The 10 Commandments of Wildlife Photography (and why you should break them)
Most wildlife photography advice is incredibly boring.
If your only goals are to take ‘perfect’ portraits of a bird on a stick and be indistinguishable from 10,000 other photographers on Instagram, then sure! Follow all the rules and follow them well.
But if you want to take photos that stand out from the crowd? Photos that might actually make someone feel something?
Then learn the 10 Commandments of Wildlife Photography well, and then break them every chance you get.
Commandment I: Thou Shalt Always Shoot At Eye Level
You can take amazing photos looking straight up or straight down or anything in between. But always shooting at eye level has been so heavily drummed into us that lots of photographers miss these opportunities entirely.
Commandment II: Thou Shalt Keep Thy Shutter Speed Swift
This is a great rule! If you hate art and creativity. A slow shutter speed is a brilliant way to show motion, portray darkness, or get really artsy. Whether you blur the subject or the background or both at the same time, most of your attempts will go straight in the bin. But every now and again, you’ll see something amazing on the back of your camera.
Commandment III: Thou Shalt Keep The Sun At Thy Back
This commandment is my absolute wildlife photography nemesis. I always shoot into the light if I possibly can. It's the best way to make photos that look like paintings or a dream, rather than another ‘perfectly lit’ portrait that nobody will ever look twice at.
Commandment IV: Thou Shalt Wait Until Thine Eyes Have Met
Waiting for eye contact is great advice most of the time. But not always! Sometimes a bird flying away tells a better story than a bird flying towards you.
Commandment V: Thou Shalt Avoid The Midday Sun
There’s no such thing as bad light - just different light that you can learn to use differently. For example you could go wide and include the blue sky, or catch sparkles on the water, or go high-contrast black and white.
Commandment VI: Thou Shalt Not Blow Thy Highlights
Accidental overexposure usually looks horrible. But done deliberately in the right situation? Say hello to dreamy high-key minimalism!
Commandment VII: Thou Shalt Leave More Space Ahead Of The Beast
To be fair, I follow this rule 99% of the time. But occasionally having the animal looking the ‘wrong’ way works really well. I don’t even know why that's true, but there's no harm in trying a weird composition now and then. Especially if it's just 5 seconds in Lightroom trying a different crop.
Commandment VIII: Thou Shalt Not Sever Body Parts
Obviously a good rule for life, but not for wildlife photography! If your subject is close enough to fill the frame, then don’t be afraid to go a step further. Chop the wings, crop out the body, even cut off the head if it works!
Commandment IX: Thou Shalt Wield The Longest Possible Lens
Nope! I love environmental shots where the animal is small in the frame, and you don’t need a long lens for that. Never forget that the winner of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 used a flippin' GoPro!
Commandment X: Thou Shalt Obey The Voices Of Authority
We're all just out here having fun and trying to take cool pictures. Wildlife photography doesn't actually have any rules! If anyone says you have to do it a certain way - even if they're super famous and successful - they’re absolutely wrong. And just because they can’t see it, that doesn’t mean you can’t blow their photos out of the water by ignoring everything they say..
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