Nature: Wildlife
Discover life in your garden
Your back yard is teeming with interesting wildlife, so take time to explore the potential close to home
YOU DON’T HAVE TO TRAVEL to far flung places to capture great
wildlife images. The average garden, or backyard, is home to wealth
of wildlife you might be surprised at just how many animals reside or
regularly visit your home from squirrels, hedgehogs and mice to garden
birds such as starlings and robins.
Look closely among your flower beds and underneath plant pots and
you will probably find spiders, beetles, ladybirds and snails lurking. If you
are really lucky, you might even find a slow worm or frog. Although they
might all be quite widespread animals, don’t let that deter you. After all, it
is far better to photograph a common, everyday animal well and imaginatively than capture an average shot of a more unusual creature.
Songbirds:Gardens are great places to
photograph small birds. Try enticing food,like
nuts,seed or mealworms.If you have a
bird feeder,move it to a spot that’s suited to
photography. Select a position that will be well
lit at the time of day you intend taking photos
mornings and evenings provide the feeder
the most attractive light.Also,make sure your
feeder is situated where you’ll be able to
place plenty of distance between the subject
and an uncluttered background to ensure a
clean diffused backdrop. Next,set up a hide
within range of a window so that you can
take photos from inside your house disguise
yourself by pulling a curtain partly across the
window or hang scrimm netting over it. A focal
length of around 300mm should allow you
to fill the frame with the subject,particularly if
you use a digital SLR with an APS-C sensor.
Consider introducing a few props to make
your shots more interesting,which birds can
rest o between feeding.You could use a
blossom covered branch, or place a spade
handle nearby.Pre-focus on the prop and wait
patiently until a bird perches before taking
photos.
26
Quite simply, the garden is a great place to take wildlife images and
also to hone your skills as a natural history photographer. Other than
flexibility,there are many advantages to taking photos so close to home .
For example, you can easily monitor subjects, their comings and goings,
and behavior from your house. Birds and mammals will already be
accustomed to your activity , making them more approachable. You can
also react to changing light or conditions quickly for example, if there is
snowfall, you can begin taking photos before it thaws or gets disturbed.
You can create artificial backgrounds or set ups and leave them in
place without risk of theft or damage.Also,as there is no travel involved,
photographers are able to maximize the amount of time that they can
spend behind the camera.
Snails:They might not be the most glamorous
of animals, but snails can be highly photogenic.
They are often found sheltering in shady spots
in the garden, underneath rocks,pots and loose
paving slabs.Try carefully moving them to a
more photogenic spot; a position where there
is a more interesting or colorful background
maybe, or something interesting for it to climb
like a flower stem or a plant. At first, the snail will
stay safely in its shell, but if you wait patiently
for a few minutes, it will soon emerge. As snails
are slow moving, photographers have longer
to get the composition, lighting and exposure
just right, so they’re ideal subjects for wildlife
photography newcomers to practice on. But
that’s not to say it is easy to achieve good
shots of snails it will involve shooting at a high
level of magnification, using either a macro
lens or close up attachment.
Depth of field will be shallow, so place your
point of focus carefully and supplement the
light if required using a reflector or flash. Be as
imaginative as possible. Try shooting from a
low angle or employ a wide f/stop like f/2.8.
Insects: If you have nectar rich flowers
growing in your garden, you are guaranteed
to attract bees, hoverflies, ladybirds and
butterflies all summer long. in the mornings
and e