PAUL’S TOP 10 TIPS

1 GOLDEN HOUR

Get up early and make sure you’re on location before sunrise so that you’re ready to catch wildlife bathed in amazing golden lighting immediately after sunrise.

2 CAMOUFLAGE

Paul has fitted most of his lenses with a Lens Coat which offers protection from knocks and scratches. They come in different camouflage options, to help your big lenes blend into the environment better.

3 TELECONVERTERS

If you need extra telephoto reach, you can use a teleconverter to magnify your focal length by 1.4x or 2x, with a slight reduction in your apertures. Check that an extender is compatible with the lens you plan to use it with before purchasing one.

4 AF CASES

On many cameras you can go into the AF menu and fine-tune the Servo/ continuous AF by changing the ‘cases’ to alter how it behaves. Paul uses

Case 3 on his Canon, which focuses on subjects suddenly entering AF points.

5 BINOCULARS

Use binoculars to scope out the landscape and find where the birds and other animals are, so you can plan on how to get closer to them or wait for them to approach.

6 CHECK THE WEATHER

Check the weather forecast the night before a shoot – the ideal conditions are a sunny morning with little wind.

7 USE PHOTO APPS

Apps such as The Photographer’s Ephemeris or PhotoPills show you where the sun will be during sunrise or sunset, so you know which locations to head for to get the best light.

8 VISIT LOCATIONS REGULARLY

Visit local nature parks and reserves regularly, so that you can find the best spots and the best angles to take advantage of early morning lighting.

9 SHOOT LANDSCAPES

If you’re heading out into the great outdoors, why not shoot landscapes too? Telephoto lenses are great for compressed landscape scenes, but it may be beneficial to also pack a lightweight wide-angle lens.

10 DO YOUR RESEARCH

Brush up on your bird knowledge with nature and identification books, and study animal behaviour so you can predict their movements more easily.