Setting up your Backyard Photo Shoots

The biggest challenge isn’t actually attracting birds to your yard. Once feeders are out and discovered, word will get around fast! The biggest challenge is getting the birds to perch where you want them. So before setting up your feeding stations and birdbaths, consider the locations carefully.

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

Choose locations that won’t make the birds easy prey for cats and other predators, and at the same time that will provide you with the opportunity to photograph them with nice backgrounds and good angles.

Do remember that if you set feeders out in the winter to consistently provide quality seed so your feathery subjects aren’t filling up on something like bread that won’t provide them with the energy needed to stay warm at night.

Birdbaths also provide a great opportunity for pictures, and bird houses will help keep birds in the neighborhood.

If your goal is to attract certain types of bird species, check with The Audubon Society to see what types of seeds or plants are best (as some birds won’t eat at a feeder). You can also find good tips at the National Wildlife Federation’s “Gardening for Wildlife” pages at http://www.nwf.org/gardenforwildlife/tips.cfm?campaignid

Don’t limit your photographs to the bird feeders and baths either. These will help attract birds to your yard that will land on tree limbs and fences nearby, so make sure to scout these areas out with your camera in hand.

Camera Settings

Have you ever noticed that birds are in almost constant motion? When eating, their little heads are bobbing up and down, and when they are on the ground they are always looking this way and that for predators. The best camera setting for bird photography is a high shutter speed, so use either the Sports Mode on your camera or set the shutter speed to be at least 1/250.

If you have an optical zoom on your compact digital or a telephoto lens on an SLR, this will make taking pictures a whole lot easier. An optical zoom of 6x, depending on the camera, can give you about the same magnification as a 200mm lens, meaning a photograph taken from about 10 feet away could look like a close up.

Some of the so called “bridge cameras” offer zooms from 10 to 20 feet, but not all produce quality results so check around before purchasing. You may also need a tripod or some other way to stabilize your camera when using high range zooms (and if you use a high range zoom always opt for an optical zoom).

Given a long enough lens, you can get some wonderful pictures of birds in flight or perched high up in trees too. Professional nature photographers will often use a 600 lens to capture images with good detail of birds in flight or far away.

Telephoto lenses of this size are very expensive, but there is another way, brought to us from birders. It’s called digiscoping. With this method, you combine the birder’s spotting scope with a digital camera. Here is one of many excellent articles talking about the digiscoping method: http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/photography/index.asp x

Blue skies are best for pictures of birds in flight. And the time of the day when the sun is most blue is often the hour after dawn. Also, look for patterns when you may have flocks of birds that fly over your yard at certain times of day. Or, if you want to photograph birds of prey, such as osprey, go to a lake or river early in the evening when they fish. This is also a good time for soft, even and warm lighting.

Hopefully by using these tips, you’ll not only attract more birds to your yard for more bird photo opportunities but capture some fantastic pictures that you’ll be proud to display.

Autumn Lockwood is a writer for YourPictureFrames.com and loves taking pictures. http://www.YourPictureFrames.com offers a large selection of picture frames with free design assistance to help you find the perfect picture frame quickly and easily. We offer many different colors of frames such as our beautiful white frames shown here: http://www.yourpictureframes.com/categories/White-Picture-Fr ames/ .

Article Source: ArticleSpan

Most of the photography guides these days focus on the technical aspects of the camera: but really good photography relies more on composition, lighting, and sensitivity to your subject. This means you can improve your photography by thinking creatively, not technically.

Here are five of my top tips for taking better wildlife photographs.

Wildlife Photography Tip #1. Get to the subject’s eye level. Wildlife photos are most effective if they create an intimate connection between the subject and the viewer. The best way to do this is to take your photo at the subject’s eye level. This way, the viewer can feel like they are looking at the subject from inside its little world, rather from the outside looking in.

If, for example, your subject is low to the ground (like a lizard, frog, or even a pet), crouch or lie flat, getting as low as possible so you can take your photo at the subject’s eye level.

Wildlife Photography Tip #2.It’s All In The Eyes. The personal connection mentioned in tip #1 is really about eye contact, so it is important to get the eyes right. If the eyes in your wildlife photo are sharp and clear, the photo will probably work. If they are out of focus, lost in shadow, or if the subject blinks or turns its eyes away, the connection will be lost, and the photo will almost certainly fail.

You don’t even need your whole subject to be in focus. Your animal could be mostly hidden by leaves, in shadow and out of focus. The picture could still work…as long as the eyes are open and captured sharply in the picture.

Wildlife Photography Tip #3. If The Background Doesn’t Help, Get Rid Of It. Many wildlife photos are spoiled because the background is cluttered, distracting, ugly, or just plain inappropriate. For example, seagulls on a beach can be quite beautiful, but seagulls at the local rubbish tip is a different matter. Also, wildlife photos look far less natural if you can tell they were taken in a zoo. Apply this principle: "Anything that does not make my photo better, makes it worse."

This does not mean you can’t take a good wildlife photo at the zoo, at the tip, or anywhere else for that matter. You just need to manage it. If your background is spoiling your shot, zoom right in on the subject to eliminate as much of the background as possible. By zooming in, you will also reduce the depth of field to a minimum, so any background that does appear in your photo will be out of focus and less distracting.

Wildlife Photography Tip #4. If Your Background Is Working For You, Use It Well. A wildlife photograph that captures the subject in a beautiful natural setting can be even more effective than a simple close-up. My photos of a kangaroo on the beach, for example, show the subject in an unexpected context, making a more interesting image than a close-up portrait style photo.

If you take your wildlife subject as part of a wider landscape, you need to consider all the techniques of composition that apply to landscape photography. Remember the rule of thirds (which may or may not help) and be careful to position your animal so that the subject and the background work together to make a more effective composition. In particular, try to have your wildlife subject looking into the picture, not out of it.

Wildlife Photography Tip #5. Capture your subject in the best possible light. Even the most perfectly composed wildlife photo can fail because of bad lighting. Losing your subject in the shadows, glare reflecting off shiny feathers, and shadows across the face of the subject are all simple mistakes that can ruin a photo.

There is no single rule for lighting in a wildlife photograph, but here are some suggestions. I often find the best results when the sky is lightly overcast with thin cloud. This produces light that is bright, but soft and even compared to full sunlight. Your subject will be well illuminated, but you avoid harsh contrast and heavy shadows that rob the image of important detail.

If the weather is sunny, try to take your photos early and late in the day when the sun is low. At these times the light is soft and warmly coloured. It is also easier to catch the full face of your subject in sunlight, rather than half-obscured by shadow.

So there you have my five tips for wildlife photography. I could cheat and add tip #6: take lots of photos. Animals move, blink, flap their wings, and generally find ways to frustrate the wildlife photographer. Don’t forget, with digital photography it costs you nothing to keep snapping. So practice, persevere, and try out these tips…you could be taking better photos in no time.

Andrew Goodall has made his living from nature photography for over 20 years. See his images at http://www.naturesimage.com.au Andrew’s ebooks “Photography in Plain English” and “Every Picture Tells A Story” have helped thousands of beginners learn the art and skills of nature photography. Find them at http://www.naturesimage.com.au/page/25/default.asp

Article Source: ArticleSpan

The basics to taking great wildlife pictures start with these tips. As always there are exceptions, but the following go a long ways towards ensuring successful animal photography:

- Always use natural light to your advantage.

- Fill the frame with the subject.

- Focus on the eyes.

- Shoot from various angles.

- Capture personality.

Perhaps you are wondering how you can, without a humongous lens and SLR safely get close enough to a wild animal to "capture personality" or "fill the frame"?

Actually even professional wildlife photographers don’t always take their winning photographs in the wild. Most of the wonderful pictures you see of wolves, polar bears and other wild creatures were taken at wildlife sanctuaries and zoos. Cheating? Maybe, but it’s safer for the photographer and doesn’t disturb their free roaming cousins’ mating and feeding cycles.

Some of the wildlife sanctuaries give special photo tours but if that’s not possible, there are many things you can do to get professional quality photos with a compact camera.

Animal Photography Tips for Wildlife Sanctuaries and Zoos

1) Simplify the Composition

If the background is distracting, use a wide aperture or Portrait mode to blur it. Or, you can use a photo editor like Photoshop to clean up or blur the background.

2) Go Natural

Avoid showing cage bars, fences, humans, signs, etc. If it is safe and abides by the rules, point the lens through a gap in the fence so you can take the photo without the fence showing. Sometimes there will be a vantage point that allows you to shoot over the top of the fence. Look for these opportunities. Again, use a photo editor to blur what you couldn’t avoid when shooting the picture.

3) Fill the Frame

Use zoom (optical for best quality) or a telephoto lens to get close ups.

4) Sports Mode

Use Sports mode or set shutter speed priority to around 1/250 to freeze movements.

5) Use Light and Weather to Best Effect

Overcast days are often best for animal photography. If the overcast isn’t too bright, it will prevent glare from light colored or watery backgrounds. If the overcast is too dark and you have an SLR, raise the ISO. With the right amount of overcast, you can get well exposed, sharp pictures with your compact, and the animals won’t be squinting.

Since the eyes are the most expressive and the best place to focus, try to avoid any squinting. Another way to eliminate this is photograph when the animal’s back is to sun. In this case you will need to use fill flash (turn off automatic flash and set to "On") to prevent underexposure or a silhouette, and you will need to use a lens hood or wear a broad brimmed hat to prevent lens flare.

6) Try this When Shooting through Glass

When you want a picture of a terrarium or aquarium critter, turn on the flash and shoot from an angle. Make sure to check your camera manual for the safe distance when using the flash or you could damage an animals (or humans) eyes. Or, turn off the flash and carefully press the lens directly against the glass.

7) Plan your Visits for the Best Photo Ops

Others will especially love seeing your animal photography when it includes baby animals. Many times zoos and sanctuaries will let visitors know when new babies are expected. Another good photo op is feeding time. Animals that stay in hiding throughout much of the day will come out to eat. Finally, if you’re visiting a sanctuary or zoo when the weather’s hot, go early in the day when the animals will be most active, not napping.

Use Context

While usually it’s best to fill the frame with the animal, sometimes the context is too interesting to bypass. Examples of using context: a child and baby animal looking at each other, a giraffe, long neck bent as it peers down at a car in front of yours at the drive-through safari park.

9) Capture Expressions

Animals, whether our pets or wildlife, make the cutest expressions. Be ready with your camera! Even just normal expressions like a wolf pup yawning or a tiger licking its lips are cute or interesting. The more you know about your favorite species, the better you’ll be able to capture those unforgettable pictures.

So, the next time you’re ready to take some wildlife pictures, use these animal photo tips and you’ll be amazed at the difference applying this tips can have on your photos.

Autumn Lockwood is a writer for http://www.YourPictureFrames.com and loves taking photographs. Your Picture Frames offers a huge selection of picture frames to help you find the perfect picture frame quickly and easily. We offer frames in a wide variety of sizes and types like our modern floating picture frames: http://www.yourpictureframes.com/categories/Floating-Picture -Frames/

Article Source: ArticleSpan

There are a few tips to help you improve your composition in wildlife photography. First of all, photograph the animals in places where they are used to having people around. They don’t necessarily have be closed spaces such as a zoo. You can try a picnic ground or camping in a national park, where animals may even come close to look for food. Then you can approach them slow enough not to scare them away. Secondly, prepare your exposure in advance so you won’t lose precious time when you’re near the animal. If you have constant light, you can position the camera in the right direction and set the shutter speed and aperture. Then all you have to do is focus on the composition.

However, the composition itself is a challenge and many don’t know where to start. Let’s start by breaking it into two types of photos: close-ups and non close-ups. If you have a close up, the subject fills most of the photo. Many people wonder whether to position it in the center or towards one side. You can place it in the center, just make sure you do leave some space around it or the composition will look cramped. This option is particularly good if the animal is looking to the camera or just a little to one side. If the subject is facing left or right, consider positioning it to one side of the photo. You can use the direction of its look to decide on which side to place it. If it faces right, place it towards the left side and viceversa. However, don’t position it too close to one side or another: you don’t want half of your picture to be empty.

Things can get more complicated with non close-up photos. In these cases, it is better to think of the composition as a landscape. You can use the Rule-of-Third, which is a tried-and-true technique, to decide where you position the subject (google it in case you haven’t heard about it). For landscape photos, the composition can look quite unbalanced if you position the subject right in the middle. It is best to place it towards one side or the other. Now the direction of the subject’s eyes is even more important. When we look at a photo, we tend to look in the same direction as the subject. So if your subject is facing right and you place it on the left side, people will look towards the center of the photo. Otherwise they will look outside the photo. It would be nice to have something interesting in the center of the picture or towards the opposite side from where you place the subject. It can be just about anything – a beach, a tree, a beautiful sky – as long as it has a strong visual impact. If you can’t find anything, you can zoom in so that you don’t leave to much empty space.

These small guidelines are aimed to give you some ideas in case you get stuck. However, you should use your own judgement and sense of balance to take the best out of any situation. As long as you can position the subject right, everything else will just fall into place.

D. is a writer in the field of picture resizers at the company Reshade. Reshade.com is specialized in online photo resizing offering a free to use online picture enlargement software. And also it provides a photo resizer software application.

Article Source: ArticleSpan

There are a few tips to help you improve your composition in wildlife photography. First of all, photograph the animals in places where they are used to having people around. They don’t necessarily have be closed spaces such as a zoo. You can try a picnic ground or camping in a national park, where animals may even come close to look for food. Then you can approach them slow enough not to scare them away. Secondly, prepare your exposure in advance so you won’t lose precious time when you’re near the animal. If you have constant light, you can position the camera in the right direction and set the shutter speed and aperture. Then all you have to do is focus on the composition.

However, the composition itself is a challenge and many don’t know where to start. Let’s start by breaking it into two types of photos: close-ups and non close-ups. If you have a close up, the subject fills most of the photo. Many people wonder whether to position it in the center or towards one side. You can place it in the center, just make sure you do leave some space around it or the composition will look cramped. This option is particularly good if the animal is looking to the camera or just a little to one side. If the subject is facing left or right, consider positioning it to one side of the photo. You can use the direction of its look to decide on which side to place it. If it faces right, place it towards the left side and viceversa. However, don’t position it too close to one side or another: you don’t want half of your picture to be empty.

Things can get more complicated with non close-up photos. In these cases, it is better to think of the composition as a landscape. You can use the Rule-of-Third, which is a tried-and-true technique, to decide where you position the subject (google it in case you haven’t heard about it). For landscape photos, the composition can look quite unbalanced if you position the subject right in the middle. It is best to place it towards one side or the other. Now the direction of the subject’s eyes is even more important. When we look at a photo, we tend to look in the same direction as the subject. So if your subject is facing right and you place it on the left side, people will look towards the center of the photo. Otherwise they will look outside the photo. It would be nice to have something interesting in the center of the picture or towards the opposite side from where you place the subject. It can be just about anything – a beach, a tree, a beautiful sky – as long as it has a strong visual impact. If you can’t find anything, you can zoom in so that you don’t leave to much empty space.

These small guidelines are aimed to give you some ideas in case you get stuck. However, you should use your own judgement and sense of balance to take the best out of any situation. As long as you can position the subject right, everything else will just fall into place.

Alex is an expert photographer for http://reshade.com . The firm targets picture processing applications and provides a free online image resizing web-tool. It’s also possible to buy a picture resizing application for Windows. Give it a try !

Article Source: ArticleSpan

This happens even when you have everything set and your camera ready – you just miss the shot. You can’t usually blame the quality of the camera for this. Even with the best camera there is, if we rush to take a picture – any picture – we are bound to make mistakes that ruin the opportunity of a great wildlife photo. Here are some common mistakes many amateur photographers make and ways to avoid them.

1. Not Getting Close Enough to the Subject. This is the most obvious mistake someone can make. You see a rare bird in a tree and rush to take a photo, but when you look at it later you can hardly see the bird behind the leaves. Before taking the photo, ask yourself what is important to catch and eliminate all the rest. You can do this by getting as close as you can to the subject (without scaring it away) and/or zooming in using the largest lens. This way you eliminate all the distractions and the viewer can concentrate on the subject itself.

2. Catching Too Much of the Background. Many people keep their cameras on automatic which lets it select its own settings. While this occasionally works, if you want to get great wildlife photos you need to make these choices for yourself. If the aperture of the camera is set too small, you get a wider area of field around your subject, which is a disturbing distraction. When photographing animals, it is best to set the aperture at the widest.

This narrows field depth and the focus is on the animal not the surroundings. It also comes with another advantage, which is faster speed, helping you catch the perfect moment when photographing a moving subject.

3. Getting Too Close to your Subject. From fear that their subject will not be visible enough, especially if they’ve had such experiences, some people fall in the opposite mistake and that is getting too close. If you catch an animal alone with no surroundings, it seems a bit out of place and the photo can look rather unnatural.

You need a small background so that the composition doesn’t look cramped. This means at least some small space above the subject’s head and some on each side. In case the animal looks to the right or left, you should adjust the composition to make sure you have a bit more space in front of it than behind. This way it will seem that the animal looks right into the picture not at the frame.

4. Bad lighting. While you may like to get out on nice sunny days, this is not necessarily the best time to take a good picture. Bright sunshine can create shadows where you least want them; that is, on the face of your subject. If you take a photo at noon and the sun is shining brightly you may find that the whole face of the animal is covered with a dark shadow.

If you really want good photos and it’s a sunny day, take the early in the morning o in the evening when the sun is lower upon the sky. This gives you a warmer light and lower contrast, making the whole photo more expressive. Often the best photos are taken on cloudy days, when there is less light and lower contrast. This type of light takes off heavy shadow and glare.

5. Bad timing. This is also a very common mistake when photographing wild animals. They are alive, they move, blink, flap their wings or turn their back. You can sometimes get so frustrated that you feel they are doing it on purpose just to make sure you miss your photo. However, you shouldn’t get discouraged.

For every wildlife photographer, the opportunities to take a bad picture are endless, while the ones to take a great one are only a few. But they are well worth the waiting. It is just a matter of perseverance and patience. If you spend more time with the animal you will learn to anticipate its moves and improve your chances of getting a better shot. Try to catch something unique, memorable, something that can set your picture apart from the thousands of wildlife photographs out there. You should expect to miss the shot very often and most of your photos will probably be bulk. But when you do get that perfect moment on camera, it will be something to treasure.

Alex Don usually writes about photography methods for http://reshade.com . Reshade.com targets online picture processing offering a free online image resizing web-tool. It also has an image resizing software program for Windows. Try it for yourself!

Article Source: ArticleSpan

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Wildlife photography can be one of the most challenging and rewarding fields of nature photography. With digital cameras creating such widespread interest in all types of photography, new photographers all over the world are taking an interest in wildlife photography.

Most of the photography guides these days focus on the technical aspects of the camera: but really good photography relies more on composition, lighting, and sensitivity to your subject. This means you can improve your photography by thinking creatively, not technically.

Here are five of my top tips for taking better wildlife photographs.

Wildlife Photography Tip #1.

Get to the subject’s eye level. Wildlife photos are most effective if they create an intimate connection between the subject and the viewer. The best way to do this is to take your photo at the subject’s eye level. This way, the viewer can feel like they are looking at the subject from inside its little world, rather from the outside looking in.

If, for example, your subject is low to the ground (like a lizard, frog, or even a pet), crouch or lie flat, getting as low as possible so you can take your photo at the subject’s eye level.

Wildlife Photography Tip #2.

It’s All In The Eyes. The personal connection mentioned in tip #1 is really about eye contact, so it is important to get the eyes right. If the eyes in your wildlife photo are sharp and clear, the photo will probably work. If they are out of focus, lost in shadow, or if the subject blinks or turns its eyes away, the connection will be lost, and the photo will almost certainly fail.

You don’t even need your whole subject to be in focus. Your animal could be mostly hidden by leaves, in shadow and out of focus. The picture could still work…as long as the eyes are open and captured sharply in the picture.

Wildlife Photography Tip #3.

If The Background Doesn’t Help, Get Rid Of It. Many wildlife photos are spoiled because the background is cluttered, distracting, ugly, or just plain inappropriate. For example, seagulls on a beach can be quite beautiful, but seagulls at the local rubbish tip is a different matter. Also, wildlife photos look far less natural if you can tell they were taken in a zoo. Apply this principle: “Anything that does not make my photo better, makes it worse.”

This does not mean you can’t take a good wildlife photo at the zoo, at the tip, or anywhere else for that matter. You just need to manage it. If your background is spoiling your shot, zoom right in on the subject to eliminate as much of the background as possible. By zooming in, you will also reduce the depth of field to a minimum, so any background that does appear in your photo will be out of focus and less distracting.

Wildlife Photography Tip #4.

If Your Background Is Working For You, Use It Well. A wildlife photograph that captures the subject in a beautiful natural setting can be even more effective than a simple close-up. My photos of a kangaroo on the beach, for example, show the subject in an unexpected context, making a more interesting image than a close-up portrait style photo.

If you take your wildlife subject as part of a wider landscape, you need to consider all the techniques of composition that apply to landscape photography. Remember the rule of thirds (which may or may not help) and be careful to position your animal so that the subject and the background work together to make a more effective composition. In particular, try to have your wildlife subject looking into the picture, not out of it.

Wildlife Photography Tip #5.

Capture your subject in the best possible light. Even the most perfectly composed wildlife photo can fail because of bad lighting. Losing your subject in the shadows, glare reflecting off shiny feathers, and shadows across the face of the subject are all simple mistakes that can ruin a photo.

There is no single rule for lighting in a wildlife photograph, but here are some suggestions. I often find the best results when the sky is lightly overcast with thin cloud. This produces light that is bright, but soft and even compared to full sunlight. Your subject will be well illuminated, but you avoid harsh contrast and heavy shadows that rob the image of important detail.

If the weather is sunny, try to take your photos early and late in the day when the sun is low. At these times the light is soft and warmly coloured. It is also easier to catch the full face of your subject in sunlight, rather than half-obscured by shadow.

So there you have my five tips for wildlife photography. I could cheat and add tip #6: take lots of photos. Animals move, blink, flap their wings, and generally find ways to frustrate the wildlife photographer. Don’t forget, with digital photography it costs you nothing to keep snapping. So practice, persevere, and try out these tips…you could be taking better photos in no time.

Andrew Goodall has made his living from nature photography for over 20 years. See his images at http://www.naturesimage.com.au Andrew’s ebooks “Photography in Plain English” and “Every Picture Tells A Story” have helped thousands of beginners learn the art and skills of nature photography. Find them at http://www.naturesimage.com.au/page/25/default.asp

Article Source: ArticleSpan

The basics to taking great wildlife pictures start with these tips. As always there are exceptions, but the following go a long ways towards ensuring successful animal photography:

- Always use natural light to your advantage.

- Fill the frame with the subject.

- Focus on the eyes.

- Shoot from various angles.

- Capture personality.

Perhaps you are wondering how you can, without a humongous lens and SLR safely get close enough to a wild animal to "capture personality" or "fill the frame"?

Actually even professional wildlife photographers don’t always take their winning photographs in the wild. Most of the wonderful pictures you see of wolves, polar bears and other wild creatures were taken at wildlife sanctuaries and zoos. Cheating? Maybe, but it’s safer for the photographer and doesn’t disturb their free roaming cousins’ mating and feeding cycles.

Some of the wildlife sanctuaries give special photo tours but if that’s not possible, there are many things you can do to get professional quality photos with a compact camera.

Animal Photography Tips for Wildlife Sanctuaries and Zoos

1) Simplify the Composition

If the background is distracting, use a wide aperture or Portrait mode to blur it. Or, you can use a photo editor like Photoshop to clean up or blur the background.

2) Go Natural

Avoid showing cage bars, fences, humans, signs, etc. If it is safe and abides by the rules, point the lens through a gap in the fence so you can take the photo without the fence showing. Sometimes there will be a vantage point that allows you to shoot over the top of the fence. Look for these opportunities. Again, use a photo editor to blur what you couldn’t avoid when shooting the picture.

3) Fill the Frame

Use zoom (optical for best quality) or a telephoto lens to get close ups.

4) Sports Mode

Use Sports mode or set shutter speed priority to around 1/250 to freeze movements.

5) Use Light and Weather to Best Effect

Overcast days are often best for animal photography. If the overcast isn’t too bright, it will prevent glare from light colored or watery backgrounds. If the overcast is too dark and you have an SLR, raise the ISO. With the right amount of overcast, you can get well exposed, sharp pictures with your compact, and the animals won’t be squinting.

Since the eyes are the most expressive and the best place to focus, try to avoid any squinting. Another way to eliminate this is photograph when the animal’s back is to sun. In this case you will need to use fill flash (turn off automatic flash and set to "On") to prevent underexposure or a silhouette, and you will need to use a lens hood or wear a broad brimmed hat to prevent lens flare.

6) Try this When Shooting through Glass

When you want a picture of a terrarium or aquarium critter, turn on the flash and shoot from an angle. Make sure to check your camera manual for the safe distance when using the flash or you could damage an animals (or humans) eyes. Or, turn off the flash and carefully press the lens directly against the glass.

7) Plan your Visits for the Best Photo Ops

Others will especially love seeing your animal photography when it includes baby animals. Many times zoos and sanctuaries will let visitors know when new babies are expected. Another good photo op is feeding time. Animals that stay in hiding throughout much of the day will come out to eat. Finally, if you’re visiting a sanctuary or zoo when the weather’s hot, go early in the day when the animals will be most active, not napping.

Use Context

While usually it’s best to fill the frame with the animal, sometimes the context is too interesting to bypass. Examples of using context: a child and baby animal looking at each other, a giraffe, long neck bent as it peers down at a car in front of yours at the drive-through safari park.

9) Capture Expressions

Animals, whether our pets or wildlife, make the cutest expressions. Be ready with your camera! Even just normal expressions like a wolf pup yawning or a tiger licking its lips are cute or interesting. The more you know about your favorite species, the better you’ll be able to capture those unforgettable pictures.

So, the next time you’re ready to take some wildlife pictures, use these animal photo tips and you’ll be amazed at the difference applying this tips can have on your photos.

Autumn Lockwood is a writer for http://www.YourPictureFrames.com and loves taking photographs. Your Picture Frames offers a huge selection of picture frames to help you find the perfect picture frame quickly and easily. We offer frames in a wide variety of sizes and types like our modern floating picture frames: http://www.yourpictureframes.com/categories/Floating-Picture -Frames/

Article Source: ArticleSpan

I can’t help you much with an uncooperative subject. Rest assured that with practice and experience, you will find that you become much quicker at composing and exposing a photo so that you get the shot before the critical moment passes. There are a couple of simple tips that can make things a little easier.

First, practice your photography in places where the animals are used to having people around and are less likely to become jittery at your presence. This does not have to be a zoo or other enclosure. Most national parks have campgrounds and picnic grounds where the wildlife is used to being around people, and may even come closer looking for food. You have a much better chance of a shot if you can get close without frightening the subject away.

Second, try to organise your exposure before you set up the shot. If the light is fairly constant, it is possible to point your camera in the right general direction and work out the best aperture and shutter speed settings for the photo. Then when you approach the subject, you can concentrate on composition without having to waste time working out your exposure.

These simple tips may help to take some of the frustration out of wildlife photography, but what about the composition itself? Many people simply don’t know where to start. If that sounds like you, don’t be discouraged. Like I said at the beginning, composition can be tough; even for experienced professional nature photographers.

Let’s start by breaking it down into two categories; close-up and non close-up photos.

In a close-up photo, the subject fills most of the frame. A lot of people get in a tangle over whether to position their subject in the middle or to one side of the composition. In my experience it is quite acceptable to have the subject right in the centre, as long as you allow some head-room so it doesn’t appear too cramped within the confines of the composition. A central position is especially suitable when the subject is looking straight at the camera, but often works just as well if the subject is facing a little to one side or the other.

The more space you have around the subject, the more you should consider putting it to one side or the other. In this you should be guided by the way the animal is facing. If it is looking to one side, position it a little towards the other side so it is looking toward the centre of the frame. So, if your wildlife subject is looking right, position it a little to the left. Not too far; you don’t want half of your photo to feature nothing but empty space.

In a non close-up photo you have a lot more space around the subject, so it becomes more critical to decide how to use it. In situations where the animal is featured with a lot of background, it may be better to think of the picture as a landscape photograph, and compose it accordingly. Some of the tried-and-true techniques like the Rule Of Thirds (google it if you are not familiar with it) are a good way to help you position your subject within the overall frame of the picture.

For a landscape style photo, it may look quite unbalanced to position your subject in the centre of the picture. It is usually better to position it to one side or the other, and it is now even more important to have the animal facing toward the centre of the picture. The eyes of the subject have the power to guide the viewer to look in the direction the subject is looking. So if the animal is on the left and looking left, the visual flow of the composition will lead out of the picture, instead of into it. If the subject is on the left and looking right, the viewer will follow the gaze of the subject into the centre of the picture.

Naturally it helps if there is something of interest in the centre or to the right to catch the viewer’s attention and add interest to the composition. If the subject is looking into the composition, it makes sense that it is looking at something, not just at empty space. Almost anything will do…a tree, a beach, an impressive sky; as long as it adds impact to the composition. If there is nothing of interest to work with, you might consider zooming in closer, so there is less emptiness in the composition.

These simple guidelines are intended to do nothing more than give you some ideas. Nature is not governed by the rules of composition, and a wildlife photographer must be flexible to get the best result out of each situation. Most importantly, trust your own sense of visual balance when arranging a composition. On the other hand, if you are struggling to get started, think back to these guidelines; if you can position your subject well, the rest of the composition will fall into place.

Check out Andrew Goodall’s popular wildlife and landscape photography at http://www.naturesimage.com.au , and learn from his experience with the top selling ebook “Photography in Plain English.” Don’t forget to sign up to the online newsletter for tips and updates…it’s free!

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Patience is one of the key traits of a dedicated wildlife photographer. Be prepared for a long wait to capture the image you have in your mind’s eye. Most wild animals don’t work to our time schedule, but their own. Therefore, preparation always helps. If you plan to capture a particular creature, for example, invest time to research when and where it is likely to appear. If necessary, make two or three trips before your planned shoot to experiment. You may be lucky and get the shot you wanted straight away, but be prepared for a long wait, and take along some basic supplies to keep your concentration levels up.

To successfully shoot an animal in the wild, you should make sure their eyes are totally in focus. This allows the viewer to identify with the subject, no matter what else is happening in the photo. If you compare similar shots, one out and one in focus, you will easily see how much stronger a shot taken with eyes in focus is. Whilst we may not be able to talk to the animals, eyes in focus creates a strong connection that almost allows the viewer to enter the animal’s world, even if just momentarily. This is a basic, but essential, tip which any decent photography course online will include.

Whilst capturing nature’s animals in the wild is the ideal, this is not always a possibility for many people. So could a trip to the zoo meet your requirements? The short answer is yes, but you need to be creative to make this situation work well. I would suggest that you do not try to fit this project in with a family trip to the zoo. Naturally, your companions will want to see as much as they can during the visit, and this situation does not lend itself to capturing great moments.

The best way to handle a shoot at the zoo is to make the trip solo. Prior to the trip, properly research want animals the zoo contains, and what you intend to record. Concentrate on no more than two or three types of animals during the day, and ensure that their surroundings enable plenty of views where they can look natural, or the background can be easily hidden. At the end of the day, you should aim to make the subject appear as if they are in natural surroundings, even if you know this not to be the case. It is a secret that the viewer does not need to be aware of.

These are just a few ideas to help make taking wildlife shots easier, and reference to a reputable photography course online would, of course, provide detailed guidance to some of the more technical aspects that would further assist you.

You can discover the secrets of taking stunning photographs, simply by following a photography course online. Please check out http://www.photographycourseonline.info for further information.

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