In this 3 part series, Canon Ambassador and wildlife photographer Danny Green shares his top tips for wildlife photography.

In Part 1, Danny talked about finding the best locations. In Part 2, it's was all about camera and lens choice. In the third and final chapter, Danny discusses how to develop your style and thinking about longer term projects.

Copy and images by Danny Green. Edited from original.

 

Develop your wildlife photography style

After a period of time practising wildlife photography, you will become more familiar with your camera. You will start to see some amazing results in your photography as you get to grips with exposures and compositions and understand the basic rules of photography.

It it then the time to take it to that next level and start developing your personal photography style. To do this look back at your previous images and pick out a small selection of your favourite images. Then analyse them and ask yourself why it is that you like them. It might be that special end of day light that you get in the last golden hour or just an unusual composition that works for you and you like the aspect of that image, or it might be a certain species that you have enjoyed photographing and would like some more opportunities to do so again.

The one thing that has to stand out is why you like the image and so next time you find yourself in the field try and shoot it in exactly the same way. It doesn’t matter if it is a different subject just try and do the same technique, that way you will find you have started to develop your own unique style.

This will help you to develop a portfolio of images which work well together and will help you to stand out as a photographer. Over the years your style may change or develop further, or you may even challenge yourself to different projects honing in on one or two of your styles to create different series of images.

 

Choose a long-term project

I have been photographing wildlife now for over thirty years and I have never got bored with working with the same subject. One species that have always enjoyed photographing is Red Deer, especially during the annual rut. It is such an iconic species in the UK you’ll remember from Part 2 in this series, that we are blessed with some great locations in the UK where you can find them.

Every year, I try to work in a way as though it’s first time seeing and photographing them. That way I have a fresh approach each new season. By working with a subject over a long period of time you get to know it habits and start to learn the fieldcraft that is needed in you being able to get close enough to the subject. You make mistakes along the way, but the trick is to remember them and so learn from them. As a rule, I try to have lots of different projects on the go but spread out during the course of the year, so I am constantly busy and moving between subjects.

 

Badgers and Pine Martens have been my latest projects as they are two species that I have wanted to improve on. These are elusive subjects and tricky to do but you could start by targeting and working with a particular bird that feeds at your feeding station and improve on the images from there.

 

Happy shooting! I hope you have enjoyed this series and will go out and take some wonderful pictures. You can see more of my work at dannygreenphotography.com and on Instagram @danny_green_photography 

Wilkinson Cameras and I would love to see your results, so please share them on social media and don't forget to tag us! (@wilkinsoncameras on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook and @wilkicameras on Twitter!)

 

 

Missed Part 1? Read it now!

Missed Part 2? Read it now!