Saxen Van Coller- Play Safe In The Wild

The game of wildlife requires a lot of patience. Whether you are trying to capture a herd of elephants or birds in the backyard you need to be careful. Wild animals will do what they want to hence as a photographer you need to work around them to take the best shots. When we are shooting the wildlife we can’t ask them to look here, or move to where the light is better. You have to be there and be ready to take the most interesting shots, wait and wait is all you can do to get those perfect shots. Many feel it takes a lot of time, the longer you spend time with an animal or group of animals the better you get to know about them and their habitat.

When you are put outdoors with the animals you get to see more of their personalities. You may get to the point where you can anticipate what they might do at a particular time of day or in a certain situation. You will be able to know which cubs are more playful or in which spot a male likes to lay up, this will help you get your images better.

And, as is true of all kinds of photography, the more time you spend with your subjects, the more likely your images will be expressive and revealing. The better you know them the better it will show in your photography.

Every photographer has his own style and way states Saxen Van Coller. There are no fixed rules or ways and no perfect recipe, but there are some things that can substantially improve your end results. Here are a few points that I would like to share with you from my recent trips to a national reserve in Africa.

How You Can Work Best In The Wild

Vary your lens choice to make the most. Many feel that use of long lens will possibly get the best images. While in some cases it might work, but there are situations where you need a wider lens. While a nice headshot is perfect, but what brings the niche is when the animal is captured with its native environment.

Use of a monopod or a tripod: whenever possible use a tripod or a monopod. This will help to stabilize the camera and lens and you will achieve sharper images. This works best in low light conditions, where your shutter speed is slow.

Get lower and more into the animal’s environment by lowering yourself and immersing completely for a more interesting composition. Saxen Van Coller says she has spent most of her time in Africa siting or lying down to capture images from their point of view. But while you are doing this, make sure you maintain a proper distance.

Always focus on the animal eye it is a rule, as the animal’s eye should always be the sharpest point when we take any good image. The more focus you have on the eye the better is your capture as when looked close you can see yourself if you look close.

Respect the animal’s space going closer to your subject gives the best results and will undoubtedly improve your composition. But when we are talking about the wild never put yourself in danger just to get a picture and disturb their natural habitat as you never know forcing them can create serious problems.

No matter how much you enjoy being in the wild and taking photographs a little care is needed. In the end what is important is that we need to maintain a safe distance from the untamed to capture the best shots.