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The Ultimate Wildlife Photography Tutorial • Landscape Photography
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Everything you need to know about wildlife photography • Portraiture
BY ROBERT ANDERSEN | 384 COMMENTS
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LAST UPDATED ON APRIL 22, 2023
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« 1. The Importance of Light and Weather »

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In this in-depth Wildlife Photography Tutorial, we put together some of the best
material we have published to date on photographing wildlife. Most of the Yourself as a
information comes from myself (Robert Andersen), but a few extra tips are Photography Life Member
shared by other talented Photography Life team members like Tom Redd. Instead
of creating separate articles on each topic, we thought it would be a good idea to
compile everything into a single piece so that our readers could get the best out REVIEWS

of it and have a chance to follow the material in a logical progression. This tutorial • Camera Reviews
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is a work in progress and we will be adding more sections in the future, so make
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sure to bookmark it in your browser!
• Best Cameras and Lenses

Note from the authors: all the material presented in this article is based on our PHOTOGRAPHY TUTORIALS
field experience and years of shooting, and our recommendations and guidance
are based on that. If your experience differs from ours and you disagree with any
of the expressed statements, please use the comments section to let us know.
We always welcome healthy criticism and discussions. PHOTOGRAPHY LANDSCAPE
BASICS PHOTOGRAPHY

WILDLIFE MACRO
PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY

COMPOSITION & BLACK & WHITE

CREATIVITY PHOTOGRAPHY

NIGHT SKY PORTRAIT

PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY
NIKON D4 @ 240mm, ISO 400, 1/800, f/5.6

The Importance of Light

I hope everybody knows what the ‘golden hour’ is, but in case you are not
familiar with the term, it’s the first hour of light in the morning and the last hour of STREET PHOTOGRAPHY
PHOTOGRAPHY VIDEOS
light at the end of the day. There are many reasons why the golden hour is a
great time to shoot photos, but the three reasons I want to mention are the tone
UNIQUE GIFT IDEAS
of the light, the soft diffused light produced and the height of the sun relative to
the subject. Let’s start with a sample photo taken during morning golden light
time and show you the magical properties the light produced.

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NIKON D4 @ 340mm, ISO 1250, 1/2500, f/6.3

If you look closely at the photo you will see that the bird is beautifully lit and even
has light illuminating it from below, almost as if I am holding a golden reflector on
it. There is also no overexposure areas anywhere, however, this bird does not
have a white head and tail like it’s mature bald eagle parent, where that would
have mattered more and been easier to overexpose. What I want to say about the
golden hour, is that morning and evening light is softer and not as harsh, so use
that to your advantage when shooting difficult-to-expose animals. Also, because
the sun is low in the sky at this time, it will illuminate the subject more evenly and
have a beautiful temperature to the light.

The main point about the golden hour, is not so much the hour itself, but rather
that first and last light are powerful tools and the harsh light of midday sun can
easily ruin a photo that might otherwise have been stunning. The midday sun
also creates very strong shadows that can ruin a photo because of the dark
areas it creates on the animal itself (e.g. from antlers etc.) to strong dark
shadows on the ground. The comparison photos shown above have no strong
shadows anywhere because they were both photographed in the early light. The
tone difference is because the left photo was shot in absolute first
photographable light, whereas the right photo was approximately 45 minutes
later, but still soft morning light. You can argue which light/photo you prefer,
because I also love the photo on the right; they are two very different photos of
the same bird. The point is that light is important in how the resulting photo looks
and you need to consider that when shooting, it’s hard to make a harsh midday
sun look great.

Tips:

You need to get up real early to shoot in the morning light

You need to allow travel time to get to the location
You need to allow time to find the subject
Watch the shutter speed, allow for the light level
Watch your white balance – Auto might not be the best choice to catch the
colors

Weather
My wife is a walking talking weather station. She checks the weather all the time
and that’s great, but don’t let what you think the weather will be, rule your
decision to go out and shoot. I have come to think that the weather, for the most
part, doesn’t matter or more accurately, the weather can be your friend.
Photographing moose / elk / deer or other large antlered animals is most of the
time better done on an overcast day. However, shooting birds or having the sky in
the image when it’s that sucky winter overcast off white could end in horrible
results. Don’t be afraid to venture out into a bit of rain or snow either, you just
never know what you are going to get until you go. I have seen some amazing
light/skies the day after a major storm. Always be on the ready – there are no
hard or fast rules. Look at different weather situations as photographic
opportunities, rather than reasons to sit at home.

NIKON D4 @ 310mm, ISO 1600, 1/400, f/4.5

The above photo was taken right after it stopped raining and the extra details the
weather provided were just awesome in my opinion.

I actually prefer to use wet photos to draw animals from or reference as they
show how hair and fur really flow on an animal. To me, all these little extras add to
the story of the photo and make it more interesting.

This next photo shows how I prefer my moose photos to look with nice, even light
and no harsh shadows on the moose. Because it is a semi-overcast day, it’s
perfect weather for moose photography. I am in between trees and a bright
sunny day would make for very contrasty photos with areas of strong shadows
and bright highlights that are hard, but not impossible to make look good. The
biggest reason I love overcast days for this type of animal is that there are no
shadows from the antlers ruining a good photo. Finding a huge moose is hard
enough, finding a huge moose and having crappy photos because of a bright
sunny day can make a grown man cry.

NIKON D3X @ 600mm, ISO 640, 1/320, f/5.0

Most of my experience with moose in my part of the country (NH) where I chase
them all the time, is that you usually find them extremely early in the morning or
late evening when they are most active. The photo below will compare sunny
versus overcast for you.

I tried to pick two photos from around the same time of year, same setting and
similar subjects. It doesn’t matter which photo you like more – that’s a personal
choice. Just be aware of your light choices. To me the left is the photo I prefer
and here are the things I like about it: background looks more pleasing, moose is
lit evenly, no antler shadow, no distracting lighting changes or harsh tree
shadows. You can’t always pick the light, you probably booked your trip in
advance and once you are there. You just have to deal with what you are given.
We will make subject choices based on the weather e.g. we are in the Grand
Teton / Yellowstone area and it’s going to be a bright sunny day, we may decide
to just do moose at first light and then move onto other subjects while the light is
harsher, or we get three days of overcast and we will forego all other animals and
concentrate on moose or elk because we prefer to shoot those with no shadows.
Preferably, bright overcast is an amazing light condition for wildlife photography
where there are no scenic vistas with the sky showing – hehe if only it was that
easy.

Before I move off the weather, I will re-mention that rainy wet animals look very
different to dry ones. They have more texture to their fur and also, the
environment will look more saturated naturally and set more of a mood. I don’t
like it pouring down in such a manner that the rain becomes the photo. More a
light drizzle or just after it rains is a good time to look for opportunities. This next
photo is from Alaska and it is drizzling, but look at the texture it adds to the bears
and also the motion it conveys from the splashes of water from the cub’s
paws. Lastly, look how saturated the greens are and as an added bonus, there
are no clouds of insects hovering around the bears because of the rain.

NIKON D4 @ 340mm, ISO 1250, 1/2500, f/6.3

Tips:

Get wet weather gear for you, your camera and lenses (I use AquaTech
sports shield for camera)
Also you will need Muck boots or hip waders to get to those wet /
muddy locations
Wet or snow – don’t point your lens up (water spots on the lens glass)
Windy rain or snow – watch the direction you point your lens to (water spots)
Cold weather – have layered clothing and gloves that still allow you to shoot
Cold weather warm car/house etc. – watch condensation issues, let the
camera warm slowly
Cold weather drains batteries faster
Cold weather – breath / warmth fogs your viewfinder – can’t see your subject

« 1. The Importance of Light and Weather »

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TAGGED WITH: ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS, BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY, BIRDS IN FLIGHT, NIKON, SUPER
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About Robert Andersen

Robert Andersen is a wildlife photographer based out of New
Hampshire, USA. Please visit his website Fireflight Photo to see
more beautiful photographs of nature that Robert and his wife Mila have
captured since they started their photography journey.

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