As with everything in photography, how to set your camera as a wildlife photographer can be subjective. But very few things are more important – camera settings and can affect wildlife photos in a uniquely powerful way. This article aims to clarify the most common settings a beginner wildlife photographer should master and how to set them properly!
Table of Contents
Shoot RAW and Avoid In-Camera JPEGs
JPEG is a compressed format, which means that data is squeezed to reduce the file size and it only captures 8 bits of color. Additionally, the camera applies noise reduction and sharpening to the file using its internal algorithms, which do not match the capabilities of modern software. Also, JPEG limitations make the effect of your white balance settings and color space choices irreversible.
This doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to take good photos using JPEG, or that you will never need to use them. Professional sports photographers who need to provide the editorial team with their images very quickly surely benefit from this file format. And some cameras have features that only apply to JPEGs, like a pre-release capture mode. However, I consider shooting in JPEG to require much more work and expertise than shooting RAW if you are to get good results. Suddenly you need to think about many more settings than usual when shooting JPEG, since so many things are no longer reversible in post-processing.
I’m not a fan of heavy post-production and I don’t even have Photoshop or any other pixel-level editor installed on my Mac. However, I believe it’s crucial to be able to optimize my files and work with them to achieve the best results. And, at the end of the day, an out-of-camera JPEG just limits this flexibility too much due to compression and irreversible settings applied to the files.
Frankly speaking, I think even sports photographers who need to deliver immediate JPEGs on a deadline are mostly shooting RAW+JPEG these days.
I have one small note. Cameras these days will not show you (in live view or when reviewing an image) the direct RAW data you are capturing. They will instead show you a preview, and a histogram, based upon your JPEG settings. So, you should still pick all the various JPEG settings – things like vignetting correction, picture style, white balance, etc. – carefully, so that you are seeing a useful preview of your images. (For example, I like to set my Picture Control to Neutral so that I am accurately seeing how much highlight detail I’m capturing, and whether I blew out any of the highlights in a photo. Especially in cases like the photo of the gannet below, where highlight detail is important but difficult to capture.)
Balance the “Exposure Triangle” Properly
As with every genre of photography, it is critical to set the proper shutter speed, aperture, and ISO when photographing wildlife. These are often referred to as the exposure triangle even though ISO is not, by the usual definition, part of exposure.
Those linked articles explain the concepts of exposure in more detail than I can do here. I suggest that you read them if you are not already very familiar with any of those concepts.
But how should you set them for wildlife photography? It can be a challenge. Photographing wildlife often involves capturing the behaviors and fast action of subjects, which requires the use of fast shutter speeds and often higher ISOs. But sometimes, animals stay perfectly still or move slowly, allowing you to use a slower shutter speed and a lower ISO.
To be prepared for both of these situations, I suggest using manual mode with Auto ISO. This way, you can adjust the shutter speed and aperture, and the camera will select the necessary ISO.
You will also take control over exposure compensation to ensure that you don’t blow out any subtle details on your subject, like bright feathers. It’s important to remember that the camera’s suggested exposure is based on specific algorithms and may not always reflect your artistic or technical goal.
Know (and Pre-Set) Your Camera
Understanding your camera thoroughly – and being able to quickly adjust its settings without wasting time – is crucial when capturing a special moment in wildlife photography. This can mean the difference between getting the perfect shot and missing it entirely.
If your camera allows, you should consider saving a preset for certain situations that you are likely to capture. For example, you could save a preset to be for birds in flight and another for stationary animals.
How to do this? On some cameras, you can directly save U1/U2/U3 or C1/C2/C3 settings to the mode dial itself, while on other cameras it must be done via menu banks. It’s also important to remember what each of these settings is connected to!
Additionally, for those using long telephoto lenses, it’s useful to practice framing shots on the move. This involves quickly raising the camera, pointing it towards the subject, and centering it within the viewfinder as fast as you can. Practice at various focal lengths so that you get a good mental picture of how far “zoomed in” each focal length is, saving you time when swapping lenses or zooming. Practice and mastering your coordination can significantly reduce the time required to capture a shot, increasing the likelihood of success!
Also belonging to this topic is understanding how your camera handles high ISOs, when to prefer using the electronic or mechanic shutter, how to program custom settings to make your work easier and faster, and so on.
Master Autofocus
Today’s cameras have extremely high-performance autofocus, but it can be difficult to navigate the different options.
The first is choosing between single-servo autofocus (AF-S in Nikon slang) or continuous-servo autofocus (AF-C for Nikon).
My advice is always to set the camera for continuous autofocus. Some subjects will still benefit from a single moment of autofocus rather than focusing continuously (like a bird sitting stationary on a branch). That’s why I strongly recommend switching to back-button autofocus, and disabling autofocus from the shutter button itself. Instead, you will use a different finger – normally the thumb – to operate a different button on your camera, which may say something like AF-On. This is an important setting because it allows you to choose when to focus and, if desired, recompose after focusing as if you were using single-action autofocus. But at the same time, it lets you use continuous focus and follow the subject when you need to.
Next, you need to choose which autofocus areas to use. This can be different if you are working with a DSLR or a mirrorless camera, since the newest mirrorless cameras are more likely to have subject recognition autofocus, while DSLRs tend to track with more traditional algorithms. I’ve used mirrorless for a long time and enjoy the subject recognition features, but DSLRs haven’t stopped working and I’ve taken tens of thousands of photos I enjoy with them!
If your camera has modern subject recognition autofocus, my advice is to use a wide area – even one covering the entire frame – in combination with subject recognition. If your camera does not, use a small focus point instead and manually position it over the subject’s head. Then allow a traditional algorithm like 3D tracking to follow it across the frame.
Of course, these are just the starting point, and there are other ways to help your camera gain fast, accurate focus if these approaches fail. However, they are extensive and will need to be addressed in a separate article. (Libor has already discussed some approaches for Nikon Z users here.)
Set the White Balance Properly in Post-Processing
When working in RAW, the parameter of white balance is not as crucial to set properly in your camera. It still affects the histogram and the preview of the image on your camera screen, but it can be adjusted later in post-processing if you set the wrong white balance, with no loss in image quality. This is why I leave it on auto.
However, it is still one of the most important settings to work on. Most of the work is just done back at your computer instead.
To select the right white balance when post-processing your photos, I recommend using a calibrated monitor, preferably of good quality. Also, I recommend increasing the saturation in the software prior to making your white balance adjustments. This allows you to accentuate any color shifts and make your adjustments more evident. Then, go back to a standard value of saturation when done. By this approach, I restored perfectly white feathers in the White Heron picture I took in open shadow.
Capturing accurate colors is a fine goal, but there is a further, much more important reason to set the white balance properly. It is the artistic choice of the photographer. Does the image represent a situation of blue light after sunset? Or is it a fiery sunset? Or backlight with a low-rising sun? In those cases, the mood of the photo may be more important than “accurate” colors. Lowering the white balance values makes a cool mood cooler; raising it makes everything warmer.
In short, the white balance, together with the exposure, demands artistic decisions by the photographer because helps define the mood of the image. It isn’t easy to make so many difficult choices, but practice helps a lot.
I use the following pictures to further illustrate this concept. It was a cold morning early in January, a bit after the sunrise with some fog remaining lower to the river water.
The first file is with a “sunny” white balance setting, the second with “shade” white balance. I don’t like either one of them.
My personal choice, based on my taste, is more or less in between “sunny” and “shade”. It is the following:
Because white balance is an artistic choice, the image you prefer may be different. But that only further illustrates how important white balance is. Even when you shoot RAW and adjust white balance back at your computer, it is still one of the most important “camera settings” to me.
Conclusion
Wildlife photography is a challenging genre of photography that often demands mastery of various concepts and knowledge. As a result, your initial attempts may be disappointing, but new wildlife photographers should not be discouraged by this. In the end, there are only a few camera settings to learn. Practice will do the rest to improve your skills.
I hope you enjoyed this article on the essential camera settings any beginner wildlife photographer should practice, and some basic starting points for these settings. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to let me know in the comments section below.
Anyone else using HEIC?
It would be cool to see a dive into that file and use with HDR/XDR monitors now that it’s more prevalent. I use it now over JPEG on my newer Nikon.
Well, I have different ideas on tips for beginning Wildlife Photographers.
1. Shoot jpg. Most cameras today produce fantastic photos using jpg. The time that a beginner will spend processing raw is better spent taking photos. Practice will be their best teacher. For the purist out there, please I have compared results with several raw shooters, and there is little difference between our photos. Yeah, you can recover some over exposed photos or under exposed photos and you may develop the skills necessary to sharpen missed focus. The white balance can be set in camera, and you can see how the changes affect the photo. I could go on, but the jest of it is that a beginner should learn to take photos by practicing.
2. Shoot manual with auto iso. Learn by practice minimum shutter shutter speeds necessary to get sharp photos, and use the maximum aperture in an effort to keep your iso as low as possible. With experience, the beginner, will learn when to increase the aperture for the optimum depth of field.
3. Spend time in the field. Good places are in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Colombia. Really there are a number of places in the US, the best time generally is when there are fewer people.
4. Learn to look at backgrounds and adjust accordingly. Try to be at eye level with your subject. Sometimes just above eye level with a subject in water will produce reflections.
5. Spend some money on a long lens. 500mm might work best, and a used 500 pf is relatively inexpensive. Use a tripod or at a minimum a monopod.
Anyway, my 2cents worth.
I thought to add to the above. I have meet several people who have admired my photos, but resist the idea of taking up wildlife photography because they are afraid that the learning curve is too high. It is a shame, most of the wildlife photographers are old and getting older. Young people are using cell phones, and while not the quality of a good SLR and lens, they don’t have to devote the time to learn processing and setting exposure or shutter speeds. I have met new photographers that are frustrated, because they are not using the computer in the camera to do the work.
Carl, thank you for expanding the list to include field practice and tools. The list could be even longer!
When it comes to the JPG vs RAW topic, we should remember that current tools, especially Lightroom, can extract a JPG better than the original with just a click. Post-producing RAW files should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a daunting task, even for those who are not yet familiar with the process. In that scenario, shooting and saving the RAW file will allow them to edit the photos in the future when they have the necessary skills.
I would never recommend shooting JPG. The fact is, no matter how much time you spend outside, there is always time spent inside. Then you can edit.
Jason, I’d love to see an article on the newer HEIC/HEIC format available on the latest cameras. I shoot RAW as well but have started using those formats instead of JPEG as there is some adjustment flexibility in comparison, not RAW level but a good step forward. They’re best used on the latest monitors like apples XDR and HDR displays where they make a difference for shadow and highlight range vs jpeg. Apple at least is highly compatible with the format as that’s similar to what the iPhone uses and Lightroom takes them as well, It would make an interesting comparison and discovery article and there doesn’t seem to be much out there on the subject.
That would be a very good comparison, especially since there are various ways to store image data in an HEIC file, not all created equal!
1. Alternatively, shoot RAW but use computer-assisted editing software. A person can see the before-and-after and assess what editing can do. Just progress from there.
2. Agreed.
3. Be a wildlife photographer who treads with a light carbon footprint. There will be plenty of local places. Go to workshops run by experienced photographers. Hire a hide. Most importantly, do not go to the Antarctic.
www.theguardian.com/world…val-hobart
4. Agreed.
5. I have a used 500PF and I wouldn’t call £2,200 ‘inexpensive’, even relatively. It’s twice what I spent on my next dearest kit, a (new) D7500 in 2018. It’s still good today. Much more affordable and capable of very good photos is a used 300/f4 and 1.4 TC. Should get that for £5-600. Won’t need a tripod or monopod. Most photos will be taken crouching or lying down.
Wildlife photographers are trusted. One chap left a public hide, leaving a pricey 35mm camera and long lens behind on a gimbal head, to go to the car park 10 minutes walk away to ‘feed the meter’. No one even looked at his gear!
Sorry, but the author is somewhat incorrect about the in-camera picture control settings. When shooting RAW (at least with Nikon) and editing in Lightroom, what you see is what you get in the viewfinder or rear display and LR import*. The caveat being you need to set your LR settings (Edit>Preferences>Presets>Raw Defualts to use “Camera Settings” instead of “Adobe Default” when importing. Furthermore, unless you’re purposely spending an extensive amount of time editing, shooting in “Neutral” is a big waste of time. In that regard, it’s much better to check your histogram and highlights while shooting to ensure you’re not losing your highlights or highlights you care about.
Same for white balance, get it set correctly in-camera and save yourself from wasting time in editing that could be spent taking photos.
Eddie, I am afraid that you are not entirely correct either. While I agree that I would never shoot in neutral, white balance is not something that you can set ‘correctly’ in camera. White balance is a matter of taste, so there is no correct setting for it. What looks right to you is what is right in camera. In post is another story. Post is where you are supposed to set your final WB. Furthermore, sometimes after you have worked on your picture in post, you can discover that your picture looks better when you tweak the WB to either warmer or cooler settings. That happens to me frequently. Sometimes the camera gets fooled by the light, and your WB setting that you always use looks wrong in one particular photo. Reds often skew WB. So if you play with it a little, you can find a WB setting that makes your picture look right to you. Where Massimo goes wrong is in recommending auto settings for anything, especially if you are trying to teach camera settings to beginners. They will never learn anything with auto settings. And my next sentence is very subjective. I don’t think that auto settings ever enhance anything. They are set by an algorithm, not by the user, and so cannot reflect creativity at all. The algorithm only aims for correct exposure and does not take into account any other consideration. It ends up making pictures look rather flat with a sameness about them. The only thing that auto settings do is let you shoot faster, not better. But as I said, that is my subjective opinion.
Pretty much saying the same thing about white balance. If you get it close as possible in camera, it’s locked in for all the photos from that scene making it much easier to batch process in post if further tweaks are needed/desired. However, if you properly shoot your white balance to a gray card (calibrated in-camera), and the light isn’t changing, then for sure it will be correct. OF course there’s always an artistic desire that can be adjusted in post. Bottom line is get it as absolutely close to correct as possible in camera.
“However, if you properly shoot your white balance to a gray card (calibrated in-camera)” — for beginner wildlife photography!
I attach a small card to the animal’s neck then walk back to the camera with super-telephoto lens. Works especially well with wrens and bears (grizzly and polar).
:) don’t you do that!?
Hi Elaine,
I believe we have more common ground than you might realize. I agree, it’s crucial for photographers to understand exposure theory and practice as it forms the foundation of photography.
I recommend using Manual Mode with Auto ISO and exposure compensation to achieve the desired artistic vision because, in my experience, this approach can be more efficient, especially for beginners, allowing them to focus on composition and other artistic decisions.
I love comparing photography to chess: a few rules but infinite combinations!
“chess: a few rules but infinite combinations!”
But only 3 possible outcomes.