Going wide

Can’t get close? Then get creative by using context to create drama

You don’t have to have a filthy great lens to take a cracking nature photo. On the contrary, frame-filling ‘trophy’ headshots get very dull very quickly, and you’ll often end up with a more interesting and expressive result if you show an animal in its environment.

Composing wider wildlife shots means that the background and foreground will influence the exposure, so you may need to use exposure compensation to rectify any errors caused by especially bright or dark surroundings. If the scene includes a large expanse of sky, for example, then you’ll probably need to use some positive exposure compensation to avoid the picture looking too dark.

Unless you want to make a point about the animal blending in with its environment, compose the picture so that the critter’s framed by a clear part of the background or isolated by the light, and crop out any bright or colourful distractions that will compete for attention. To focus, manually set a single AF point that corresponds with the animal’s position. If the animal is very small in the frame or not covered by the AF point display in the viewfinder, move the camera, lock the focus, then recompose the shot – or focus on another part of the scene that’s at the same distance. Don’t zoom in to lock the focus, as the focus distance will change as the lens is zoomed back again.