EXPERT INSIGHT The need for speed

90 per cent of wildlife shots fall down on shutter speed. You have to remember that a fast shutter speed isn’t just needed to freeze any camera shake, it’s also needed to freeze the movement of your subject. For longer lenses, such as Nikon’s 600mm f/4 [see Killer Kit #01] I try to use shutter speeds at least three times faster than the reciprocal of the focal length – so 1/1800 sec in the case of the 600mm, rather than the more usual 1/600 sec for static subjects.