The secret of photography for your wildlife studies

Wildlife photography is a complicated discipline and quite frustrating in its beginning. On the other hand, it's hugely rewarding when you start to achieve your dream results.

To take the photographs of your wildlife studies, it is necessary for the technician-photographer to have some previous knowledge about the biology and habits of the species to be photographed. That way, you'll know where, when and how to look for them.

Taking good photographs for your wildlife studies requires countless hours of field time. Staying behind the camera for many hours and an everlasting exercise of trial and error will give you enough experience to get “decent” images. That way, you can proclaim yourself as an authentic and genuine “wildlife photographer”.

The photography equipment

It's important to have good equipment (not necessarily the most expensive) to photograph wildlife, but much more important is the person behind the camera. It's no use buying a “cucumber” (the coolest and most expensive piece of equipment) if the person who is going to use it doesn't master the basic principles of photography (ISO sensitivity, diaphragm, exposure compensation, white balance, etc.) It is also necessary to have a minimum artistic sense and not end up shooting automatically. Photography, like almost everything, requires a good dose of Self-didactic.

There are a wide variety of techniques for photographing wildlife, some of which we will discuss below. We will also consider the usefulness that each of them could have for obtaining photographs by environmental technicians, in order to graphically complete, in a more attractive and professional way, their environmental impact studies, reports, wildlife inventories, etc.:

SLR cameras with interchangeable lenses.

They are the equipment that offers us the highest quality, although they can be difficult for novice photographers to master. They have the disadvantage that they are, in general, quite heavy, so many times we will have to use a tripod or similar so that the images are not flickering. In addition, it forces us to change the type of lens to address different photographic situations (long-focal telephoto lens, macro, wide angle, etc.). Often, “hides” or photographic hiding places, properly camouflaged, are used to get closer to the fauna, at the cost of many hours of waiting and good doses of boredom. Of course, it goes without saying that this type of wildlife photography is not feasible in the long run for an environmental technician subject to various strict data collection methodologies in the field0.

High-speed photography with infrared barriers.

It is a rather complicated technique that requires a lot of previous work. It is often used to photograph small birds and bats in flight, as well as the ever elusive nocturnal mammals. It consists of one or more strategically placed infrared barriers connected to a reflex camera. When the infrared light beam is crossed by an animal (or object), the camera shoots one or more photographs, with the help of a minimum of two external flashes that have the function of illuminating the scene and freezing the movement (high speed) of the animal being photographed. In this way, the animal takes the photo itself and does not require the photographer's physical presence, which, in most cases, would scare away the animals we intend to photograph. It goes without saying that this technique requires a lot of previous work to target species in a certain area, generally through the use of baits or attractants. Therefore, it is not a feasible photographic technique for an environmental technician.

Digiscoping.

This technique consists of aligning the objective of a camera (reflex or compact) with the eyepiece (or body) of a terrestrial telescope mounted on a tripod, in order to obtain photographs of objects or animals that are too far away to be photographed by other means. This technique boomed at the beginning of the new century, but, lately, it has been falling into disrepair, mainly due to the super zooms of bridge cameras. Mastering digiscoping requires a lot of skill and patience, and, in addition, it has the logistical inconvenience of having to carry a telescope, tripod, objective-eyepiece adapter, trigger, etc. This technique may be useful, on a one-off basis, for an environmental technician, but it does not seem feasible to use it on a continuous basis.

Phototrapping.

The so-called “trap cameras”, “trailcams” or “phototrapping cameras” have been used in wildlife studies by biologists, forestry or environmental technicians.

These cameras are strategically placed in wildlife areas, are automatically activated by a motion sensor (by heat) and take photos or videos (as programmed) when an animal or person crosses their detection area. They have the drawback that batteries can drain quickly when taking many “false photos”, caused by the movement of surrounding vegetation due to the action of the wind or by the movement of the Sun in areas of light and dark during the central hours of the day. Another drawback is that these cameras are often subject to theft by “people who are friends with others” who discover them in the field. Of course, the use of these cameras is very useful for carrying out wildlife studies, environmental inventories, etc., being a fundamental part of the work of our environmental technicians in the different projects.

Photograph with bridge cameras.

We could say that “bridge cameras” for wildlife studies are halfway between compact cameras and reflex cameras. They offer many of the features of SLRs, but without having to constantly change lenses, thanks to their powerful optical zoom, sometimes above 100x! In the right hands, with a bridge camera you can obtain high-quality images, with nothing to envy to those obtained with a reflex camera.

Nowadays, they have become the essential equipment for our environmental technicians thanks to their incredible versatility, light weight and low price. They are, in general, easier to use than SLRs and are perfectly adapted to the various photographic situations that arise, such as the photography of raptors in flight, that of very distant objects, for the reading of rings and wing marks on birds, landscape photography, macro, etc. For all these reasons, they have become the perfect companion for the work of our technicians on different projects. With the images obtained, we are able to make our reports and documents visually look more attractive and professional. In addition, on the other hand, we accumulate quality graphic material for our company's website or social networks.

One of our favorite “bridge” is the Canon Powershot SX70 HS, due to its small size and weight, its incredible versatility and its powerful 65x optical zoom (equivalent to a 1365 mm in 35 mm format). In addition, to photograph very distant objects or animals, we have a digital zoom that reaches 270x. Another bridge camera that we have tested is the Nikon Coolpix P1000, which, even though it's a valid option, with an incredible 125x optical zoom, seems too bulky and heavy. The latter makes, for example, photographing raptors in flight a very complicated task when shooting at high magnifications.

For all of the above, we consider the Canon Powershot SX70 HS as the best option for your wildlife studies, whether or not you are skilled in the art of photography. Finally, we leave you some images obtained with the Canon Powershot SX70 HS in different situations in our wildlife studies.