Vic's Blog

Anyone who has dared to try it knows—it’s scary and exhilarating to photograph a large animal up close.  So when you see a close-up of an elk, you can bet that the photographer was crossing his or her fingers that that powerful animal would stay put for the duration. Every adventurer, trekker, or outdoors photographer knows you can’t dwell on the risks if you want to revel in nature’s rewards. 

At the same time, some precautions are sensible.

My approach to getting shots of dangerous wildlife focuses on three aspects: proper equipment, heightened awareness, and communication.

 Go Out Prepared

If I’m going on a shoot in which I plan to get bison picture, a Montana elk picture, or a nice bear shot, I go out prepared. 

Make sure that you have a good telephoto lens (400 to 600mm is best) so that you don’t have to get dangerously close to the animal to get the shot you want. 

If you’re using auto-focus, it’s best to turn that off, as the focusing motor can surprise the animals. 

Also, if you’re shooting digital, make the camera run as silently as possible; you can even muffle the sound of the shutter with a piece of cloth or a shirt if need be.  The last thing you want is for the animal to run off or get angry right when you focus on it.

Be Aware

Secondly, bring the right shoes and the proper equipment, but also a heightened sense of awareness.  Wildlife photography is dangerous.  Know the animals that you’re approaching; determine if you are approaching them in mating season or if you are between a cow elk and her calf.  Have an escape route and recognize when you are getting too close.  Always check to see if there are other animals around that you might not have noticed at first. 

Communicate With The Animals

The third point is specifically for shooters who have some experience with wildlife photography.  When I’m approaching a brown bear or a bison, I try to establish communication with the animal.  Often I speak to it.  I speak calmly using soothing “words”—low, hushed sounds. 

With this technique I have gotten as close as ten feet to a stand of bighorn sheep and I’ve gotten some amazing bison pictures, bear shots and Montana elk pictures.  Actually speaking words calms the animal.  It tells the animal that you are not sneaking up on it and that you are not dangerous to it.  It also soothes me when my adrenaline gets going!

If my lawyer were to see this blog, he’d want me to put in all sorts of provisos about not trying this ‘conversation’ approach with wild animals. Of course, you have to use your own judgment in the field. I’m just telling you what works for me out there!

I want to talk about how to get that perfect nature photograph—the one you’ve always dreamed of.  Many photographers are unsatisfied with their landscape or animal photographs. Why? They think something’s missing. Like the eagle nest in a shot of a soaring eagle. Or cubs near the shot of the mama fox.

The problem is that these photographers also think that getting the perfect eagle action picture or the charging bison picture is a matter of luck rather than of preparation.

It actually has a lot to do with research and patience.

Let’s say you’re interested in bird photography and want to get a great shot of a group of colorful birds in the Costa Rican forest.  The first step would be to know when they migrate there, so you can predict when you’ll find them all together. But then you’ll want to know what times of day they feed.

Then research, from the comfort of your Lazy Boy, the specific colors of the birds, what light factors and what shooting angles would work best.  Would the birds look best in flight, against a sky blue background?  In direct light, or in low dawn haze?  After this, you’ll want to sketch out what kind of composition would best fill the frame…before you get there! 

Finally, you realize that you’re going to have to get up at 4am in hopes of getting a shot of the macaws at dawn. And you’ll have to drive a few hours into the rainforest just to get there ‘on time’…which is often early morning. Maybe the first day you go, no birds will appear! And the second time a fluke rainstorm will roll in. 

Keep trying—no one said bird photography would be easy!

So next time you dismiss that great eagle action picture or that charging bison picture, consoling yourself with the idea that the photographer was just lucky, think again. YOU could get such a great shot, 9 times out of 10, IF you plan for it. The photographers that go out of their way to prepare… put themselves right in luck’s way. 

Their images are the ones that we remember.

I was taking pictures of Common Mergansers today when it was 9 degrees out.

Then in the Big Thompson Canyon it was a touch warmer, twelve degrees, when I shot a stand of Ponderosa Pines in the snow.