Wildlife Photography, “First Things First”
By Steve Ferendo aka “SteveFinMD”
A brief introduction: First of all, I want to emphasize that I am not an “expert” on the subject of wildlife photography. I have been taking photos for a long time and was lucky to have a career as a medical photographer for many DOD agencies before retiring in 2008. I hope to share with you how I approach wildlife photography, choose equipment, etc. My way is not the only way, best way, or preferred way to take wildlife photos. I use Nikon equipment and I am woefully uninformed about Canon, and other major brands, that are just as capable as Nikon. I don’t do video so; again, there will be many reading this that are much more qualified than I to offer advice in that area. I hope that you will find something of interest and value in this column. When Joe asked me to write for the magazine I advised him to have other writers in the wings because my limited knowledge would soon be exhausted.
I am going to begin by assuming that the reader already owns a camera. If that is the case, the first rule of wildlife photography is to keep the camera with you on all outings that might produce a sighting of anything you would like to photograph. How many times have each of us seen an animal or bird behaving in an unusual manner, or displaying some unusual physical characteristic, and thought “if I only had my camera”?
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