what tips can anyone give me about wildlife photography??

(i have a 400D with sigma 100-300 F/4 lens)

I know about wide aperture to blur background and freeze motion etc.

but how do you attract birds/animals to your garden??

how do you stalk deer etc.??

please help because i got within 20 feet of a muntjac and it bolted (i still maintain that there was a dogwalker on the path to my right even though my parents don't believe me!!!)

at the moment i am thinking of switching to landscapes because a mountain can't run away!!!

mentalpatient:

what tips can anyone give me about wildlife photography??

(i have a 400D with sigma 100-300 F/4 lens)

I know about wide aperture to blur background and freeze motion etc.

but how do you attract birds/animals to your garden??

how do you stalk deer etc.??

please help because i got within 20 feet of a muntjac and it bolted (i still maintain that there was a dogwalker on the path to my right even though my parents don't believe me!!!)

at the moment i am thinking of switching to landscapes because a mountain can't run away!!!

Hi things I have learned, by reading DCMag, and talking to friends  and the hard wayetc....

1) Dont cut off the legs on animals, unless you are going for a tight crop of the face, (thats like cutting the head of people
2) If you are going for a tight crop then make sure the eyes are in focus
3) To attract birds into your garden, the best thing on the planet is bird feeders with sun flower hearts, other bird food works as well, suit,apples etc... then if you have your own guarden plant bushes they can pirch on, and buddlieah put out a constant source of water like a bird bath. In a dark corner throw a few logs that attracts insects which attracts birds. You will need a hide if you are serrious as small birds are still too far away
4) I have never stalked a deer, but I guess be down wind make no noise etc...
5) Have a ton of patience, because you might just get that one ellusive shot that will make your day
6) Mountains might not move but they get covered in cloud and mist

good luck, enjoy have fun

HTh

Keith

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well first of all thanks for the quick reply!!

umm well i read your list and i have got most of the tick list apart from the bird feeders (well they are empty) and i have a pond for the water side, with a dark corner with logs and not so many bugs because of our free range chickens (GRRR)

I will try to make a makeshift hide until i can buy a proper one...

Now i just need to find out how to stalk deer and pheasants!!

Deer normally come out into open fields around dawn and dusk to feed, ask around to find out where they habitually emerge, then sit somewhere hidden and wait.

Pheasant that survived the shooting season are plentiful at the moment, sadly I see them most days as roadkill,  they seem to assemble on the verges.  It may be worth finding ouy where they are bred local to you, they will be fed near to the breeding pens once they are released later in the year and you will find lots of fairly approachable ones in that area.

My best advice really is to do plenty of research on the animal you are trying to photograph, it's habitat, feedng patterns etc. 

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If you want to master photographing birds in flight, find somewhere with plenty of gulls - they swoop and dive and are great for practising on.

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a few mediocre pics

...and I don';t have any problems finding Pheasants. I've got a Pointer and she freezes on point when there's one about!

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a few mediocre pics

The secret to wildlife photography is patience, and been prepared with the correct lens fitted. I spent about 48hrs over a period of thirty day trying to photograph a Kingfisher, and still didn't get a picture. I shall be trying again this year, if he appears on that pond again. If you sit still and wait then the wildlife will appear. You can also stalk wildlife, but might take you thirty tries before you get that special shot. It took that long to approach a grey Heron, as they always flew off before I could get close. Then one day, one allowed me to approach within eight feet and I got some cracking shots. Just keep trying and you will get that shot in the end.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
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O.K. I guess they won't be flying, but how about practicing on the chickens?

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well as for feeding locations, they all seem to be on the other side of the forest from where i live, so not too far and they are always near there.. funnily enough only a 5 minute walk from the pheasant breeding pens!!!

as for practice i have got numerous pictures of chickens and my puppy, however they are incredibly tame, probably because the puppy rounds them up (she is a collie) and so they hang around us for protection. the only problem is the Minimum Focus Distance of my lens is 1.6M !!!

as for patience and time... I have half-term from the 24th to the 1st  so spending a few hours at dawn and dusk is no problem for me, just the capacity of my theros flask!!

I am off to Monkey World in Dorset at the weekend. I am hoping to get some good shots of all the primates there if I can, but on the same vein does anyone have any really good tips for getting good shots bearing in mind they have chain link fences etc you cannot get really close to them...I know they have the observation towers/platforms etc but that then means distance shots and I am limited for focal length (see below). If anyone has been there have you got any tips etc for where best to shoot from etc...

Regulars will know I only have a Fuji S6500fd which is a 28-300mm lens and a monopod and err that's it at the moment any hints/tips et al gratefully received peeps.....plans for new equipment have had to go on hold as it's just cost us £415.00 to get the car through its MOT.....

Am also hoping to get down to Durdle Door and Corfe Castle to try and get some good shots down there as well, only problem is I have no filters so that may be a bit of a problem as having seen the shots from there in DC MAG (and a couple of others actually) it seems a Circ Pol at the least would be a good investment......tempted to go and get a Circ Pol from Jessops if I can.....

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Keith

Try and get some distance between the animal and the mesh and use a reasonably wide aperture, this should hopefully gice you a shallow depth of field and effectively burn the mesh out.

Sometimes this means going to the side of the cages, where possible.

The picture below was taken through the bars at Howletts Zoo and shows how this effect can work, admittedly I use a DSLR but did have a Fuji for a while and could do the same

 

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Thanks for that Zenmer, as I say though the widest I can go to is 28mm and that's it, the trouble with a bridge camera I suppose but hey ho never mind......

Cracking shot of a grumpy looking gorilla though that is superb.....That's one thing they don't have at monkey world Gorillas, they have all the other primates you can think of pretty much, ranging from Marmosets right up to Orang-Utangs but no Gorillas (and I did know why but I've forgotten now)

Well hopefully I'll get some decent shots regardless....

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The camera never lies (but the software does if you have it)

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Keith

What modes does the camera have, from memory mine had all the usual includinbg aperture and shutter priority ?

That picture was taken using a 2.8 f stop @ 200mm zoom, can't remember what the largest aperture the fuji has.

Thanks for your comments, I like the picture too,

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2.8 is where it starts, it is a great camera only limited by its starting point of 28mm so not brilliant for landscapes or those general shots where you just need a slightly wider angle that said if you have a look in my gallery (I know it's a bit of a mess) there are some okayish shots so it's not all bad, and yup it's got all the usual PASM functions even got video capture WHY on a camera I want to be able to capture stills I have a camcorder for video capture....

This one I did get last year in Richmond Park which I particularly like

 

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The camera never lies (but the software does if you have it)

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Keith

Love the cygnet shot in your gallery, really nice picture.

I get up to Richmond occasionally, usually in the Autumn for the rut great place for red deer.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that if it's a sunny day try not to get the sun reflecting off the mesh, makes it harder to burn out.

Don't forget to show us the pictures when you get back

 

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Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.

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