Beginner wildlife photographer looking to improve.

[Harry Woodford]

Hello as per the title I am a beginner/enthusiast photographer who is looking to improve. I started a few years ago and quickly caught the bug for wildlife photography however due to work I ended up moving to a city with VERY little to no wildlife in or even reserves nearby and I lost the passion. I recently moved to Scotland and have been caught up again and more so than before and am LOVING it, however I would love to be able to improve and hoping there might be some pointers. Excuse if I haven't posted correctly I'm not sure how to attach EXIF info. I have very little experience and completely self taught on post processing so this is also something I'd wish to improve on. Thank you!
I also have downsized images for uploading/.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.

 

[bleirer]

You might dig into Steve's free and low cost educational materials. I'm fairly experienced and still find useful information in rereading and re viewing them. Just look at his main page linked above left.

One thing I noticed on the pics above is to ask if you are familiar with exposure compensation? This overrides the metered exposure up or down. The usual rule of thumb is "background brighter - brighten." if the background is brighter you brighten the exposure with positive exposure compensation. This will keep the subjects from being to dark. If the background is darker then use negative exposure compensation to protect the subject from overexposure.

 

[DRwyoming]

I recently moved to Scotland and have been caught up again and more so than before and am LOVING it, however I would love to be able to improve and hoping there might be some pointers. Excuse if I haven't posted correctly I'm not sure how to attach EXIF info. I have very little experience and completely self taught on post processing so this is also something I'd wish to improve on. Thank you!
I also have downsized images for uploading/.

Welcome to the BCG Forums.

Nice first post images.

Your image posting is fine and if the images still have EXIF data attached that data will appear automatically so no worries there. Sometimes through processing via various tools the EXIF data can get stripped off a file and then it won't appear on your posts but these of course are fine.

There are thousands of tips and as Bill posted above, @Steve's ebooks are a great place to start. You can find them here: https://bcgwebstore.com/

The Stunning Secrets to Wildlife Photography ebook is a really good read and great place to start. For a Nikon shooter the Nikon AF and Nikon Metering books are also really good as they cover an awful lot of stuff beginners struggle with.

The biggest quick tip I'd give is to get out there a lot and keep capturing images. The more field time you put in, the more things you'll notice about local wildlife, where they hang out, their behaviors and where to find them. That's a huge part of the game as all the best tech advice in the world won't help if you can't find wildlife subjects and can't figure out how to get close enough to them. Field time will help with those things.

In terms of this set, work on proper exposure and when to use exposure comp as Bill suggested above, think about using alternative AF points so your subjects aren't quite so dead centered in the frame (the Squirrel image is a good start in that direction) or think about a bit of cropping in post to place the subject a bit more off center in the final image and work on getting closer physically or optically which takes practice and observation of your subjects and their habits.

Keep the images coming and you should get plenty of specific advice.

-Dave

 

[NorthernFocus]

Welcome to the forums, Harry. Glad to hear that you've moved to an area that is more conducive to your being able to pursue nature photography. Nowadays there are more resources available on-line that one could ever use. Part of the trick is figuring out which ones are actually useful. Many of us are on this particular forum because we think @Steve falls in that category. So highly recommend availing yourself of his videos on the subject. He covers both technical and creative aspects of wildlife photography.

As feedback on this set of photos that you've posted the first thing that jumps out at me is that the subject is centered in all but the first one. With wildlife one thing that generally works best compositionally is for the animal to be looking/moving "into the frame". Which means having more of the frame in front of the animal. So for example in the image of the heron in flight having the bird's head more centered in the frame would put more space in front of it than behind. Of course it is preferable to shoot that way in the field but much easier to crop to desired composition during post processing.

Another general rule is for the animals eyes to be visible and or motion being toward the camera or at least lateral. "Eye contact"(i.e. animal looking at the camera) isn't always necessary but at least eyes visible. There are exceptions if there is some extraordinary action being captured like birds fighting in mid-air, etc. Your third image above is nice in every way other than the fact that the bird is faced away. Commonly referred to as a "bird butt"

Hope to see more of your work in the future.

 

[Patrick M]

Good images! Welcome to BCG and never be afraid to ask!

 

[Charles Loy]

Welcome, nice images. Your first is a nice composure, the other 3 are fine photos but centered.. (example) place so the heron to the left a bit, opens up its flight-into area.

 

[Harry Woodford]

Thanks all for the advice and feedback, it's much appreciated! I will definitely work on the composition and see where I can improve there.

As foe the exposure compensation it is something I always see and read about but have no idea how it works and have been scared to try. I'll dig further into this and find out what ican do and I'll try it out next time I'm out.

I'll focus on these two point for now as they seem to be a common feedback, and I'll continue to dive into other points you have all mentioned. Including reading some of Steve's books! Discovering his YouTube is the reason I am on this forum in the first place.

Again thank you all who have given feedback, I'm sure I'll be back in here in the near future with some hopefully updated and better images!

 

[markymark]

You might dig into Steve's free and low cost educational materials. I'm fairly experienced and still find useful information in rereading and re viewing them. Just look at his main page linked above left.

One thing I noticed on the pics above is to ask if you are familiar with exposure compensation? This overrides the metered exposure up or down. The usual rule of thumb is "background brighter - brighten." if the background is brighter you brighten the exposure with positive exposure compensation. This will keep the subjects from being to dark. If the background is darker then use negative exposure compensation to protect the subject from overexposure.

Welcome to BCG, good set of images & agree with what’s been said so far by everyone especially Patrick who said never be afraid to ask, great advice.
My Grandmother once said, ask a question & feel a fool for five minutes, but don’t ask a question & feel a fool forever.
Looking forward to seeing more of your shots.

 

[DRwyoming]

As foe the exposure compensation it is something I always see and read about but have no idea how it works and have been scared to try. I'll dig further into this and find out what ican do and I'll try it out next time I'm out.

Here's a good place to start with exposure comp: https://backcountrygallery.com/exposure-compensation-made-easy/

The bottom line is camera meters think the world is mid-toned and when a photo isn't more or less mid toned we use the exposure comp dial to tell the camera the scene we're photographing should either be brighter or darker than that. It helps a ton for situations like a bird with bright white feathers against a dark background when the bird is mid to small in the frame. The meter sees all that dark background and tries to brighten it up towards mid tone and then those bright white feathers over expose and blow out. A bit of negative exposure compensation can get that dark background back to dark and at the same time keep those brighter white feathers from blowing out.

Turn that around and get closer or use a longer lens to fill the frame with the white bird and now the meter tries to get that bright white bird down to mid tone and under exposes the image so in that case a bit of positive exposure compensation will get those brights, bright again.

IOW, we know what we're shooting and what fills most or all of the frame and we use the exposure compensation dial to tell the camera the scene in our viewfinder should be darker or brighter than mid tone or for many situations it all averages to mid tone so we leave it alone and don't use any exposure compensation at all.

 

[Robert S]

Hello Harry. When I lived in the UK [ England ] I would head up to Scotland every chance I got. Loved the wide open spaces. My only advice is 1] get to know the gear you use 2] practice with it 3] study all the great photos on this site and think how you would have taken the photo 4] spend as much times as possible 'in the field'.
If you can get friendly with a person that looks after things on a large estate that person will be able to help a lot.

 

[Doomrider74]

Welcome to the forum.

As a fellow newb, one piece of advice I'd give is try and find out what type of shots YOU like. Trawl through Flickr, or the galleries on here, and identify which shots move you, and then try and replicate them in the field.

Going into the field without an idea of the type of shots you like makes it difficult to capture images that are satisfying. Sure, at the beginning we're all just happy to capture a sharp image, but after a while you'll start to want more.

I hope that makes sense.