10 Ways To Instantly Improve Your Wildlife Photography
In this video, I’ll share ten compositional and artistic techniques used by the pros that you can instantly use to create better photos than ever before.
The truth is, while things like new gear and technology are nice, when it comes to creating truly great images those considerations take a distant back seat to the kind of time-test field techniques you’ll discover in this video.
So hit play and get ready to catapult your images to another level.
Did you miss the first video? See it here:
• 10 Pro Secrets For Wil...
Website / Newsletter Signup:
backcountrygallery.com
Backcountry Gallery Nature Photography Forums:
bcgforums.com/index.php
Books / Video Workshops:
bcgwebstore.com
Master Index Of All My Videos / Articles:
backcountrygallery.com/the-bc...
Follow me on Instagram:
/ backcountrygallery
Have nature and wildlife photography questions? Check out the BCG Forums! Ask and answer gear and technique questions questions, post photos and more. Check it out and sign up today!
bcgforums.com/index.php
Not just a great photographer, but just as good a teacher. Excellent video. Thank you.
The ebooks, together with the videos, are the winning recipe. I have learned so much just by watching the videos; however, once I got my hands on the ebooks, the improvement in my shots doubled or even tripled. Get the ebooks and catch the videos. You would thank me later.
Incredible video. It's simple and right to the point.
Great advice as always, thanks Steve! I really love your images!
Great tips and honestly almost all of these tips are what we use in the art world too as painters.. for instance , catch light, no catch light in dark eyes then there is no life in the subject that you are trying to portray. Light.. same thing .. the light has to make the subject pop and the backgrounds cannot interfere or rather should enhance the subject.
Wow, I would’ve never thought of these tips. Thanks!
Just recently found your channel and I love it. Amazing tips for wildlife photographers. Thanks a lot!
Thank you Master Perry! Great stuff in here, even better in your books and guide. Those have helped the most...
great tips, Steve--thank you. By the way the elephant image at 12:00 is stunning.
Great tips and wow your photos are stunning. I adore your photography, you really make it look so easy. Thanks!
Great tips Steve. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Great advice and absolutely world class images, Steve. Thank you for all that you do
Great as always. Thanks Steve!
Great tips and tricks (as always) Steve. It's clear you're back and focused!
Loved these tips and the examples were perfect and made each point easier to understand.
Nice! Great examples tied to the message. Thanks for sharing such quality content without the harassment of endless product placement.
Excellent tips!!!! Thank you so much!!!!
Great video, as usual Steve. I learn lots each time. Thanks for the Black Friday deals too. Looking forward to learning more from your next videos. Take care and stay safe.
Another great video keep up the good work, I've learned a lot from you!!!
Great way to start my Sunday morning as I await the sun to come up before I go out to look for some jackrabbits. Thanks Steve!
I love everything about this video. The photos are absolutely mind blowing and the advice is top notch! But your enthusiasm and right-to-the-point delivery is what got me to subscribe!
Great tips, and great presentation and illustration. I just got inspired again. Thanks.
Here is a doctor and Master and photography. What a teacher men you explain the step so easy to understand!!!
thanks steve! this was so helpful
As always, excellent Steve. My photography is much better because of your tips, ebooks, etc. One of these days I'm going to be part of a workshop. Happy holidays.
Love the way you glance to the top right corner just after saying "Keep an eye on the eyes"!
Excellent tips and accompanying example photos. Thank you.
Another amazing video Steve.
Martha has a tip: Avoid excessive celebration. I just saw a Eurasian Collared Dove! I can add it to my bird list! WOO! Bird flew to an obscured location before I could get the camera out.
Thanks for the tips.
You never fail to teach. Your videos always make me think. ✌🤟🖖
A wealth of knowledge. Thanks for help new bird photographers, like me, to learn 😄
Steve, what can I say man, these are AMAZING SHOTS!! BRAVO!!
Great tips Steve, thanks
WOW!!! Your photography is AMAZING!!! So many beautiful images! Thanks for sharing these helpful techniques!
Very informative guide, Steve, as always. Excellent photographs all around. Your exposure, among other things is beautifully set. I struggle with getting focus in BIF shots. Any tips you can dispense for this problem?
Thanks Steve!
Great video, thank you!
Superb helpful advice Steve.
Great tips, no BS as ever that's why Steve is one of the very best on KZhead 👍👍🇬🇧🇬🇧
Great video, love your photos!
Proven good advice, Steve. Thank you! :)
The photo at 2.35 looks amazing. Such great color and contrast.
Wonderful tips offered.. 👍👍👍
Thanks so much. Very interesting and useful video. Thanks very much.
I love your photos. They are highly dramatic but don’t take give an unrealistic feel. I look forward to seeing more.
Great tips. Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much for Important tips as always. Greetings from Nepal🇳🇵
Thanks Steve! Someday I'll join you in Costa Rica.
Wonderful tips on WL, thank you
brilliant as ever steve
The photos are excellent!
Great tips, Steve! Top one for me, #7' You don't need the whole animal ... you aren't writing field guides". Very helpful.
i'll tell you why i like these tips vids from Steve - because his images are world class. there were some outstanding shots in this vid and i would love to just have 1 that good. So, if he says 'do this' then, do. Great work. Ta.
Great video, thanks!
Would love to see a video about which things are most important in achievement such tack sharp photos
Awesome video Steve. I note down some key points that i found to be new to me and then practice it One request make video about taking a particular type of shot like how you meter in low light to capture an animal
Such nice tips! Honestly, this is my favorite wildlife youtube channel after Mark Smith's.
i learn a lot from your shot technique steve... subscriber here :)
I love and watch ALL of your videos Steve! You should do giveaways lol. And I'd be the first recipient!
Fantastic tips
A wonderful educational video with terrific examples. I really wonder what the two people who gave a thumbs down were thinking of.
Awesome tips👌👌
_Next, Catch-Light AF_ . Very good tips as usual. Thanks.
Thank you Steve! I appreciate the help and tips as a starter photographer. I would love to also see the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed that you used for the photos that you included in this video and for future ones as well. That would be really helpful for me. Thank you so much!
Check out my two most recent videos, the How to Nail The Shot series. It's exactly what you're after :)
I am ngl your videos are the reason I can get the pictures I do
Very useful tips
Great tips Steve…the photographers community has gained so much from you over the years ! Simply awe inspiring !!
ü
üüüüüüüüüüäüüüüüüü
üllüölüü
Great tips
Thank you
Great content 👌 need more videos like this.....sir
I agree. It's tough however - I like doing these kinds of videos and I think they are the most valuable thing I do, but all I get are requests for gear-related videos.
@@backcountrygallery a vote for more of these technique videos from me. Great inspiration and tips thanks.
would like t ear your thoughts about deep of field vs managing the background VS focal length of the lens... (managing a 600 mm F4 is way different than a Canon 800MM F11 ! Great vide again!
Wow. What a fantastic video with great tips. Your example images are the best. I have most of your ebooks, but would like to get better at video. Does The Focus shift book include video tuition? Thanks for posting.
Thanks! The focus shift shooting video is just for focus stacking though. I don't have any material for how to shoot video. I'm really just an amateur in that dept.
Very valuable tips, thanks Steve. You know what I'm been targeting past days? Cooper's Hawk, migratory here in Costa Rica... discovering him/her by chance riding my bike... Do you have shoots of Coopers? Regards.
All great tips. Thanks for posting. Watching this and wondering why Nikon didn't send you you the Z9 to test. You of all people would be the one to know how good it really is is. I know I'm not the only one that kept coming to your channel waiting for it.
Honestly, no clue. I have the following and I could have taken it to Africa - talk about a test! I've had people talk to Nikon on my behalf (I have no contacts there at all) and it never goes anywhere. I think I ticked them off at some point I guess...
@@backcountrygallery How in the heck could you, of all people, tick Nikon off?
@@martharetallick204 Beats me (although, I was pretty hard on the initial Z cameras and I haven't been overly kind since). All I know is that multiple attempts have been made over the years with only silence from Nikon.
@@backcountrygallery I'm only a newbie at about 6 months of nature photography. Because of your videos I have Nikon a D750 and Z6II... at the end of the day you of all people on KZhead Should've been sent one to test it out for nature photography. It would be a good honest review. Unfortunately for the Nikon community there isn't anything out there on the Z9 doing what you do. Maybe someday..... Best of luck and looking forward to more content in the future.
Thanks!
Thanks so much!
Your photos are absolutely stunning! Especially in case of sharpness and... composition, view.., whatever you name it. Honestly, are there a lot of post-production in them?
Thank you :) It's funny, the things you mention (sharpness, comp. etc) are all done in the field as much as possible. Although I post process everything, it's often more limited than people expect. The key is following the advice I give in this and other videos. I only tend to shoot in good light, with good backgrounds and foregrounds, when the animal is in a good position, with good looking animals, etc. I also actively try to fill the frame (that's where some of the extra detail you see comes from) and actively try to create powerful compositions in the field. I don't really want to spend hours in front of the computer to process just an image or two - I simply don't have the time. Instead, I try to get as much right in the field as I can so most of my photos only take 5-10 minutes in Lightroom / Photoshop (and much of that time is just trying things and seeing if I like them).
@@backcountrygallery Thanks for detailed answer
Steve , you always give great tips and advice. Sometimes I find that our area of the eastern mountains of Kentucky has many grey skies and lack of lightning changes to deal with. Do you just advise avoiding these conditions or make the most of what you are experiencing.
Make the most of it. I shoot in overcast all the time. Do I prefer golden light? Of course! However, I'll take an overcast day to a hard sun in a blue sky every time. Many of my favorite shots are in overcast.
@@backcountrygallery Thank you! Glad to know that as I usually end up with more active wildlife on those cloudy days. I really enjoy the Backcountry forums and I am finally getting closer to pursuing photography more than ever before.
@@nathanfrisby3133 Happy to help :)
Another great video mate! thanks! Question: do you have a workshop or tutorial on photoshop for wildlife? most courses out there are either for landscape or for graphic designers... nothing wrong with that I had learnt plenty with those as well, but I think a specific deep technical one for Wildlife would be great... otherwise any suggestions on where to find them...? thank you again!
Are you going to do a review on the Nikon Z9?
Yup.
Tip #11 : Keep watching Steve Perry's channel! 👍👍👍
Correction: not only Bravo but BRAVISSIMO!! (ISSIMO at the end of a word in Italian means the top of the crop!)
Can you please suggest a tripod or monopod for wildlife photography?
Me encanta ver sus vídeos pero no hay subtítulos como para poder seguir su explicación al instante. Si podría poner sus vídeos subtitulados en español estaría muy agradecido y un millón más de hispano parlantes 😀
Steve Z9 please! 🙏🙏
Great Tips Steve as always, I have a question, what should we do if we go on a safari trip? I never went so far but when I look on youtube people are on vehicles and it seems that there is not much chance for going to animal eye level like the example in Tanzania I saw people on a vehicle's roof and I feel there is no chance to go down, any tip on those situations otherwise no point going on African Safari, right?
I too am restricted to the vehicle when in the Serengeti but it's a rare day that I stand up and shoot from the roof (the only way I do it is if the animal is up on some rocks). It's easier to shoot from the top and that's why nearly every group you see is doing it, but you can also shoot from widow level which is much better. In addition, it's not always complete flat and you can often get the vehicle in a position that's a little downhill from the animal, allowing more of an eye-level shot. I did that with a lion cub on my last trip just a couple weeks ago and it looks like I'm at or maybe even slightly below his eye level. Finally, as mentioned in the video, having the driver stay back and using longer glass can help make it look like you are closer to eye level.
Great tips. Of course, the reality for most of us who have limited time out in the field is that we usually have less ability to control issues like backgrounds than is ideal. Actually, as someone who came to wildlife photography from "birding," I don't mind somewhat distracting backgrounds as much as most wildlife photographers. After all, bushes, branches, leaves, etc. ARE what we see when we view a bird or animal. I actually don't care for the completely clean backgrounds that are the preference these days. It can look like the creature is posing in a studio or with a fake backdrop.
Using a tripod to stay vigilant sounds good, but you also need to be at animal height. So any tips for being comfortable at the tripod at different heights? Like using a folding chair? Lying down can be okay but bugs, mud, etc.
Hi Steve just asking if you have pre ordered the Nikon z9?
Yup :)
True confession: When my local camera store sends the announcement email, I will answer yes.
Do you ever do photo reviews? like if you looked on my site at some of my photos and critique them?
I have a framed photo of a bird in my home that didn't have a catchlight in its eye, and yeah it looked creepy. A bottle of WhiteOut and a toothpick fixed it right up!
You can do catch lights in post editing. Eye level with dangerous animals can be dangerous...to them eye contact, at eye level, is an aggressive move and if the camera is down, it's eye to eye contact. I was a zookeeper and a bunch of us got trapped in a wart hogs out building/shed because because we went into clean his exhibit...he got out of the secondary pen, and we looked at him...causing an outrage on his part. As a photographer, I wouldn't expect you to know that...so just something to keep in mind when talking about eye level.
Do you plan to do an online training class through Zoom ?
Someday, when the stars align or the bank makes a horrible, tragic mistake in my favor, I'm going to Costa Rica or Africa with you on a workshop.
Steve, I tried to register at your online store to buy a couple of your e-books but the registration form would not accept my Canadian address. Please help.
I just sent you an e-mail. :)
Reasons why I can't be good at wildlife photography 1. No gear, only a 15-45 mm kit lens 2. Lives in urban, even the birds are hard to find 3.No means of transportation Though I'm confident that one day I'll be good as u when I depend on myself
#11, buy a Nikon Z9 😁
Do really Think everyone has money to buy a Z9!
I think the only time I'll accept chunks of another animal in my frame is when the photo is of a predator eating... lol
But those predators have atrocious table manners!
May I know your Instagram handle ,when to do hand held and when to do with tripod ,please guide 🙏🙏
Do you have special insurance should you get eaten by the animals?