200 CANON TIPS - WILDLIFE

Bolster your wildlife portfolio with our top advice from professional photographers

SHOOT LIKE A PRO

Top tips to help you take better photos of wildlife in the field

1 Invest in good glass

Wildlife photography is where you’ll see a huge improvement when using decent optics, so splash out on the best lenses you can buy.

2 Hire a lens

If you can’t stretch to premium glass yet, or you’re not convinced it’s worth the investment, it might be a good shout to hire an L-series lens for a weekend, and see the results for yourself.

3 Keep practising

A local duck pond is the perfect practise ground to finesse your autofocusing skills on fast-moving airborne targets as they land.

4 Do your research

Use search engines to find wildlife hides and deer parks close to you. There are all sorts of worthwhile options aside from the big zoos.

5 Get a good bird identification book

A detailed bird book can help you identify the species you’ve photographed, so it’s easier to label your shots more accurately.

Top techniques for wildlife photos

Get set up to capture fantastic animal antics with these easy-to-learn skills

6 Fast shutter speed 

For fast-moving animals, such as birds in flight, you’ll want a shutter speed of at least 1/2,000 sec to stand a chance of capturing a pin-sharp shot. You can do this by opening your aperture all the way and bumping up the ISO until you have a fast enough shutter speed.

7 Continuous autofocus