Digital Photographer

Capture nearby wildlife

Practise the core skills for a genre where a split second makes the difference.

Wildlife photography is arguably one of the medium’s most challenging genres. However, if you are thinking of practising your wildlife shooting skills, you needn’t necessarily travel to far-off places. Wildlife can be found in urban areas, even on the streets of our biggest cities, where foxes and deer often appear at night.

Wildlife parks or nature reserves also provide opportunities to capture animals closer to your home. In these better controlled environments, you can observe a range of species and learn their behaviour, characteristics and movements. Pay attention to their feeding times, activity patterns and preferred environments within the area.

If you decide to shoot in your local forest, take advantage of the many helpful resources available online, such as the RSPB website, forums and apps, which provide detailed information on identifying different species, their habitats and migration patterns.

Timing is of the utmost importance in wildlife photography, so have your camera set up and ready to go before you set off. Take the time to familiarise yourself with your camera and check the menu for any special features that may help you shoot your best images.

For this shoot, we visited the Scottish Owl Centre in Polkemmet Country Park, near Bathgate. The centre is home to over 140 owls from 50 species and offers indoor photo shoot sessions and workshops with expert tuition from pro Dean Bricknell. In this tutorial, we’ll explain the steps you need to conquer limited lighting, make fences disappear and more.