3 Essential Camera Settings for Wildlife Photography

By Dan Havlik  |  November 2024

In the below tutorial, Watts explains what these camera settings are and why they’re so critical to getting unique images of wildlife.

“In this wildlife photography tutorial, I discuss the best camera settings for wildlife photography,” he says. “I primarily focus on three specific camera settings that wildlife photographers should always use, including autofocus settings, aperture settings, and drive modes to use. Ideally, the three camera settings discussed can be applied to almost all wildlife photography scenarios and are some of the best wildlife photography camera settings.”

To get Watt’s full explanation of these settings with examples of the type of wildlife photos they help produce, watch his video at the bottom of this post. But first, here’s a summary of what he discusses in the tutorial, which is aimed at beginners but is a good refresher for anyone who likes photographing animals in the wild.

#1 Wide Open Aperture

“[A wide open aperture] creates more foreground and background blur,” he explains. “This is very important for wildlife photography because we’re trying to keep the focus on the animal to make it stand out and have a powerful presence in the image. Because the animal is the only thing that’s in focus in the image, the viewer’s eye goes straight to it, which is obviously what you want in wildlife photography.”

#2 Continuous Drive Modes

“These are the drive modes on your camera that allow you to shoot in continuous bursts of images by just holding down on the shutter release button,” he notes. “By setting your camera up to be able to shoot in one of these continuous shooting modes, you’re ensuring that you’re able to capture all of the action as it happens, which is vitally important in wildlife photography because we’re always trying to capture these perfect fleeting moments.”

#3 Continuous Autofocus

“When wildlife is moving across the frame and you’re tracking it, you need to have your camera set up in continuous autofocus to maintain focus the entire time that animal is moving through the frame,” he says. “If you’re using one-shot autofocus instead, then after acquiring initial autofocus, you’re going to lose focus as the animal moves through the frame.”

See more of Watts’ work on his Instagram page and more of his videos on his YouTube channel.

Author Bio

Dan Havlik

Dan Havlik has been a writer and editor for photography magazines and websites for over two decades. Most recently he served as Editor in Chief of Outdoor Photographer and Shutterbug magazines.