SETTING UP YOUR SHOT

1 USE A TRIPOD WITH A GIMBAL HEAD

A tripod is great for taking the weight of unwieldy telephoto lenses and makes it easier to pan and track fast-moving animals. A gimbal head can be a great addition to your kit bag, as they allow you to smoothly pan your lens on the tripod much more effectively than the more common 3-way and ball tripod heads. We use a Benro GH2 gimbal head, making sure to mount the quick release plate to the tripod collar foot to balance the lens and camera evenly.

2REFINE YOUR FOCUSING

Many enthusiast and pro-level cameras let you refine the autofocus, making it more effective at locking on to the specific subject you are trying to photograph, so dive into your camera menu to see if you can refine the sensitivity of the autofocus and also if you can expand the AF area to give yourself a larger target to focus on. Continuous autofocus servo mode is best for moving subjects, as it will continually readjust over your active AF.

3USE YOUR FASTEST BURST DRIVE MODE

Go into your camera’s settings and enable the fastest burst rate (this may be called Drive Mode, depending on your camera model). This could be 10fps on a Canon EOS 7D Mark II or on a Nikon D500, for example. To achieve the maximum burst rate you need to make sure you have a fast shutter speed, otherwise your burst will be slowed by sluggish shutter speeds. Be sure to have a high enough ISO value to achieve a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec or faster.