Welcome to United Earth Photography’s photography learning blog! This year, I am writing some posts describing the wildlife photography learning process to share advice and tips that I have either received during my learning journey or needed to develop to become a better wildlife photographer. This is the first of these posts and today, let’s talk about my proposed first step in the learning process so far; “The Discovery”. Discovery of what you like, discovery of what you would like to become capable of creating and discovery of what you can find all around you.
The 4 “ingredients” of wildlife photography
As described in a previous blog post, I have been growing as a photographer for more than two decades, but have only started to dedicate most of my free time over the past 2-3 years which means I’m very early in my learning journey, and there is still lots left for me to discover and improve. That’s reminded me everyday when I gaze at images crafted by the people I admire and aspire to emulate from the people around me to National Geographic. That said, after dedicating a lot of time (and a non-negligible amount of money), when I look at the types of images I used to be able to make and the ones I can now capture, I feel the need to reflect on how I got there, and share the phases of that process with others.
There are 4 ingredients to a powerful image and therefore 4 categories of skills I have had to develop in my learning journey so far towards becoming a better photographer:
1. Exposure
2. Focusing
3. Composition
4. Animal behavior
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As an example, in the image above (taken in Florida in the spring of 2022) the exposure gave a well-lit and very detailed subject and the image is correctly focused on its eye, giving power to the image. The composition is decent, placing the eagle in the top left quadrant to give space for the reflection and in the direction of motion. Finally, a lot of knowledge of the eagles’ behavior from my mentor’s part and our guide that day, allowed us to know where a bald eagle would be, when and how it hunts, and at what moment of the hunting to create an attractive image. It has taken me many years of learning for all these elements to come together into this image.
These 4 ingredients are standard elements of photography and you probably already have some knowledge of the basics of each of them. In each of these posts, my goal is to break down these ingredients into a set of skills that allow you to grow in each of these “dimensions” beyond those basics.
The learning journey
These 4 elements are all necessary to achieve a good image, so no photographer can wait to “master” exposure (if that even means anything) before starting to worry about focusing well. So these can’t constitute a learning roadmap from someone. To me, these elements are like dimensions (latitude/longitude) to travel to get somewhere. If you want to go from Point A to Point B, you need to move in all dimensions at once. In photography, you need to find ways to get to a minimum skill level in exposure, focus, composition, and animal behavior to go home with an image. Then, the journey ahead is to become better and better at each of these elements which can take a lifetime but it is so rewarding!
In these blog posts, I am reflecting on my learning journey and the advice of people I grew with to build a step-by-step and hands-on method for anyone with the will and the time (and a bit of money) to get there. Depending on your current skill set, you might look at the different blog posts and decide you have already lived through some of these steps: if so, skip over to later steps! In any case, welcome to the journey: enjoy, and don’t put too much pressure on yourself!
Step 1: “Discovery”
All thousand-mile journeys start with the first step out the door
Since it will be a long journey, in the discovery step, I would recommend you (re)discover 3 things I think are critical to sustaining your journey to greatness:
– the pleasure to create wild animals images,
– your goals as a photographer,
– the resources you already have that will be most valuable for you to grow.
Even though it is fun to buy new gear, just like for most learning journeys, the most critical investment you can make is time. So feel free to use the camera you already have, even just a pair of binoculars and a notepad will be good enough. You can also decide to invest early in your journey and get yourself a new/used reflex camera which you will need at some point soon anyway. For advice on what gear to purchase, there are tons of gear review videos out there, and I enjoy Tony and Chelsea’s gear videos.
The most important thing is to discover the pleasure of making images of animals around you. Connect with Nature, develop that connection, and crave it. This can easily be done by looking up local groups focused on birding, nature walks, or taking a stroll at your local park/pond/lake. Another great way to know what’s out close to you is to join Facebook groups/Instagram hashtags of wildlife observers or photographers, ideally local ones, and see what they post about. Monitor these groups, and notice what species live close to you, what season they are spotted at, where they are, who posts often, and who you admire.
Homework 1.1: Give yourself 3 hours, find a close park/local pond/lake/river/forest/field…, go out with your camera or a cell phone, and bring home the 3 best shots you can get of an animal. If that’s easy, try to bring shots of 3 different species of animals. I highly recommend you find something close to you since that is likely to become a spot you can go to regularly in the future. If you live right outside Yellowstone or the Serengeti, lucky you! The good news is, you can build your photography skills and become an excellent wildlife photographer no matter where you live as long as you have the will. That might mean a local pond with ducks in your city, or even a spot that birds visit regularly. If you live in a remote area that doesn’t have a local wildlife photographer community, no problem. Go on a walk but walk with a new purpose: listen for and look for any sign of life. This mind shift is critical to discover one of the coolest gifts nature has for us: there is wildlife everywhere you look, as long as you can slow down, turn off your cell phone, and look for life. If you can’t see anything at first, look harder. Maybe look closer: maybe life is on a very small scale and butterflies or insects are the most common subject around you. If your eye really can’t find anything, life is a bit further away. Then, close your eyes and listen. Rinse and repeat with other “known” wildlife spots around you.
Homework 1.2: Start a journal to store information about animal species that surround you and that you would like to
“catch” one day, the locations they were spotted at, the time of year, and the time of day. What was the environment like around the animal (marshes, fields, meadows, pines, desert, …)? What was it doing (feeding, sleeping, mating, …)? You will grow that database over the years, and it is will be incredibly useful when in the future you ask yourself where you should be at a given moment. You will also start learning about animal behavior.
Homework 1.3: Start a list of photographers you admire and that you would like to emulate. Ask yourself: What type of photos do you like? Why? What is it that makes those photos attractive to you? Is it an incredible mastery of exposure? Or a particularly special composition?
In the next blog post, I will answer my questions with my personal opinions and experiences. Thanks for reading!
Comments? Questions? Feedback? Respond below, comment on Facebook, or email me at unitedearthphotography@gmail.com