Animal shots for amatuers

It had been features in almost all blogs on photography... and there are detail steps to show how to get great wildlife shots... I read many of them... and they are good stuff... but not all of them works for me. Why? I don't have half the equipment and lenses they have and there are pitifully little amount of really wild life in Singapore.

My typical set up was,

1) DSLR
2) x1.4 teleconverter
3) 70-200mm f4L IS
4) 300mm f4L (non-IS)
5) External flash
6) monopod (I haven't get to use my tripod on this type of shots before).

Well... many wildlife photographers would have scoff at that type of setup. They would point out that a decent reach would be a 500mm and above lens.

But photography is just a hobby... I am not going to spent more than S$10k on a lens that I will use only once in a blue moon.

So I think my setup is enough... afterall, what I shoot is seriously not that far off or dangerous... and for those that are seemingly dangerous are already locked up in cages.

ISO: 640
Shutter Speed: 1/800
Aperture: f/4




Squirrels... being one of the most commonly found 'wildlife' in Singapore, it is actually not that easy to get a good clean shot of the nervous creature.

Well the trick to shoot the squirrel was not to chase it... you would never be fast enough and when they started to climb a tree, chances are, you will not be able to capture them anymore. So... try to move to a more brightly lit area, use a wide enough aperture so that more light can get to your sensor, don't worried about pumping up your ISO, and use a fast enough shutter speed. Try to focus on the squirrel's eyes when you shoot.

Don't use flash if you can help, because flash will scare the animal and they will run off as soon as possible. So I would rather start pumping my ISO.

ISO: 200
Shutter Speed: 1/320
Aperture: f/4



Another most commonly seen animal is the monitor lizard. They are practically everywhere in the park. Like the squirrel... these are afraid of humans, and they would run off as soon as you startled them. So, the trick is to keep very quiet, don't go too near, the lizard will be startled... and worst, it will attack. So keep a distance, and shoot at it... be sure to go as close to the ground as possible, so that you can shoot the create at eye level. No use shooting at it while you are hovering over it... it would look pretty ugly.

ISO: 200
Shutter Speed: 1/320
Aperture: f/4


Well who can forget the dragonfly... these magnificent insect are lovely in both colour and structure. They are good poser too... they will remain calm and steady for you to shoot. Just remember don't get too close or they will fly off.

Anyway, IS, OS, VR, VC and any form of image stabilization really help when you shoot wildlife, they keep your lens steady and enable you to get pretty sharp images. Also shoot at a higher shutter speed, so as to capture movement of the animal.

Taking animal shots are easy enough if you have good equipments... all the shots can be very sharp and clear... but those are not interesting shots... it don't give your photo the wow factor... it was just like one of the shots randomly picked up from the net...

So you need to watch for the expression of the animals... because animals... like human, had great expressions.

ISO: 200
Shutter Speed: 1/30
Aperture: f/6.3

ISO: 200
Shutter Speed: 1/60
Aperture: f/6.3



Sometime you just don't get that expression... you would just have to be very patient and wait. Sooner or later you are gonna capture an interesting expression,

ISO: 100
Shutter Speed: 1/200
Aperture: f/5.6


It took me around one plus hour of waiting to find a cute expression from this bird when it swallow a fish. I didn't get to shoot the time when it ate the fish... and frankly... I don't want to do that. I want to shoot it giving this strange and cute expression.

Finally... I cannot stress enough on the important of your photos telling a story... alook at the lioness on top... it tell a story too... like why was she angry, what is she looking at and things like that.

And who say animal shots don't tell story, those are just bullshits. It is up to the photographer to create a shot that actually tell stories.

ISO: 1250
Shutter Speed: 1/320
Aperture: f/5.6



I called the above pic, "LOVE"... why... you think about it yourself.

ISO: 640
Shutter Speed: 1/320
Aperture: f/5.6


And this is "Quarrel" or "Lover Quarrel"

And the final in this series would be "Filial Piety"

ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/60
Aperture: f/5.6


Well... so as you can see... animals are like humans, they have their own facial expression and your photos can tell a story too. The abovementioned are only a few of the pic of a animals that I have taken that tell a story as well as having good expression.

The rules for streets photography also apply here to some extend too.

But a few things that you have to remember - Be Safe... and don't be a hero. Don't get too close to the wild animals... they will attack.