Camera settings for wildlife photography are very dependent on the animal being photographed and the environment in which it is being photographed. However, the settings are not drastically different from the setting for other genres.
A lazy lion taking its midday rest in the dense shade of an acacia tree would need camera settings similar to those for a portrait shot. The same lion with its pride moving towards a river for a drink would need settings similar to those a street photographer would use. A sports photographer would be best placed to select the camera settings to capture the chase preceding a kill.
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Quick camera settings for wildlife photography:
- Aperture: between f/2 to f/6 depending on your lens and the lighting condition
- Shutter speed: between 1/250th to 1/2500th of a second depending on the animal
- ISO: A good rule of thumb for wildlife is to use a low ISO setting (e.g., ISO100)
“Walk Around” Settings?
Possibly more important is the ability to quickly change between settings as photographic opportunities arise and whether there is even time to think of settings.
As you move around in the bush it is best to have your camera set manually to settings that will allow you to quickly take a snapshot of a fleeting incident should you have no time to do any setting. This would involve setting the ISO as high as possible to allow for a small aperture which would give a large depth of focus and accommodate a fast shutter speed to avoid the camera and subject motion blur. Shutter and exposure settings should be set to screen averaging and not to spot sensing. More or less a “snap setting”. Using bracketing and burst mode would increase your chances of getting a good shot in the second or two before the event was over
A complexity in discussing settings is that the terminology used varies between manufacturers, This article, therefore, tries to use generic and common terms which need to be checked for your camera
Setting Exposure
Exposure is controlled by the combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO which are integrated and controlled by the camera modes.
Camera Modes
Camera Modes include the widely used Aperture and Shutter Priority, auto ISO and automatic modes. Auto ISO is by far the mode most used and is recommended by and for wildlife photographers.
Metering Mode
The metering mode controls from which part of your frame the camera takes the light reading it uses to determine the settings necessary to correctly expose the photo.
There are several modes but the most useful are mult-matrix metering which measures the light from the whole frame, center-weighted which uses the light from a central part of the screen, and spot metering which uses the light measured at a single movable spot on the screen.
You should use the mode that best matches your photo, for instance, use spot metering to expose a small colorful bird against a light background which would otherwise overexpose the bird.
Focusing
Focus modes
Single autofocus mode (AF-S) should be used for static or slow-moving animals while continuous autofocus mode (AT-C) should be used to keep fast-moving subjects in focus at all times, especially when moving towards or away from the camera.
Continuous focus is a complex technology and focusing is not 100% guaranteed as it depends on the equipment, lighting conditions, and depth of field. Once confirmed as set by you, single focus guarantees sharpness until the subject moves.
Some modern cameras have a hybrid automatic mode that switches between single and continuous focus when the subject drops moving.
Some photographers promote manual focus as the ”real way” of focusing. This is very difficult with moving animals and frankly often impossible. Try it if you like, but it’s not necessary
Focus Area
Single-point, dynamic, and auto-area modes use some or all of a number of focus points on the frame.
In the complex surrounding of the bush, single-point area metering is recommended as it allows you to select exactly where the sharpest part of the photo should be while avoiding the chance of incorrect focusing on “messy objects” in the foreground and background. By the way one of the rules of thumb for sharp and compelling photos of animals is to choose to focus on the eye.
Burst mode
These are a variety of settings and speeds that allow you to take a series of photographs separated by fractions of a second, This is useful in photographing fast-moving animals as you are more likely to get everything right in at least one of bursts.
White Balance
Clouds, tree cover, and changes in sunlight throughout the day all effet the white balance of your photograph giving unnatural color, most easily seen by whites that are either cold or warm. The variation of light temperature, which affects the white balance, is relatively small in wildlife shooting so white balance is easily corrected by switching auto white balance on.
Custom white balance can be set on many cameras by taking a photo of a white or preferably grey card or corrected for in post-processing if you encounter problems.
Image stabilization
Image stabilization helps to reduce, although not eliminate, the negative effects of camera motion blur on picture quality. It also effectively increases the sensitivity of the camera by 3 to 5 stops as you are able to shoot at a lower shutter speed than without stabilization.
The only downside of switching image stabilization on is the battery drain, but this is normally hardly noticeable in normal shooting.
Image stabilization serves no purpose when shooting on a tripod so should be switched off.
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Exposure compensation
This should be set to zero so that you can increase or decrease the exposure value set by the camera if necessary.
Bracketing
Exposure bracketing allows the camera to take a number of photos of the same scene over a range of different exposures allowing the best exposure to be selected. Other forms of bracketing such as ISO, focus, and flash bracketing are also available on many cameras.
Adding a well-designed, personalized list of settings to your workflow can improve your image quality and increase the number of opportunities you are able to capture.