The Environmental Wildlife Portrait

Submitted by Keith Bridgman

 Let me start off by qualifying a few things. First of all wildlife photography is something I do...occasionally. I have many photographer friends who are far more adept and skilled at capturing wildlife than I am. Even so, I do enjoy getting out and attempting to capture whatever wildlife happens to present itself in front of my camera lens. Doing so I have employed various ways to conceal myself such as a rustic burlap hide to get in close to backyard song birds. I have sat fully camouflaged, and shivering on a cold January morning before sunrise to hopefully catch a glimpse of a deer as it meanders across a frozen field.

 I have also sat, again fully camouflaged, inside a bramble of fence row shrubs to hopefully have a flight of Sandhill Cranes land into the wind in front of me. There have been times I have trudged through waste high prairie grass in sweltering heat in hopes of discovering some prairie wildlife. I have even shot from inside my Jeep. More often than not, the wildlife did not cooperate and I would walk away empty handed.

But, on those occasions when the wildlife did appear, I have one thing in mind photographically; that is to capture the subject and include as much of the environment as possible. The reason for this is to not only capture the natural behavior of the critter, but to include its personal story as it relates to where it lives.

Closeup portraits of wildlife whether it be backyard song birds, or wild animals are nice captures in their own right. Usually only a small part of the natural environment is captured.

 But sometimes including a larger part of its environment as part of the composition can make a very powerful and interesting photograph. My goal is to give the wildlife context. To show where he lives, and combine elements of landscapes with the wildlife image.

Equipment is important, but not absolute. What works best for me is my main lens a Sigma 50-500mm f/4 - f/6.3. It has performed very well for me over the years, however I also use a basic 75-300mm Minolta lens, not unlike what you find with common relatively inexpensive combo lens / camera sets. It's just a matter of what fits your budget. Almost any telephoto lens from 200mm up will work just fine.

I much prefer for an environmental wildlife photo to have my subject close enough so I can get a good clean sharp image, yet far enough out so the telephoto lens effect can blur the background just enough to place emphasis on the subject, yet show the environmental situation. Also by shooting from a low down eye level position the effect is enhanced by including portions of both the foreground and background.

Another technique is capturing flying birds, especially large flocks of birds such as geese or sandhill cranes against a setting sun. This can create an awesome bold image. The trick here is to do it in such a way as to compress the background against the flight of the birds. This serves to enlarge the setting sun, enrich the colors, and generate a silhouette effect of the birds. 

 Deer can be one of the most fascinating subjects for an environmental wildlife portrait. They can also be very difficult to capture. Stealth is required most of the time and I usually will setup either a blind or be fully camouflaged and sit well back into the natural cover. I am fortunate to have access to about 30 acres behind where I live and I have several times setup well before sunrise in anticipation of seeing the deer as they work their way across and into the corn stubble fields.

 The tawny light of sunrise I feel is the best time, especially in winter as there will often be a heavy frost across the landscape that enhances the moment. The deer do not always have to be real close. For a environmental portrait, one that is some distance away often offers a better composition simply because it allows for more of the landscape to be included. 

I love to photograph large groups of flying birds especially against a woodland background on an overcast day. The contrasts of colors, brightness, and detail can create a magical mood. A good place to look is around large lakes especially in winter. You can often find flocks of gulls that offer wonderful environmental wildlife opportunities and sometimes pelicans or geese.

Shooting environmental wildlife portraits is a fun and productive way to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. It can be as varied as you want to make it. It does require a little planning and patience. Almost any DSLR camera and a basic telephoto lens works just fine. In fact they can be even better than larger focal length lens as they are so light weight you can often shoot by hand with really good results...this also allows you to be more mobile and adaptive to the situation.

Give it a try sometime if you have never done so. I'm sure you will agree the results will far out weight the effort required to make the attempt.