Take Your Time

Wildlife photography is more of a marathon then a flat out sprint.

There are most definitely times when everything happens at once and you have to keep up with the action by keeping the shutter going but most of the time you need patience.  You need to sit, watch, enjoy and wait for those magical moments.

A week ago we had the pleasure of sitting with a pride of lions as they finished the last bits of a wildebeest kill.  Two large males, two females and five youngsters of about 6 months old.  Amazing sighting and, what made it even better, we had it all to ourselves.  Oh, it didn’t hurt that the light was amazing that afternoon.

When it comes to feeding time, the males eat first and only once they are done will the rest the pride move in for their chance to eat.  On this particular day it seemed that one youngster did not get the memo.  This brave little youngster took every chance he could get to sneak in and grab a piece of wildebeest even with his dad threatening to give him a serious hiding.  Here he is crawling in almost underneath his old man to try and get a piece of the action.

Now as you know, one of the most important things in wildlife photography is to get your subject’s eyes sharp and in focus as we are inevitably drawn to them.  That is what makes this an interesting image.  The two sets of eyes.

Try this.  Close your eyes and as you open them look at the image and take notice of where your gaze go to first.  And after that?

Do you find yourself jumping between the two faces?  The two sets of eyes?  You see, there are certain parts in a photograph which draws our gaze more than others.  Light areas in a dark image and vice versa.  If that’s the case, do your eyes get drawn to the males dark mane and the unfortunate wildebeest’s dark head?

The nice thing here is that the dark areas in the image is also very close to the two sets of eyes and, as a bonus and if we think of the rule of thirds, these to areas are both placed close to the power points.

All of these things work together to create an interesting image.  When viewed much bigger the image has even more impact as you can really see the youngster’s eyes which shows clearly how he is keeping a very close watch on his dad as he takes a bite.

To get images like this you need to take your time.  Sit with your subjects.  Watch and enjoy.

Yeah, it might seem like there are a lot of things to think of but you will find that as you spend time looking at your subject through the viewfinder you will just know when to click the shutter.

The reason for you taking the photograph in the first place and your viewer enjoying your photograph is the same.  Or at least – it should be.

Don’t go out there sprinting, trying to take good wildlife photographs.  Go out there with the idea of taking your time, appreciating your wildlife subjects and photographing those moments.  If you approach wildlife photography in that way you are more likely to create images that show your true passion for nature and wildlife photography.

People want to see amazing moments, not just another lion portrait.  Take your time, run the marathon, capture the moments.

Oh yeah, the lion cub above got away with a piece of wildebeest and only one or two slaps from his dad.  A win-win situation.

See ya tomorrow!

Gerry