How to master... Wildlife photography

With testing and unpredictable subjects, taking great shots of wild animals is one of the most demanding genres of photography of all. Tom Mason shows you how to master wildlife images

- Tom Mason

Within the wildlife photography genre there is a great deal to learn when it comes to crafting unique images. A tough discipline, you need not only to master your camera, but also have an good understanding of the behaviour of the subjects that you’re searching for. With such variety in the natural world there are infinite opportunities, but in order to return home with something a little different, it’s key to take some time to think about the images you want to produce, and plan your approach.

Developing your fieldcraft, selecting your lenses and editing down the ideas you want to shoot is all part of the process of advancing your wildlife photography, and the work you put in will directly impact the images you come home with!

FIELDCRAFT

Developing your fieldcraft is without doubt one of the best ways to improve your wildlife photography. All the camera gear in the world is useless if you don’t have a decent grounding in understanding how to find and get close to subjects on location. It’s arguably the most important thing to focus on if you want to up your game as a wildlife photographer, hence why it’s the first thing you should be thinking about.

Understand the baseline

One of the greatest bits of advice I try to teach when it comes to looking for wildlife, is that finding subjects is more about understanding the ‘normal’ for the environment than searching out specific animals. If you want to get good at consistently finding wildlife, learn to understand the background, know the basic sounds and looks of different environments. Get to know the easy-toidentify subjects in any given area.