You can’t travel up to Alaska and through Canada without running into the ubiquitous Arctic Ground Squirrel.
Brent found this cooperative ground squirrel near our campsite in Alaska, a brown fuzzy creature against the lovely green grasses in the background, dotted with buttercups.
Photographing these animals is like “shooting fish in a barrel,” as my father used to say. Those that survive close to the campgrounds have become accustomed to people and allow you to get fairly close to photograph them.
Unfortunately, many people treat them like pets and feed them, which encourages them to be a little too comfortable with humans, increases their population as they don’t have to venture far into predator territory to get their food, and encourages bad behavior such as scrambling through garbage, digging into tents, cars, and RVs to chew up wiring and pipes, biting, and just being a big nuisance.
When Brent was working with this fuzzy guy, there were high overcast clouds allowing a soft gentle light on his subject, allowing the lovely texture and detail of the squirrel’s fur to be clearly seen. While he could have gotten closer, he worked with his 500mm lens to stay back. This also helped to compress the background and foreground to better frame the squirrel in the field of green.
A 500mm f4 lens attracts this kind of attention. Brent turned to the woman. “Why? Do you represent them? Are you buying photos for National Geographic?”
You can improve the quality of your natural images by learning about your subject and keeping the following in mind:
The image of a wildlife photographer tramping through the unvisited locales of the world, overdressed in camouflage, is largely a fantasy. Most photographers have more success by visiting areas where animals are habituated to human presence. National parks and refuges are places where, all year long, the animals have learned that people are not a threat. Visit these and photograph behaviors and actions without disturbing the animals by your presence.
Lacking the care and sensitivity of an alert photographer, even the best opportunity can produce mediocre results. Good composition is more than just getting the subject out of the center of the frame. You need to pay attention to the background, the balance of colors and shapes, and the direction of light. You must move forward or backward, higher or lower as your artistic eye dictates. You take the pictures when all the elements come together.
Composition also takes into consideration the balancing act of light. Bright overcast skies are the best for middle of the day wildlife images, including insects and small creatures. Especially with furry creatures, the bright diffused light allows their natural colors to show. Early morning and late afternoon (sunrise and sunset) are wonderful for adding warmth. At this lower angle, the sun is in a good position to provide the catch light in the eye.
When filling the frame with a close-up of an animal, you are challenged with the decision of where to “cut”. We call this compositional consideration “animal butchering.” If you exclude small pieces like feet, people may spend time wondering where they are. Cut off the tip of an antler and we follow it up and out of the frame. We recommend cutting at major joints, just above the hips, knees and such, framing your image for a more comfortable composition.
Great photographs don’t need words to 
leaps into the air to plunge through the snow for his dinner is not the time to learn how to put film in the camera or figure out how to focus. No matter what system you choose, understand how it works, how it sees and what it’s capable of in the field. Practice changing lenses, changing film, working with it over and over again until it becomes a part of you. You need to move without thinking, concentrating on the subject and not the equipment. More photographs are lost due to delays with equipment than any other excuse.
The equipment required for nature photography covers a wide spectrum. For large mammals, like grizzly bears, a 500mm or 600mm f 4 lens is appropriate to get frame-filling images while staying further back. At other times, a 28mm to 35mm wide angle lens is great for a scenic of the grizzly as an element in the image. There is no “right” equipment for nature photography. It depends upon your interest and versatility. Here are some tips and tools for improving your chances of getting that successful wildlife image.
We wish there was a handy button on a camera that, when pushed, guaranteed the best quality image possible. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Good technique is critical, as is choosing good compositional elements with a good looking subject. All falls by the wayside without the understanding and appreciation that comes with learning about your subject and working with it over a long period of time.
There are two main choices for a 500mm lens. One is a regular 500mm lens with the widest aperture an f 4. It is expensive, huge, weighs a ton, and requires a sturdy tripod to support. The 500mm “mirror” lens features a wide aperture of f 8, twice that of the f 4 lens. It is very inexpensive, much lighter and smaller, and requires no special equipment. Sounds like the choice is easy, right?
The life of a nature photographer does have its exciting moments, especially when you get under the sheets with your camera. The use of camouflage can make a difference in how close you can get to nature. Many animals are threatened or suspicious of sights, sounds, and smells they don’t recognize. The human form and scent is one they usually associate with danger.
humans, when a tiger hunts at night, its sight is six times better than a human’s. Most predatory animals rely heavily upon the ability to detect motion rapidly. Frogs and some simple vertebrates may not even see an object unless it is moving. Dangle a dead fly on a string in front of a starving frog and it will not sense it until it moves.
The physical presence of a human can be disguised by changing shape, form, and color. The human form is very recognizable. Changes in the shape and form can be simple such as covering yourself with a sheet or wearing items that change your shape, like tree branches on a hat. By wearing clothing that blends in with the surroundings, your shape can become invisible against the background and foreground.
Take care to cover your face and hands along with the rest of your body as you work to blend into the surroundings. Remove watches, rings, and anything that can reflect light and attract attention to you. Take care with binoculars, camera lenses, and eye glasses as they can also reflect light. Mosquito netting which covers the face and gloves on your hands works well as an alternative to camouflage paints.
small structures. Where wildlife live alongside a highway or road, they become accustomed to seeing vehicles, so a stopped car can become a blind as the animal is used to seeing it. If you step out of the car, they usually recognize a human and run. Anytime a foreign 
structure appears in nature, it is usually avoided by the local inhabitants. Once they have grown accustomed to it, it is forgotten. Sometimes digging a hole in the ground and covering it with a tarp coated with leaves and branches gets a photographer down to the eye level of small animals. Bird photographers often build tree-houses to get to the eye level of their subjects. Some photographers who work with remote cameras and exceptionally sensitive animals will paint empty food cans black to resemble a camera lens and place them nearby for several months, allowing the bird time to become accustomed to the presence of a camera without the risk of leaving an expensive camera outside for months.
Take care in approaching the blind. Walk or crawl slowly and keep your movements few and close to your body, making little noise. Consider spending a lot of time inside a blind after you enter it waiting for the animals to return, or enter it at a time when the animals are elsewhere feeding or sleeping. Pat and Tom Leeson, well-known nature photographers and specialists on eagles, found that eagles could count. If two people went into a blind, and one came out, the birds would stay away, waiting for the second person to leave. They finally came up with a system where two people would enter the blind but then one would leave with a coat on a hanger, resembling the second person, and soon the eagles would return.
A bedsheet in natural and floral print drapped over you and your camera gear hides your movements and blends you into the background.
Camouflaging your scent involves several steps. The first step is the elimination of scents on your body and clothing. Then consider your equipment. Your camera bag and back pack can also carry scents. Food tucked inside can be smelled by some animals even through plastic containers. Sun and hand lotion can rub onto your camera equipment, bringing those scents with you. Take care to clean these items thoroughly with scent neutralizing soaps. Next, consider using cover scents, scents from animals or nature. Take care to choose a scent that matches your surroundings. When you are working with deer or elk, using a wolf scent would not be appropriate, but deer and elk scents are readily available at many sporting goods stores.