Have you ever found yourself shooting thousands of wildlife images a day trying to ‘get the shot’. You create loads of clean full frame head shots, behavior shots, distant herd images…But later in the week you are striving for something else. You are thinking more outside the box, trying more creative approaches. Once you get the classic images, what’s next?
Cree and I just experienced that in Barrow, Alaska photographing birds. We were shooting hundreds of clean eider, phalarope and shorebird images…we got plenty of classic shots. But I wanted something with more feeling, mood and ‘experience’. I was already shooting about 6 inches off the ground for a low perspective, but then I started lying my camera in the grass and dirt and shooting through the vegetation. Shooting through grass, trees, bushes and other objects can create interesting borders and add some mood to your shot.
Take a look at this red phalarope. A beautiful bird close and personal, nice to have this in the camera.
But take a look at this golden plover. This bird was about the same distance, but I shot through the grass to add some mystery and green flare to the image. It is almost like the viewer is peeking into the plover’s world in the grass.
The dunlin image at top is the same. I had tons of clean dunlin images, but I wanted a shot that was less obvious and more moody. So I shot through the brown grass on the ground to add some haze and framing in the shot.
The takeaway here is this. There isn’t a right way to shoot wildlife, but what is important is to keep all your options open for different images. Experiment, and think about how that animal sees the world. Photograph from your subject’s perspective, not your own.