How to Simplify Compositions in Wildlife Photography

Imagine a parrot on a branch about to fly away, or a monkey peering its head around a tree. Do you want to hit that shutter right away and take a shot? How could you not? It’s a beautiful animal – and surely in wildlife photography, we can’t control much… right? Actually, this could not be further from the truth! Today, I’ll give you some tips on how to simplify your composition in wildlife photography and take stronger photos.

Wait!

Animals are always moving. At times, it seems impossible not to get a messy shot of one. Random branches, overly bright background spots, desiccated grass, and even spider web strands are the haunting ghosts of wildlife photography.

So how can you get a clean and deliberate wildlife composition? Well, you can start with this principle: you don’t have to take the shot right away.

But isn’t that absurd? Of course your instinct will be to take the shot as soon as possible. If you don’t, you might risk losing your subject, only to come home empty handed. However, a bad photo is one that you will never want to look at or care about in the future. It is better to focus on getting good photos rather than firing off the shutter indiscriminately.

I know, it’s a hard thing to do, especially with action. But even a very cool animal does not necessarily make a good photo if your composition, light, settings, and other factors are wrong. It is often better to wait and think, rather than firing as quickly as possible without consideration for the quality of the photo.

Compose Ahead of Time

Animals spend large amounts of their waking hours eating. That means they will be moving around the general area – drinking nectar, eating grass, or trying to swallow a fish. It means that you may have many chances to get a good composition.

One approach is to look around for compositions that would be nice – if only the animal were to step or fly into the right spot! Then, just wait until the animal gets to one of these spots, and you’ve got an interesting photo. You can master this skill by visiting the same place again and again and learning more about animal behavior. Even after a second visit to a place, I can orient myself much better and find good compositions more quickly – which is why I recommend allocating at least two days to every location when traveling.

For example, take a look at this chaotic scene:

This was the “first shot” when the bird flew into view, and there are at least ten things wrong with it. Although I find the chaos interesting, it’s too backlit and messy. It also distorts the form of the bird and draws your attention away with overexposed branches.

But most importantly, it doesn’t resonate with me because my eyes were following the delicate manoeuvres of this bird on individual flowers, and this wider scene wasn’t what I had in mind.

Luckily, while I was observing, I mentally noted down every flower with a clean background. Then, I waited until the Bananaquit flew onto one of these less messy flowers:

I was immediately attracted to this pose, and after some minutes at the scene, I noticed that every Bananaquit would strike this pose repeatedly before flying off. I call it the “look around and find more food” pose. And because it really caught my eye, it made sense to look for it specifically in a composition.

Move Around

What if your subject is hardly moves at all? Then… you have to be the one to move! Move around to different angles and heights, and you’ll likely find a more deliberate, less cluttered composition. Of course, by moving, you might scare the poor creature away. So, move slowly and not directly towards the animal. Crouching first and then moving helps a lot, too.

True, you may not be able to control everything, but often you’ll find just the right spot to nicely illustrate the environment and leave the subject clean and crisply positioned. The other day, I used this technique. I was actually thinking about writing this article, so I took this quick record shot to show you how cluttered the scene is:

Ouch. Branches through the bird, bird too close to leaf, bird’s tail cut, bright elements – help!

But what if I take a couple steps to the left, crouch in the mud, and lean forward? The kingfisher did not move one inch (except for its head) and yet this is the result:

Are there still some messy branches around? Yes, there are. But now, at least they are more under control, and more importantly, they form the composition I envisioned within the limitations of the scene. And the messy branches still gives some sense of the environment of the kingfisher without making things too confusing.

The only downside is that I almost fell into the shallow water.

Crop

Cropping is a great tool of the wildlife photographer, and sometimes, cropping is used for “digital zooming” due to insufficient focal length. But, the versatile crop tool is also great for removing small distractions, even if your starting composition is pretty much the way you want it.

Such distractions often reside at the edge of the frame. To find these elements, let your eyes wander over the frame without focusing on anything in particular. Does anything catch your eye that shouldn’t? Perhaps it is an overly light piece of grass, a dead flower, or a piece of dirt only a few dozen pixels away from the edge. Then, simply crop it out!

Here is just such a photo:

This photo was composed almost exactly the way I wanted it, except that there were a few white feathers near the base of the neck that went against the simplicity I was after. A simple crop of a few lines of pixels at the bottom fixed that.

Post-Process

Even after cropping, you might be stuck with some misbehaved elements screaming for attention. Freezing a moment is the soul of photography, bringing forth things that your eyes miss in real life. Luckily, careful post-processing in the form of slight tone or color changes can reduce the emphasis on these elements, giving a simpler look to your photo.

But wait, a thorny question comes! How much editing is too much? Everyone of course has their own set of rules, but here’s mine: I prefer to edit only so far so that if someone were to go back in time and look at the scene, it would basically look like my photo with a bit of personality thrown in.

That means no cloning out entire branches or other major elements. After all, I want to transmit the essence of my experience through photographic means, not present a wished-for alternative reality.

Yet, even this relatively strict rule gives great freedom to simplify in post-processing. You can darken bright elements like yellow strands of grass. Or, you can reduce contrast in parts of the background that look too rough (and that may have been much less apparent in person). In the following photo, I slightly darkened the greens and brightened the reds to give more distinction to the shapes of these beautiful ducks:

Here’s a checklist I go through mentally when editing:

• Are there areas of excessive contrast in the background? Apply a gentle mask to the area and reduce the contrast a little.
• Are there unusually bright strands of grass that capture your eye? Bring down their brightness with a local mask and tone curve.
• Are some colors too bright? Dimming them can help, especially with overly bright green plants.
• Does your subject not stand out enough? Give a slight brightening to the colors on your subject or a slight dimming to the colors in the background.
• Is the background a little plain and overpowering? Maybe vignetting can help. Or, if the subject is mostly central, you can just keep vignetting correction off.

The key here is subtlety. It doesn’t take much darkening to reduce emphasize of a bright spot, nor does it take much softening to calm a nervous background. The halos you could create with overcorrection will usually be even more objectionable than the original problem, so always edit with a light touch in these situations.

Ultimately, understand what attracted your eye, and then edit carefully to suggest your personal perceptions. Editing in general should be about gentle hinting, not slapping people in the face.

Choose a Completely Different Composition

So far, I’ve talked about ways you can simplify visual elements in wildlife photography. But to some extent, all of the techniques I talked about presume there is one obvious composition and a way to simplify toward it. Sometimes, however, you might like to use a different composition altogether.

For example, this photo of a Southern Lapwing is already pretty simplified and effective:

I like this shot, but right at the moment I took it, it was not exactly what I wanted. That’s because in the field, my eye was attracted to the two things that aren’t immediately apparent in this photo: the blocky head of the lapwing, and its funny crest feathers. Yes, the crest is there, but due to its graceful out-of-focus look, it is not the center of attention.

Thus, although the original photo is strong enough, and a nice portrait of one of my favorite birds, there is a lot going on that I felt distracted from the concepts I wanted to present in my photo. Thus, I tried a different angle:

This photo is much different. Although both are nice technically, it’s this second photo that was more in line with what resonated with me at the time. In addition to the simplification of the crest, Lapwings are wary, and the head being turned away really reminds me of how they tend to move away when people come near. So even though both compositions might be free of distractions, it is the second, more unorthodox composition that better conveys the mood that I felt while photographing this bird.

Come Back Another Day

It is often said that “no plan survives first contact with the enemy,” and while I prefer to think of animals as friends, a part of this adage applies to wildlife. After all, sometimes the light just isn’t right, and nothing you do will simplify your composition.

Thus, I give my final tip: just come back another day.

Another day, the light will have the right sparkle. That warbler, happy as can be for hours on that tangled mess of branches, will be perched serenely and cleanly tomorrow. Next week, those bright, out-of-focus strands of grass will be in shadows, isolating a heron in an embrace of darkness. A new basket of uniqueness comes with each new day, each time you dare to chase the light.

I’ll leave you with a question. How many times did it take going back to the same spot to get my ideal clean and crisp Neotropic Cormorant in the rain shot? I lost count. But when I look at the photo, I don’t need to remember, because it brings a smile to my face.

Conclusion

At first glance, it seems hard to simplify your composition in wildlife photography and get just the right environment surrounding an animal. Ultimately, animals do what they want, when they want. But that doesn’t mean that simplification can’t be done in wildlife. It can, but requires a combination of planning, patience, and a bit of luck, too.

So, next time you see an animal, don’t release the shutter right away. Allow the scene to evolve over time, watch your subject carefully, and it just might wander into just the right place and strike just the right post for something more than just a record shot. And even if you only come back with a photo of dead branches, you’ve spent time in the natural world, which is already worthwhile the moment you step out the door.