know where to go, at what time and have a specific mission in mind. If you want to attain this level, we would argue that you must become proficient at predicting wildlife behavior and reduce your efforts to targeting specific species in locations where they are abundant and readily accessable. Having said this, we would argue that magazine shots aren't exactly easy to come by if you plan to concentrate solely on natural habitat as a venue. Moreover, print quality shots are one-in-a-million for amateurs that are learning the basics. Today, it is becoming patently obvious that digital technology coupled with Web ubiquity has created a flood of new market entrants that possess an almost frenetic desire to produce marketable photographs immediately. We can assure you that the margins resulting fom this activity make mighty thin gruel for the majority of us! This site has a somewhat different focus. Although we definitely try to compose and exhibit good photographs, we're dedicated to producing an overall appreciation of what is available at targeted sites during specific times of the year. Although this can hardly be an exhaustive record, the purpose is to give birders or photographers a glimpse of the major species available and how productive the locations are seasonally.

Perch And Blind Photography

As you progress, you will encounter the concept of introducing an element of "control" into your wildlife photography experience. The techniques ued here are designed to elevate output to an art form. Although this is an interesting phenomenon, in our opinion it requires considerable experience, let alone equipment, to create truly interesting and satisfying results. Having said this, we find integrating "controlled" photographic experiences into our largely habitat venue to be immensely satisfying and productive. If you are looking for a good example of this genre, we would suggest that Alan Murphy is a great "perch" photographer who consistently produces excellent artistic results.

Blind photography is great fun and can be measureably more productive than simply making a "cold call" to a site and working through the myriad of variables that must be addressed in order to, even on most occassions, simply get setup and underway. Although our experience to date is limited, we offer the following to hopefully make your first perch experience a happy one. At the outset, we would argue that the objective is to obviously entice a subject to perch in a setting where foliage is artifically introduced and background controlled in such a way as to assist in positioning the subject as the prime focal point of the photograph. Creating an avian photography set typically requires natural props (such as logs, grass, small branches or flowers), bait (such as water drips, seeds, peanut butter, oranges or meat) or recorded bird calls using speakers. This is obviously best done at a location that is known to harbour the species that you are targeting and where you can position for light and background. It's a contrived but highly satisfactory method of generating truly artistic photographs as the subject is actually in the wild and elements such as background blur and habitat can be controlled. The professionals discovered this eons ago. It takes patience and a definite knowledge of where to concentrate your effort. We like to construct our sets the night before a session since it generally takes a fair amount of time to create an environment that produces a good result. For example, some sets need to be "seeded" days prior to a shoot to condition the birds to entering a new environment. You may find a small "doggy" blind useful if permanent structures are not available. The first consideration is to find a perch that is commensurate with the size of the bird being photographed. Try and use local branches, logs or small stumps to retain an authentic setting. Beware of props that are stripped of bark as they will more than likely reflect a harsh light. We prefer to position three to five perches that accommodate an easy camera pan from the blind position chosen. Here you must be cognizant of how the bird is likely to alight and ensure you are positioned to take maximum advantage of behavior changes as they occur. This is a prime consideration. We have found that small birds will stay only momentarily for food but linger if water is their primary goal. Larger birds will stay if the bait is fixed with wire or similar material. Some small birds move extremely rapidly through a set, pausing briefly in classic poses that are difficult to capture unless you are accoustomed to predicting their behavior. The bait should be carefully concealed so as not to become a prime focus of the photograph. Although peanut butter is a great attraction, birds tend to coat their beaks while eating and leave you with some rather challenging cloning tasks. A final consideration involves background. This is of paramount importance as all your previous efforts will be for naught if the perch is positioned such that light, complex habitat or shadows interfere with positioning the subject as the prime focal point. The preferred background is homogeneous or evenly mottled and slightly lighter than the subject. The objective is to create a well defined blur behind the subject by opening the lens to create a shallow depth of field.

You will need to put a small kit together including pruning shears, saw, glue, twist ties, string, hammer, stapler and small finishing nails. Save the water vials that usually come with cut flowers as they are useful for keeping cetain foliage fresh looking. Additionally, it is wise to keep natural perches that you may encounter on the road, such as dried thistles or exotic branches for use in later sets. Having an array of moss and lichen on hand as subtle placement in your set can often produce very striking results.

You can see why it takes time and thought to create a "controlled" photograph. Although the above hardly covers the gamut of perch photography, it encapsulates our experience to date where we have had the opportunity to practise without experienced guidance. Our best results to date are in Galleries 15, 25 and 28. Details regarding both the Central Oregon and Southern Arizona locations are described in our Great Locations synopsis.