Wildlife photography is the art or practice of capturing the wildlife in their natural habitat by using an image sensor or by utilizing a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.

Wildlife photography is a subtype of photography and to be a wildlife photographer, you just don’t need a camera but also the skills to bear the pressure of being in wildlife.

What is photography?

Photography is the art, skill, or practice of recording durable images by using light – either by using an image sensor or a photographic film.

In photography, a major role is played by a lens that helps to focus the light rays that are being emitted or reflected from the object – that is being captured.

When these light rays return, they help to create the image within the camera by gathering at the light-sensitive material. That latent image is recorded and later developed into a real image. 

What does Wildlife photography mean?

Capturing the wildlife by using the camera while wildlife being in its natural habitat is wild life or simply wildlife photography. 

It’s different than normal photography in the means that you capture the natural living and activities of animals and birds.

Wild photographs can be taken with normally used equipment that is used for photography. But to be the best wild photographer you will be needing some special kind of equipment.

Insects that are too small may be difficult to be captured by using the normal camera, so, cameras with the macro lens are a great choice.

Lenses with long focal lengths are preferable to capture the birds and as far as the marine life is concerned, you may go for the underwater cameras. 

Tutorials The Ultimate Wildlife Photography Everything you need to know about wildlife

Wildlife photography tips for beginners

Wildlife photography is a much more difficult and technical genre of photography because you can’t control or instruct the objects that are going to be captured.

Here are some tips to be a good wild photographer:

• Select the best camera

Photography is all about the camera as it’s the basic tool that is used in capturing the images. Selecting the best camera is the first important step in wild photography.

SLRs and mirrorless cameras are the best fit for wild photography.

• Choose the best lens

Lenses focus on the light reflecting from images, so, choosing the best suitable lens is a second important point.

The best long-distance photography lenses are telephotos.

• Protection from environment

Being in wildlife is such a daring task where every kind of wild animal is roaming freely. All the essential elements and equipment must be acquired before jumping into wildlife.

Waterproof camera, protective hat, waterproof backpack, good gloves, and jackets are the basic needs to go for wild life photography.

• Select the correct settings

ISO, shutter speed and focus settings are the basic settings that you need to focus on. It all depends on the camera you’re using, but ISO 800 is usually enough to let you shoot.

The setting of ISO depends upon the situations of light in the surroundings. The low light environment requires higher ISOs as compared to good light.

• Learning of animals

Animals that you are going to shoot is the main priority while being a wildlife photographer.

Photographing wildlife is all about how to get close to different animals and often involves a good understanding of animal behavior in order to anticipate interesting situations.

When they decide to look cute or do something interesting. Be prepared to wait, and wait…

The top 5 cameras used from wildlife photographers

Canon 80D

About this item

• 45-point all-cross type AF system* allows excellent autofocus when shooting with the optical viewfinder and focus range selection modes.
• Intelligent viewfinder with approx. 100% viewfinder cover DIGIC 6 image processor. 7.6 cm (3 inch) 1.04 m dot vari-angle touch screen.
• 24.2 megapixel (APS-C) CMOS sensor provides impressive high-resolution results.
• Dual Pixel CMOS AF; Advanced ISO 25600, up to 7 fps recording; Built-in Wi-Fi with NFC, RGB + IR 7560 pixel measuring sensor.

Fujifilm X-T30 Camera

About this item

• 26, 1 megapixel APS-C X-Trans CMOS 4 sensor
• X processor 4
• Electronic viewfinder with 2.36 million pixels
• 7.6 cm (3 inch) foldable touchscreen LCD
• Powerful autofocus system

Nikon D500

About this item

• 20.9 megapixel CMOS sensor in DX format
• Fast autofocus measuring system with 153 AF fields
• 8 cm (3.2 inch) RGBW touch monitor with a resolution of 2.359 million pixels
• 4k UHD video with 30p SnapBridge compatible
• Box contents: Nikon D500 digital SLR camera
• Image field coverage: image field DX (24 × 16): approx. 100% horizontal and 100% vertical; image field 1.3x (18×12): approx. 98% horizontal and 98% vertical

Canon EOS 6D Mark II 

About this item

• PRECISE FOCUSING – reliable focusing through the 45 AF fields (all cross-type sensors)
• EXTREMELY POWERFUL – Capture fleeting moments at up to 6.5 frames per second with our digital camera / Compatible with all Canon EF lenses (except EF-S and EF-M lenses)
• BLUETOOTH AND WLAN – the EOS 6D Mark II can be controlled quickly and easily from your mobile device
• GET CREATIVE – Increase the creativity of your DSLR film projects and shoot Full HD videos that impress with their sharpness and quality
• SCOPE OF DELIVERY – EOS 6D Mark II; Eyecup Ef; Camera housing cover RF-3; Camera strap; Battery LP-E6N; LC-E6E battery charger; Lens EF 24-105mm F3.5-5.6 IS STM IS STM; Instructions

Nikon D750

About this item

• High-resolution 24.3 megapixel image sensor (24 x 36 mm) for fine detail drawing and plastic image effect, excellent noise behaviour, very large ISO sensitivity range, image processor EXPEED4
• Flexible and highly sensitive AF system with 51 measuring fields including 15 cross sensors, full range of functions of all 51 measuring fields up to light intensity 1:5.6, at 1:8 (e.g. with teleconverter) 11 measuring fields can be used
• Up and down tilting, brilliant 8 cm monitor with 1.23 million pixels, 100% viewfinder, built-in flash, WiFi for connection to smartphone or tablet, motion recognition, continuous images, 2 SD memory card slots
• Full HD video function 1080p with frame rates up to 60p, 2 image field options, option to output uncompressed video signal to external recording and playback devices via HDMI
• Box contents: D750 housing, lithium ion battery EN-EL15, battery charger MH-25a, housing cover BF-1B, strap AN-DC14, USB cable UC-E17, audio/video cable EG-D2 AV cable, CD-ROM with ViewNX 2

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards 2020

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