Your Wildlife Photos Aren't Just About the Animal

One of the first things I teach on my wildlife photo trips has almost nothing to do with camera settings: choose your background.

We get so excited when a gorgeous animal appears that we forget to look at what's behind it. But the background's color, texture, and distance can make or break a photograph.

Imagine a bird (in this case an endemic Red Warbler in Mexico) perched on a branch. From one spot, there's a jumble of dark trees and bark behind it (below). Take two steps left and suddenly that same bird is sitting against a distant background, giving it that lovely, un-distracting blur (above).

You didn't change your lens. You didn't change the bird. You changed where you stood.

Try this: Next time you're photographing wildlife, move a little left, right, higher, or lower (without disturbing the animal, of course). Take a few photos and compare the backgrounds.

Sometimes the biggest photographic improvement comes from moving just a few feet.

Enjoy it out there!

Court