Animals
The New Paper
So you
want to
shoot
Photography Guide 2006
Part 4 of 7
Whether you are snapping
your pet, residents of the
zoo or free-roaming
creatures in the outback,
animal photography
requires more patience
than anything else
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GOING
MACRO
P
hotographing
animals is really not
much different from
going on a wildlife
hunt. You need an incredible amount of patience,
good reflexes, sharp
eyesight and one really
good weapon.
Plus, you will probably
end up drenched in sweat.
Of course, the advantage of photography is
that no one actually gets hurt.
Here’s how to go for the kill when the animal
refuses to pose for the camera.
Patience, patience, patience
If you cannot stay still for more than a few
minutes, you should not bother with animal
photography.
This is because apart from your own pets or
really bored zoo animals, most animals will
always treat you with a high degree of suspicion.
It does not help that your camera lens looks
like a big gun barrel to them.
Take, for example, shooting butterflies at the
park, I’ve found the best way to shoot them
perched on a flower is to simply squat before
the plant for several minutes with the lens
pointed towards the flower.
After a while, they might regard you as part
of the fauna and disregard your presence.
This method, of course, is nothing compared
to professional wildlife photographers who will
stay still for hours camouflaged within the
bushes.
Switch off the flash
For most of us, the zoo is the only place where
we will see big furry animals up close.
But till today, I cannot understand why
people will go up to a glass cage at the zoo and
pump their camera flashes at the animal inside.
The glass will obviously reflect the flash light,
causing a big white blotch on your image. The
animal inside will also be annoyed or simply
scared witless.
Always switch off your flash, use a camera
with high light sensitivity (eg. digital SLRs which
can go up to ISO 3200), and shoot as many
shots as you can as your hit rate will be low.
Also, for such zoo exhibits, press your
camera lens as close to the glass as possible
(without scratching it) so there is no visible
barrier on your photograph.
Then, wait for feeding times as the animals
go bonkers over their chow.
Go for emotional lighting
If you study the pages of National Geographic carefully, it’s obvious that its editors
take great pains to choose wildlife pictures with
the best use of colours.
But don’t restrict yourself to shooting only
vibrantly-coloured parakeets or flamingos.
Brought to you by
Personally, I feel the most versatile lens in my dSLR
arsenal is my 100mm f2.8 macro lens.
Be it wildlife, human portraits, product shots or even
landscape photos, this lens somehow manages to excel
in every field.
Its biggest strength is the ability to take really close-up
shots to reveal things often hidden to the naked eye.
The 100mm macro lens lets you take a picture that
magnifies the subject to life-size (on the image sensor),
yet allows you to shoot from a distance of 31cm.
This means you need not go really near the subject in
order to get a magnified view, unlike the “macro” feature
found in most consumer digicams.
The Canon EF 100mm macro lens
(left) allows intimate close-ups
as well as casual portraits.
Pictures IAN TAN
Zoo animals often spring to life during meal times. I pressed my lens close to the glass and switched off the flash for this shot.
Animals are not likely to line up neatly for you, so walk around them for the best angle. With
animals like zebras, try to highlight their skin patterns in aesthetic ways.
Even dull-coloured animals like goats and
horses can look good with the right lighting or
backgrounds.
To show the majestic profiles of horses for
example, I like to shoot them with light
coming from the side.
This often shows off their strong jaw line,
elegant nose bridge and lustrous hair.
For butterflies with boring wing patterns,
you can contrast them against eye-catching
leaf or sky backgrounds.
Uncover their personalities
Animals are not mindless but have their own
quirky personalities.
Dull-coloured animals can look
good with the right lighting.
So see them like individualistic human
subjects and it’ll be easier for you to know when
to press the shutter button.
For example, we often show our true nature
when we imagine no one is looking. You can
achieve this by fooling the animal into thinking
you’re shooting something else.
Say you are shooting your camera-shy cat.
Just pretend to be shooting other objects in
the house, but keep an eye on his behaviour.
When he least expects it, swing your camera,
fire off and hope you don’t get scratched!
Another alternative is to use big professional
zoom lenses (300mm and above) from afar, but
they are too expensive for most people.
Also, a true macro lens like the 100mm does not distort
the image like digicams do.
Other macro lenses in Canon’s line-up are the 50mm
macro and the 180mm macro. The higher the focal
length, the further you can keep away from the subject
and still get life-sized magnification.
Macro lenses come in especially useful for nature or
wildlife shots.
Usually the only wild animals that won’t claw your
eyes out when you approach them at arm’s length are
those of the tiny variety like butterflies.
You should be careful when using such lenses
though.
You need very strong lighting (ie. sunlight), a tripod
and do careful manual focusing as the level of
magnification means the photos can easily go out of
focus.