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Words and Images by Jon McCormack | September 2024
Wildlife photography can be a deeply rewarding pursuit, but capturing images that go beyond mere documentation requires creativity and intentionality.
Through my travels and experiences photographing animals in some of the world’s most scenic places, I have learned that a compelling photograph isn’t just about the beauty of the subject. Instead, it’s about conveying the essence of the animal and the moment, moving beyond basic “mugshots” to create expressive and evocative images.
In the beginning, I often found my images to be underwhelming. Despite encountering extraordinary wildlife, my photographs felt like standard postcard shots. This realization pushed me to adopt a more creative approach.
Now, I strive to capture not just the appearance of an animal but its spirit, asking myself three critical questions before lifting my camera: What makes this animal interesting? How does it make me feel? And what does the viewer need to see to experience this mood?
These questions guide my compositions and often lead me to more dynamic, storytelling images rather than conventional wildlife portraits. If I find that I’m not achieving the depth I seek, I put my camera down and continue observing the scene, letting the animal’s behavior inspire new ways to photograph it.
For instance, during a safari, I came across a male lion in the brush. At first it didn’t seem like an interesting opportunity. As I waited, I noticed that occasionally the lion would look out from behind the grass.
I pre-focused on where I thought the eyes would be and moved to a very narrow depth of field. This would (hopefully) make the lion sharp and the grass more transparent. It took a few times of the lion looking up for everything to come back together.
The final image has a mysterious feel of a predator looking out on prey. This experience reinforced an important lesson in wildlife photography: often, less is more. You don’t need to include the entire animal in the frame to tell a story.
Sometimes putting the animal in its environment is the way to tell the story. To give my viewer a sense of how protective elephants are of their family. I made a very wide photograph and positioned the largest elephant in the bottom left looking towards the camera. To me this conveyed a clear sense that the other elephants were free to eat in peace and were protected.
Photographing animals in their environment can sometimes mean allowing their surroundings to take precedence in the composition. Finding a juvenile giraffe among tall trees allowed me to tell a story about height.
Another creative technique is to play with silhouettes and shapes. This can also work really well when the animal is small in the frame.
Anchoring this elephant in the bottom corner and setting it against clouds emphasized the vastness of the Kenyan wilderness.
As technology advances, new tools like drones have provided wildlife photographers with additional creative options. Drones, or even helicopters, allow for aerial shots that can highlight patterns and shadows.
While photographing elephants from the sky I found a fun composition that positioned the animals against a line formed by a path – creating a beautiful graphic look. The key to success in such images is paying attention to the entire scene and not just the animals.
One of my favorite techniques to convey movement in wildlife photography is panning. By using a slow shutter speed and following the movement of an animal, I create a sense of motion in the frame, isolating the subject while blurring the background. It takes practice, but the results can be stunning.
I typically stop down to an aperture of f/8 and adjust my ISO to achieve a shutter speed around 1/15 sec. This technique works for a wide variety of subjects, and I often practice at home with pets or even moving cars to improve my skills.
Wildlife photography is about embracing the unpredictable and pushing the boundaries of creativity. While it’s easy to stick with familiar methods to ensure you don’t miss a shot, experimenting with different approaches can lead to unique and captivating images. Whether it’s capturing a giraffe silhouetted against the clouds or the long shadows of antelope from above, stepping out of your comfort zone is often the key to truly exceptional wildlife photographs.
See more of McCormack’s photography at jonmccormack.com.
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