Gently does it
Bret Charman perfects the art of stealthily capturing roe deer
For the past five years, I have been working within the grounds of a family-owned estate in the heart of the South Downs National Park, specialising in photographing the roe deer that call it home. I must have watched these solitary deer for thousands of hours, learning their behaviour and mastering my approach in photographing them. The peak season for photographing roe deer is between May and September, before and their annual rut. During this time, I help people learn the art of photographing this elusive species and spend far too much time hiding in ditches, creeping through fields of wheat and barley and always trying to keep downwind. The most important lesson, of all those I have learned, is to let the deer come to me after I make an initial approach.
Backlighting
It’s all too easy to focus on that beautiful soft light falling softly on the face of your subject, but sometimes it’s important to try something different. Why not think about backlighting? Make sure you keep an eye on your shadows and highlights (using the camera’s histogram) and make the most of silhouettes.
Shallow depth of field
To capture striking portraits, the key tool I have at my disposal is lens aperture. I generally use the widest apertures I can, between f/2.8 and f/5.6, for intimate portraits. By getting low down, I can isolate the roe deer from the background and the foreground.
Turn landscape to portrait
Naturally, the majority of my photos are taken in landscape orientation, but sometimes the situation calls for rotating the camera and shooting in portrait format instead. It is always easy to play it safe, but shifting the camera to portrait can really allow an image to stand out from the crowd – and perhaps even grace a magazine cover!
Choose the right lens
This is probably one of the key elements of photographing any wild species. I work with prime lenses, like my Canon 300mm f/2.8 or Canon 500mm f/4: they help me to keep my distance, while providing excellent clarity and exceptional bokeh (shallow depth of field) when I am close to my subjects.
Capture the environment
It isn’t all about close-up, intimate portraits. The landscapes that I see the deer in can be just as magical as the deer themselves, and capturing them in their natural habitat can be equally rewarding. By combining all my other tips, I often keep my distance and photograph from afar.