I received this email from a regular visitor to my website:

“I’m after some advice about where to go next with my wildlife photography and wondered if you had any tips or suggestions?”

This is a timely question as some of my nature photographer friends are in a similar position, either unsure how to widen their portfolio of wildlife species or what to do next in order to improve the quality of their images, their field skills or their natural history knowledge.

Workshops, Tours and Expeditions

I have spent a lot of time and significant sums of money travelling with nature photo tour providers and professional photographers. Sometimes the results are amazing – check out my images of Brown Bears in Finland and Otters in Scotland – but not always. And such opportunities are beyond the means of many people.

Those who are fortunate enough to be able to travel can get frustrated when their images fail to meet their high expectations. After all, just turning up at a location does not guarantee good opportunities nor a good technical performance from the photographer. And even when the images turn out to be pretty good, they sometimes have a ‘path well trod’ look to them. This defeats the purpose of the trip if you really are serious about improving your nature photography and standing out from the crowd.

For the beginner and intermediate photographer, the learning opportunities afforded by such trips are often sorely limited. When travelling with a tour operator, the emphasis is really on having a great time, rather than seriously improving your nature photography. And when tuition is provided, such as when travelling with a professional photographer or naturalist, it might not be all that great. The gamut of teaching skills I have encountered is very broad and a high price is no guarantee of a good learning experience.

Plus, the wildlife never plays ball. Wherever you are in the world, truly wild subjects are pretty unpredictable and even the best tutor cannot repeatedly line up superb learning & photographic opportunities for their clients.

The cost barrier can be reduced by travelling alone and not paying your share of the tour operator’s profits. But then you are entirely reliant on your own skills and knowledge and that will severely limit the rate at which you improve.

Your Local Environment

So if travel is not the only answer, what else can you do to improve your nature photography? Perhaps the most commonly offered piece of advice is “go and find some local wildlife to photograph”. Very often, the person seeking advice has limited time to invest in their hobby and they probably aren’t a great naturalist.

To improve your chances of success, you could come up with an idea for a project, perhaps focusing on one subject. For the tenacious nature photographer, this approach will eventually yield good results because they will acquire a good knowledge of their chosen subject and that will help them to predict when an opportunity is about to present itself.

Realistically, most amateur nature photographers working solely within their local environment will only be able to cover one or two species per year in any detail and most people aspire to do more than that. Further, most of us don’t have the most exciting wildlife species on our doorstep and the thought of restricting our photography to ‘mundane’ subjects is not very exciting.

But is this really a problem? I recommend that you take a very close look at a Woodpigeons (beautifully colourful and characterful), Coots (quirky, accessible and sometimes aggressive) and snails (varied, colourful and ideal macro subjects) and see what you’ve been missing out on by ignoring them for so long. Pretty much all wildlife subjects are incredibly complex and extremely engaging, if you take the time to observe them fully.

So I suggest that the challenge to the nature photographer working their local patch is to discover and then share the hidden beauty of their subjects with other people, irrespective of any travelling restrictions they have to face.

Form a Network

Professional photographers form networks with people they trust and then exchange information to allow each other to achieve their respective commercial goals. Such cliques are impossible to break into for most amateur nature photographers but the principle of networking can still work very well for you.

Find some nature photography buddies, ideally, people with similar levels of interest and commitment to you. Use your collective energies and time to put together a schedule of shoots for the year ahead. Divide up the work involved in preparing for each shoot – share the research, administration and logistics tasks fairly. Support each other in times of self-doubt and complete all of the tasks that you commit to doing.

A network can only succeed if the members give as much as they take, so don’t expect your friends to reveal all of their gem wildlife locations to you or spend their whole weekend on the computer booking accommodation and transport if you are not willing to offer them something in return for their knowledge and hard work.

Know Your Subject

Another piece of advice I’ve seen offered up is “get to know your subject”. Natural history knowledge is really important for nature photographers but this piece of advice doesn’t scratch the questioner’s itch to get out into the countryside and start shooting! However the importance of good subject knowledge cannot be overstated. The more you can predict about your subject’s behaviour, the likelier you are to be rewarded with a creative – or even unique – photographic opportunity.

Many natural history subjects are vulnerable, especially wildlife during their nesting and breeding season and during periods of extreme, adverse weather conditions. Because of this, some have been afforded legal protection that prohibits photographers and others from certain activities. It’s crucial to be aware of these restrictions so that you do not cause any harm or distress to your subjects. If you do, you’ll find yourself without friends as most serious nature photographers uphold very high standards of ethical behaviour, particularly where their subject’s welfare is concerned.

The good news is that getting to know your subject is easier than ever before, now that inexpensive field guides are widely available that cover almost every type of natural subject in great detail.

Study Relevant Legislation

All UK nature photographers should make themselves familiar with the Wildlife and Countryside Act and also be aware of European wildlife protection legislation that covers species which are found in the UK. You will need a licence to photograph some subjects and you must apply for that via Natural England’s licensing scheme. And don’t forget to think about habitats – many of these have been afforded legal protection too.

If you don’t live of work in the UK, you should acquaint yourself with locally applicable laws instead.

Plan Ahead

The advice already offered will get you so far but planning ahead is vital, especially if your time and funds are limited. Waking up in the morning and deciding to go out with your camera on the spur of the moment won’t yield much in the way of top class images unless you are extraordinarily lucky.

When panning your schedule, consider the seasonality of nature photography; it’s no good going to Skomer in October to see Puffins. And also consider the behaviour and habits of your subjects: are they diurnal, nocturnal or crepuscular? Are they migratory or resident all year round? When do they breed and does that change their accessibility or behaviour?

Lots of people use the weather as an excuse to not venture out, or for a poor images when they get back to base and view their work. But for nature photographers, it’s important to expect the unexpected and envision the images that you want to create beforehand, and to consider good, fair and foul-weather options in your planning, to increase your likelihood of success.

Set Realistic Goals

I think that nature is the most difficult photographic genre because of all the variables that you cannot control: the season, weather, species location & behaviour all conspire to reduce our shooting opportunities but they also make our successful images all the more rewarding to us.

However much effort you put into improving your photography, be realistic about the rate of improvement you can achieve. And be gracious to yourself by acknowledging your successes, however fleeting or inconsequential you may think they are at the time.

Practice

Above all else, when frustration looms, it’s important to get out in the field and get some shots under your belt quickly, to avoid ‘photographer’s block’ setting in. I’ve been there a few times so trust me when I say that it’s a cold, lonely cul de sac that you want to avoid. Remember that ’in the field’ can mean visiting a pond during your lunch break, or sitting parked up in your car, watching birds flitting about amongst the hedgerows.

Whatever strategy you employ, practice hard and often, reflect on your results and apply the things you learn to your next shoot.