Focus On The Familiar

If you want to hone your wildlife photography skills close to home, there’s no subject better than the humble squirrel.

- Jason Parnell-Brookes

Most of us have easy access to animals of some kind or another that we can photograph, whether domestic or wild, and in many locations around the world you’ll find some variety of squirrel, or squirrel-type animal (such as a chipmunk). almost everyone we know has, at some point, taken their camera to the local park and snapped some shots of a squirrel – but very few of the photos look like anything more than snaps, so we’re going to show you how to take better pictures of everyday creatures you might otherwise overlook.

Getting started is simple: just wander down to your nearest park or woods, camera (preferably with a zoom lens) in hand, get on your belly and start photographing the wild animals.

In this tutorial we’re photographing grey squirrels in the UK, but you can photograph whatever creatures you’ve got locally. We’re sure you’ve tried this before, but we’ll show you a few expert tips that will help you make your photos stand out from the crowd.

1. TIME IT RIGHT