Where to find wildlife

• Africa’s Serengeti Plain (if you happen to be there)
• National parks
• Game reserves
• Local woods
• Your back yard
• The Zoo
• Your bird feeder (birds, squirrels, mice, raccoons, opossums, and deer like bird feeders!)

Getting close to wildlife

• Be smart. If you’re 40 yards from a grizzly bear, and 100 yards from your car, and the bear can run 3 times as fast as you, if the bear decides you look threatening, you’re not going to outrun it! This same theory applies to more rural/suburban creatures such as snakes and raccoons.
• Be stealthy. You may have to sit in one place for a long time for your subject to become comfortable with your presence. If you do have to move, move very slowly and deliberately, without sudden movements.
• Early morning and evening are the most active times for most animals.
• Read about your subject. The more you know about the animal, the better prepared you will be to anticipate and capture its behavior.
• Wear clothing that blends with the surroundings.How to capture the image.
• Use your longest telephoto lens.
• Use a tripod for good, sharp images.
• Use fast shutter speeds. This may require 800 speed films, or adjusting the ISO setting on a digital camera to a higher sensitivity setting.
• Use a cable release if available. This prevents movement of the camera that is caused when you directly depress the shutter release.

Additional Tips

• Pay attention to the background. Try to achieve a background that is attractive and natural looking. Be aware of distractions such as mesh fence (for enclosed animals), poles, trees, power lines, or other unnatural distractions in your pictures.
• You can take pictures of the animal, but it is even more interesting if you take pictures of the animal actually doing something, such as eating, capturing prey, cleaning itself, interacting with other animals.