Wildlife Photography: Go where the action is!

All images copyright Moose Henderson

Wildlife photography is all about being in the right place at the right time. Without wildlife, it is no longer wildlife photography. But what is the concept of "right place and right time"  Mostly, it is a matter of education and research. But, you can read about an animal till you are blue in the face (that would make an interesting photo, your blue face) and not know any more than you knew when you started your study. You also need to know "what you need to know".

So here are some clues: 

1. Animals look there best at breeding time; find out when they breed. For the large four legged animals like Deer, Moose, Elk; breeding time is called Rut. For birds, it is usually spring time; sometimes early spring if it is a warmer climate and sometimes late spring if they breed where it is not warm.

2. Find out where they breed; go there! For example, the Endangered California Brown Pelican looks best around January and can be seen reliability on the cliffs of La Jolla, California. With a bit more research, you will learn there is a cove near the cliffs with access to a prime shooting spot for these Pelicans. You will also learn this is a prime spot for morning photography, not so good for afternoon or evenings. 

Since you are at La Jolla to photograph the pelicans and the spot for photography is mostly good only in mornings, a bit more research will tell you that Sea Lions come up on the rocks below and the Harbor Seals are just down the road; there are ducks at Santee Lakes in nearby San Diego and Burrowing Owls in the park in nearby San Diego; now you have a morning shoot and a late afternoon shoot for January.

3. Find our where the animals feed and go there. For example, the brown bears feed on salmon every year; Salmon run upstream around mid to late August. Guess what, the best time to get good images of bears, relatively safe images, is when the bears are busy feeding on salmon. Trying to photograph a bear in April that has just emerged from six months of hibernation when the ground is still white with snow and the food is less than plentiful is asking to be a major part of the food chain. Not long ago, a photographer was eaten by bears in Far East Russia when he did not heed this advice; don't be around bears when there is no food to eat! 

4. Become creative. I am not a landscape photographer; a short visit to my portfolio will show you that I photograph animals, not landscapes. For me, landscapes are background! You know what, sometimes, these scenic landscapes make pretty good backgrounds. Go to these iconic places with these beautiful landscapes and put an animal in front of the landscape; you have an instant success.  

5. You say, but I am a poor photographer with no money to travel; I must work to support my family; I live in a hovel in the woods; I walk three miles in six feet of snow each day-up hill both ways; and so on. Big deal, it was -47 here in Far East Russia and I managed to get out and photograph a Ural Owl. So, cut the excuses and bring the wildlife to you. Can you afford a small bag of sunflower seeds; wow, instant success? No need for fancy bird-feeders. Just cut the bottom of a coke bottle, hang the bottom part with string, wire, zip ties, whatever to a tree limb and wait for the birds to start piling in for seed. It is best if you are hidden in a

blind or tent; if you have neither, throw a dark sheet or blanket over yourself and camera gear; anything to hide the human form. 

So let's get out there and have some fun! 

Wildlife Photography Secrets: Angle of Light

 

 In the old days, you would purchase a package of film and inside the film box was an instruction sheet that described the concept of sunny 16, shooting your images with the sun at your back and other such general information. The makers of the film knew that shooting your images with the sun behind your back would be the easiest technique for those with little photographic experience. In this article, let’s discuss lighting. 

During full sun, there are three basic types of lighting for wildlife photos. These are direct frontal lighting, some type of angled lighting and silhouettes. Of course, there are variations and combinations of these three; but these are the three basic types.  

There is a famous bird photographer that teaches his students; “Point your shadow at the bird”; basically saying to use direct frontal lighting. He teaches that this increases his percentage of keepers because he does not need to worry if the light is on the wrong side of the bird or that the bird may have turned his head out of the light. With direct frontal lighting, if the bird turns his head to the left, the sun strikes the left side of its face; if the bird turns its head to the right, the sun strikes the right side of the face. The same type of lighting can also be used on mammals, reptiles and other crawling things. Many times, this is a good lighting technique; other times it is: ah, shall we say BORING! Direct frontal lighting means no shadows; no shadows mean no definition to feathers or fur. Take a look at your passport photo or your driver’s license photo; this is direct frontal lighting. 

My mentor and teacher, Charles Glatzer, instructs that “light illuminates, shadows define”. Basically, by moving the light a bit off angle, the light now defines the feathers, fur or texture of the animal better and gives it more depth and rounding. With the light now coming at an angle, it does make the imaging process a bit more challenging because you must wait till the animal moves its head or body into the most pleasing light angle. Few things look worse than having a shadow on the wrong side of the body or a shadow hide important details.
Wait till the light is directly behind the animal; expose for the light and you have silhouette lighting. Basically, the subject will be black and the background will be bright; if it happens to be a sunset or sunrise; it will be bright and colorful.

So when you setup your camera to photograph wildlife (or you Aunt Minnie), carefully consider the angle of the light. Many times, you can move a few feet to the left or right and completely change the mood and emotion of an image. I wish you success in your photography endeavors.

Wildlife Photography: Getting Close

Have you ever wondered how wildlife photographers get images that have the animal large in the frame? Most would say, you must have a really long lens. Well, yes I do have a 600mm and both a 1.4X and 1.7X teleconverter; but a long lens is useless over a long distance because of heat, atmospheric haze and general junk in the air.

Really, to get good images of wildlife, you must get close to the wildlife, Problem is, most wildlife do not like or trust humans. If we are clearly visible, they will usually not be so visible. 

One solution is your car; most wildlife are fairly tolerant of cars and will allow a closer approach than if a person is on foot. It is important that you do not make quick moves in the car and that you turn off the engine before taking any images (reduces vibration). 

I spent two years in Siberia. In the middle of never-never land; we do not have cars. But we still need to be hidden from the animals. One solution is to use a commercial blind or hide similar to this blind. I have spend thousands of hours in a hunting blind waiting for the best photographs.

Another solution would be a home made blind using available materials found in nature. You can use branches for the uprights and use reeds for cover the sides; I have also used bales of hay in the past to made a blind. There is a product called a pocket blind; basically a big camo sheet you put over your head and camera-good for travel because it is small and easily transported. Many times, you can use your auto as a blind.

Sometimes, the animals will come to you. I had a big black bear come out of a tree, walk down a slope and cross the trail within two feet of me, then go back up the slope and up another tree. Six hundred plus pounds of black fur, two feet from my face, no need to check your heart rate-it is racing. Another occasion, I was hiding within some bushes by the side of a lake photographing moose. Moose have very bad eyesight but awesome hearing. So I was being very still and getting some nice images. Soon, this moose, this is her in this image, decided to come investigate what was in the bushes (me). She came within a couple inches of my face; she had not used mouthwash that day or brushed her teeth in a good while. Nevertheless, she was a good kisser :) 

 Enjoy your time in the wild but please remember, animals are wild creatures-they can be very dangerous and unpredictable.

 

Wildlife Photographgy: Making money with stock

         (all images copyright of Moose Henderson)

Wildlife photography is an exciting occupation but frequently not lucrative. Except for a few, most full-time wildlife photographers supplement their income with workshops and such.

Some sell their wares at art shows or also branch out into consumer photography, such as weddings, portraits or even pet photography.

This blog post will cover the basics of stock photography. Stock agencies host and market your images and take a large percentage of the sales income. There are two main types of stock agencies, tradition and micro stock. The traditional agencies require a contract and monthly or quarterly uploads of fresh stock. Typically traditional agencies sell images at a higher cost and return a higher investment. Micro stock agencies sell images for much less but you make money by the volume of images sold. Micro agencies also do not have set submission requirements for uploads. They will accept one image or thousands.

The images that sell best via stock is concept images; images the illustrate a concept or idea that goes with an article or publication. I won the grand prize at a major contest with the Jumping Arctic Fox image at the top of this post but it has never sold as stock. However, I have sold hundreds of the following bald eagle and mountain lion image. These illustrate the concepts of strength, freedom, majesty, etc. so they fit a wide variety of uses.

Other images, like this bird seed, may only sell once in a blue moon. However, if you sell 1000 different "single sale" images per year, you are making a bit more money than if you sold none.

So, let us look at some actual numbers. I have a bit over 1000 images on 26 different stock agencies. Each agency does their own marketing and some do not do well; other do quite well. Of the 26 agencies, only a hand-full provide an income on a regular basis. See, the stock agencies will not pay you for your images until you reach a threshold of money; some are $50, others $100. Therefore, even if an agency sells your best image, you will not get the money till you achieve this threshold. Typical sale price ranges from 0.33 cents to $20 plus dollars. So, if a stock agency is a slow seller, you may never get your money as you will never reach the threshold.

However, this blog is not about "doom and gloom"; it is about making passive income via wildlife stock. As I said, I have roughly 1000 images (the same 1000 images) on multiple sites. On average, I make approximately $150-300/month from my images. Typically that number represents approx. 250 images sold per month. Remember, this is micro stock, they are selling volume, not high prices. It is also passive income. I put all my images in the agencies in 2007. I have not added a single image or done anything other than retrieve my money for the past seven years. I do plan to add more images but I have been working toward my PhD in moose ecology so photography was moved to the back burner.

My top two stock agencies (I make 85% of my monthly income from these two) are Shutterstock and Dreamstime. Here are links for these agencies (my company name for my wildlife photography is Visceral Image):

http://www.shutterstock.com/

http://www.dreamstime.com/visceralimage_info

The next 10% of my income comes from the following agencies:

http://depositphotos.com/home.html
https://us.fotolia.com/
http://www.istockphoto.com/
http://www.bigstockphoto.com/

The last 5% comes from the balance of my stock agencies which include Veer, 123 Royalty Free, isignstock, Graphic Leftovers and many more. Thanks for being a part of my blog and I wish you the best of luck in your photography adventures. Questions welcome; trust me, you are not boring me!

Wildlife Photography: Planning Your Strategy

                           (note: all images copyright of Moose Henderson)

 

As a wildlife photographer, we typically take pictures of the same animals everyday. It is important to have a plan or strategy for your photographic outings. Let’s assume you have a cooperative bird or animal that you can spend a fair amount of time taking images. Let’s say you are spending a week at a nature park like Yellowstone National Park where the animals are plentiful. You certainly do not want a weeks worth of the same images of the same animal. You want a variety to meet multiple needs of the future buyers of your images. Editors of magazines are famous for requesting a variety of images. Guess what, Dreamstime also want variety; submit 40 images of the left side of a squirrel and count on one or two being accepted. The following is my approach when I have a cooperative animal.

Classic ID Picture: One of the easiest images to obtain is the classic guidebook or identification book image; usually a profile or three-quarter view of the entire animal. I always try to get both a horizontal and vertical classic ID image. Here are a couple examples; a Cottontail Rabbit and a Bald Eagle. Because the cottontail rabbit is named for its classic white rump, it is important to show this area in your identification image.

 

 

Portrait Image: Getting the portrait image is a bit more of a challenge because it requires you to be close and intimate with the animal. Most times a portrait is vertical orientation but I try to get both. I like my portraits to have nice soft lighting without harsh shadows. I like this coyote image, moose and female mountain goat image because they show the character of the animals.

 Cover Shot: I try to get a classic cover shot which is a vertical orientation photograph with room on the top for a banner and some room on the sides for print. A cover shot is usually pretty dynamic, colorful and eye-catching. This Great Blue Heron at the Venice Rookery has excellent lighting and is a classic cover shot.

Action Image: If you are photographing birds, action could be flight images or feeding images; even something so simple as a bird stretching or opening their beaks provides a good action shot; remember to do both vertical and horizontal. If you are photographing animals, an action shot could be animals catching food or other activities.

 So, when you are out photographing, don’t just accept what enters your viewfinder. Plan your strategy so that you look for the interesting shots and you are prepared for them when they happen.