Mastering Wildlife Photography Part 2: The Secret to Getting Close Without Disturbing Wildlife

Last time, we looked at preparation and the important things to consider before you go. In this episode, I share some of the ways that you can get ‘close’ to wildlife ethically.

Here's what I'll cover in this episode:

• Ethics 
• Understand animal behaviour 
• Stealth techniques 
• Using Distance & Lenses
• Let wildlife come to you

Next episode:

Next time, we’ll look at how to use natural light effectively.

 For more information:

Check out my PDF “A Brief Guide to Wildlife Photography” for more ideas.

It's time for another podcast...

Please take a look at the 2026 Wildlife Calendar. It's available now.

Transcript

>> Graham: 0:08

Foreign hello and welcome back for episode two. In this mini series about how to, really get into wildlife photography, I'm going to share, the secrets of good wildlife photography that I've learned over the years. So my name is Graeme Elliot and, thanks for joining me. So, in the last, episode, what we looked at, I covered really how to plan, which is a really important aspect of wildlife, photography. And obviously I went through that in the last episode. So if you haven't listened to that, please do, because I think you'll find some useful information in there. And in this episode, what we're going to look at is how do you get close to wildlife without disturbing it? And, I think on the one hand this primarily applies, I think, to land animals. However, it can also apply to pretty much anything else. And here I'm thinking about, marine life, so things like humpback m. Whales. So there are ways of getting clothes that are ethical and obviously that's one of the most important considerations. I'm, I'm actually quite passionate about ethical photography and engaging with all wildlife in an ethical way. So let get into it. So the very first thing is really ethics. And the reason that that's so important is, first of all, a lot of these animals can be endangered. Some, are nearing extinction. Some of the animals that we in fact take for granted today are, in reality very close to extinction. I must admit I was absolutely shocked when I found out that certain species, so for example things like giraffes, they're actually under threat. And if you're into wildlife, you'll know about, rhino species that are pretty much gone now in some areas, and it's actually quite horrendous. And I, I have put together some podcasts and information about the realities of threats to animals and essentially what we've done to them as a, as a species, what, human beings have done. So I'm not going to labor that point. But this is why I think when we are with them, first of all, we do need to respect them, we do need to be ethical. And I think also it underlines the importance of really good photography because if in a couple of decades some of these species have gone, that's less than a generation, then how do we know what we've lost? So a lot of the work I do is about trying to prevent that from happening. whether myself and other people who are doing the same will be successful is another story. So ethics are really important. Secondly, if you disturb animals, you are no longer Looking at their natural behavior in a given environment, you've changed the situation, you've changed the dynamics of the encounter. And what you're going to trigger is a fight or flight response or freeze. So fight, flight or freeze as a response. And that again, coming back to the ethics is not really what we want. Now having said that, and I did talk about it in the last episode, but there are operators out there and some of these, particularly the more touristy safari, operators who are very unethical. And I have seen this in certain reserves, certainly in Africa, but it happens all over the place, India, anywhere you care to name really. There will be some unscrupulous people who, to get a reaction from an animal. So the example in my mind at the moment is a lion that was having a bit of a sleep. In fact, they're a group of about three lions, and this was in the Serengeti, but it happens all over. And one of the operators decided to drive his four wheel drive, which had some guests in it, at the lion, to try and provoke response. The lion's having to sleep. It's the hot part of the day. That's what they do. They tend to hunt, dusk at night, that kind of thing. So they'll hunt opportunistically during the day, but generally during the day, particularly if it's hot, they're going to be doing what most of us would do, given no other, reason to be doing anything. That's just to have a bit of a rest. So that side of it I, I very strongly oppose. And this is why, I mean it definitely ruins the shot because you've now got a stressed animal which is not what we want to see and the whole experience is fake, it's unpleasant. And honestly, if you enjoy that kind of thing, then I'd really rather you left the podcast because you're not the kind of person I want to be sharing my, my thoughts with. So there you go. So the idea of it is to be a silent guest and this is where we have things like hides in certain environments and also, looking at the marine encounters. So I've done a lot of photography to hunt about whales, but again, even there, there are generally rules. Where I was doing it off the coast of Sydney, there are definite rules about how you interact with the whales and they're protect the animal, not to stress the animal and also to make sure that you as a guest, as an observer have the best possible experience. So I probably overemphasize, that, but that, to me, is really important. Okay, so the next thing to think about is understanding animal behavior. And this is something that came up in the research part in the last podcast, because when you understand what the kind of animal behavior you can expect depending on exactly when you're going. So it's typically time of day, that, that's when you might see a hunting situation going on and there might be resting. they might give certain behaviors, but you don't always know. So the, the thing I'm thinking of there is breaching in humpback whales, because that's always great to see, but it's a little bit difficult to predict. you might have spy hopping in the case of whales. They might swim right up to the boat. and there's some brilliant, YouTube videos actually, of whales, swimming underneath kayaks, things like that. So certainly humpbacks, in, my experience of them and what I've seen, they're very gentle. I've been in a much smaller boat and had, an animal breach right next to me, and it could easily knock the boat over. It was about three times the length of our boat, but it didn't do that. So understanding behavior gives you some idea of what you're likely to see if you're lucky, because obviously it's very, very difficult to predict and therefore the kind of photographs you might be able to come up with. Now, another aspect of animal behavior is recognizing signs of stress. So this might be warning calls, it might be tail flicks, it could be the position of an animal's ears. So, I mean, things like cats will lay their ears back when they're perhaps feeling threatened. It's a defensive posture, but it also often means that an animal that is feeling threatened may well strike and then run away. so you obviously don't want to provoke that. So it's, it's good to have some knowledge of animal behavior. What's much more important, I think, and I absolutely recommend, is to have a guide with you, somebody who understands the animals and can read them and has a fair idea, fairly good, a very good idea of what's going on, let's put it that way. And they know how to handle the situation. And if you were listening to my podcast with Dean McGregor in Zimbabwe, Dean is definitely one of those guides who is extremely experienced, trains other guides. He can read a situation. And obviously, if you're in a situation with a group of elephants or even a single elephant, it can be very threatening. it's important that somebody can read the signs of stress and respond to it appropriately because that way it keeps everyone safe. It. And I suppose a warning note to add here, but it is a real one, is, is that, more recently from when I'm recording this, in August 2025, a couple of guests in as far in Zambia were actually killed by an elephant. And this seems to have been, from what I understand, largely down to an inexperienced guide who did not understand what was going on and did not look after his guests. And you know, this is the reality of wildlife. These are wild animals. they will respond in a way that they will respond. It's not necessarily what we would want, but people. But you know, don't underestimate the, the kind of injuries that can occur and that people can die if you get it wrong. So this sort of stuff is really important. So, I'm going to talk a bit more about how you get close. So this might happen in several ways. And the over. The overarching thing to remember is to keep it safe for you and if you're leading a group for the people that you're with, because that really is the most important thing. It's far better to miss a shot, but keep everyone safe and uninjured than to take a chance and then have some sort of tragedy happen. Because that's really the last thing anybody, anybody wants. So I have tracked animals, on foot. And so first of all, when you're moving you need to keep things pretty slow. You need to be aware of what's going on around you. Again, a good guide will be able to read, spore. So that's tracks, that's animal dung, that's broken vegetation, essentially anything that is left behind by an animal. And good. So I was going to say good trackers will know which way to follow the tracks. because with things like elephant tracks, I've actually heard of this with an inexperienced guide was following elephant tracks, but when it went the wrong way, was actually going in the direction they'd come from, not the direction they were going because, that person didn't understand how to recognize which direction the animal was traveling. If you don't know much about elephant, feet, it's not entirely obvious at first glance. In fact, it's not that obvious. Tool. Which way is the front, which bit is the front, which is the back. They don't have pads like, you might have seen with dog, or cat prints or lions, things like that. They're pretty easy to see. But other animals aren't quite so clear. So they need to understand that. So you need to be going slow, keep movements deliberate. avoid sudden movements, be conscious of the noise you're making. if I like to carry water with me, but I'll always be careful to make sure and generally a camera as well. so I'm making sure that that is not banging against anything making ah, a noise. So I'm being quite careful in terms of your clothing. I spoke about this in the first episode about research and preparation. So you do need to have very neutral tones. You don't want bright colors, you don't want to stand out. You need to blend in. That is the really important thing. a lot of animals don't rely on sight so much, but a lot of them do. So if they see something they don't like the look of, there's a good chance to run away. Or if it's something like rhino or an elephant, they might attack. So that can be their form of defense. Not to run, but to attack whatever it is that they're not happy with and go from there. And obviously something big like that coming at you is, is not good news. The other sense, obviously the animals will use is, smell. So first of all you need to be very conscious of wind direction. Particularly if you are tracking an animal. You need to come from where you are downwind of them. So in other words you can smell them potentially, but they can't smell you. And of course that means you need to be very conscious of the wind direction. Because if that, and I have had that. When I was I'd been tracking some rhino on foot, I was taking photographs and then became aware that the wind was shifting. And rhinos are one of those animals that are very dangerous. If they smell something they don't recognize, there's a good chance they'll take a defensive measure which can be to charge you. So be aware of what you're smelling. I did some tracking in Namibia a few years ago now and when we spent a few days out tracking, so we were mostly in four wheel drives, but we were definitely camping out in the desert at night for a few days. And for that whole period we didn't use any deodorant, no kind of smelly stuff at all. So that the only smells were natural smells and nothing that an animal would find unusual. So that's something to be aware of. if you're in a vehicle. Generally on trips I've been on, we don't worry too much. About that. But that might be something that you're asked to, bear in mind. Obviously, being silent is really important because, again, most animals have very good hearing. So if you're just blundering through the bush and breaking twigs and rustling leaves and chatting to one another and, you know, have a very noisy camera. I have mine in silent, but it still makes noise. Have to be very careful of that. also, things like your telephone don't have alerts on and things like that just put it into a silent mode. So that if you should, suddenly pick up a signal for whatever reason, it doesn't make, make a sound or ring or do anything like that. So just before you go out, have a think about what you've got on you that will make noise and turn it off. So you want to be as quiet as possible. other things that will help you to get close, which will depend upon what you're photographing, are things like h, or blinds. So I have photographed bears in a hide, but even so, even in the hide. So the hide is obviously designed that it doesn't look like there's anybody there from an animal's perspective. You have quite narrow windows, but you can see out of those. And then below the window level there's usually a hole which has, what would it have? A kind of COVID so basically there's a material that you push your. It's got a hole in it that you push the lens through. And then you can tie that off so that the material tightly around the lens of the camera. And then you obviously are inside the hide, the camera lens is sticking out. And, you can take your photographs. But even in the hide, we. The important thing was to keep sound to an absolute minimum. You don't want animals to realize that you're there. They can't see you or smell you. And, things like lights, you wouldn't have lights on. Or if you did have anything, you'd be very careful. that light wasn't visible through the glass. So even if you're in a height, you do need to, take care. So the key thing about getting close in that sense is to keep the noise to a minimum. Keep movement slow, deliberate. Beware of smells, beware of, noise that you're making. Now, another thing that will really help, of course, is having a good telephoto lens. So this is where, that makes a big difference. So I generally use a 100 to 400. I've used longer, but that they usually need a Tripod or some form of support. So the longest lens that you can manage will come down to how strong you are, how heavy the lens and camera combination is and where you are. So, for example, on a whale watching boat, it's not practical to use a tripod or anything like that, even monopod, because you have to be able to move through a fair degree of movement, fair arc, because you're not always sure where the whale's going to pop up until it's up. And, you need to be able to get on there quickly because if you're photographing a breach, that can be over in a couple of seconds, so you don't have time to fiddle around with a tripod. And, then get everything in focus and go. You need to have. One of the things that comes with experience is being able to make an educated guess about where the whale is likely to come up or at least how far from your boat and how far from you. So you set up a depth of field. You set up, essentially think of it as a focus box where you know anything inside that box is going to be in focus. So that's where you're expecting your world to be. And then it's a question of just getting on it and firing, as quickly as you can. But even things like autofocus, if you're in that situation, you might want to consider not using autofocus or at the very least if you can select the minimum AF distance. So in other words, how close the lens will focus from you. some lenses have a choice of settings. If that animal is not going to be close, then switch it to the longest setting, as long as that still gives you the distance that you need, because that will reduce the amount of hunting that the autofocus will do. And if you kind of, if you pre focus, generally the AF will be okay. But if you've got any doubts, then maybe just use manual focus. So. And with digital you can always take a test shot. So telephoto is really important. Now the other thing is, obviously if you're in a vehicle, you might be able to rest it on something. And in the last episode I spoke about using a bean bag or something like that, if you're resting it on a, the side of a vehicle where the engine is running, because you will have vibration coming through, the vehicle body. And you need to obviously minimize the effect of that on your image. So again, a fast shutter speed is good because it will pretty much eliminate that. You get it right. The other thing to do so obviously zoom will get you in close. The other thing I like to do is get as low as I can when I'm taking a photograph. So I've got photographs. There's one of a lion that I took or lionesse that I took in Uganda and it looks almost like I'm m online in the grass with it. In fact, I was in a four wheel drive and I had simply got as low as I could in the vehicle I was shooting through what this vehicle had windows on the side. Some vehicles are open at the side. but I get always get down as low as I can. And ideally you want to be at eye level with the animal. If that's laying down in the grass then that means you need to get down really low or grass, sand, wherever it is. So being at eye level is good. If you go below eye level, that also can give you a a more unusual framing of the animals. If you're looking for more unusual shots then you know my suggestions to get low. That's also what I tend to do with whale shots. I'll get to the the back of the boat as low down as I can on the boat. And also the back tends to move back. Low down tends not to m, move so much as other parts of the boat, just because you're low down. So think about where you are in the vehicle that you're in. again if you're walking you might want to crouch down and get low. That also makes you less visible. And as long as there are other people around you, keep an eye out on what's going on around you. Then that also can be a, good thing to do. The other thing is to let wildlife come to you where you can. So obviously if you're in a hide then there isn't really an option. You have to just be quiet and let the animals come to you. But that's great because that can give you some very natural photographs because they're not necessarily aware that you're there. This is also true with humpback, whales where part of whale watching is to be tracking the whale running parallel to it. that kind of thing, something I've observed happening to me. It tends to happen more in the second part of the whale watching season. So I've spoken about that in the last podcast. I won't repeat it but, but often whales will seem to stop and then they'll come and swim up to you and have a good look around. So in that situation, what you have to do, as the boat operator is to just stop, turn your engine off and then you are there for the duration that that whale is with you. And then when the whale decides they've had enough, they'll swim off and then you can go. so if you're on a schedule that might be an issue, but it is really important. As I've said before, it's about ethical wildlife encounters and interactions. So it's really important to do that. But when whales do swim up to you like that, you can get some fantastic experiences and fantastic interactions. So that is it's really a lovely experience to have that happen. Okay, so that is pretty much it for this episode. So these are just some tips and things to think about, about how to get close to the animal and also in the photograph, how to make it look like you've got close. And the thing I didn't talk about there was cropping. but that obviously is another option you have in post processing. And this is why when you're taking photographs I always recommend you shoot in raw and you always shoot the biggest image that your camera will allow you to take. So often in DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, you'll be able to choose the file format that you save in. So it might be JPEG or it will be the. You'll have the RAW option, which will be a particular format that that particular manufacturer uses. So Canon, for example, the format that I have on my DSLRs at the moment is CR2. That's the raw format that captures all of the data. So I've got all my metadata, everything else. But also there's a lot of detail about the image that is even more detailed if you go for the maximum file size. So with my EOS 5Ds, they can be pretty big. They're generally around 70 meg. So there are a couple of downsizes with that. One is it does reduce the maximum number of images you can store on your storage inside the camera. If you've got good storage, if you have a lot of storage, then that shouldn't be a problem. And I never keep stuff on the cards in my camera. I only use those to acquire the image. And then when I can, which is normally every day, when I'm shooting, but if not, then as soon as I can, I will download those initially onto my laptop and then I'll pop them on some, a couple of one terabyte solid state drives that I always carry with me. And they're my, they're my backup and travel storage while I'm away. So the, there's an SD card and another one. so those two. I always forget compact flash. That was, I kind of think the image of flash. But that's the other card in the cameras. Those I'll use until they're starting to get close to full and I'll just wipe them because I don't want to be in a situation where I'm trying to take photographs and suddenly the cameras run out of storage. That's, you know, disastrous and completely preventable. So that's first thing. So they are big files. The other down is sometimes if you're in a high burst situation. So this would be for example with a whale breaching it does limit the burst duration because it takes a finite time for the camera to write to the internal storage. And if you are trying to do a high speed burst of 70 meg files, what happens in the EOS 5Ds that I have, it just has to pause after a couple of seconds. So that means I've got a very, I can't shoot continuously for seconds with my EOS, 7Ds. That is my or DS Mark II is the, my backup camera. But that is not a full frame camera. so it has a smaller file size and that will run a much longer burst. So that's great for shooting things like dolphins when they're porpoising. So they're out of the water for often less than a second. They're very, very fast. So I can just shoot a long burst, creating a focus box that I spoke about earlier. Because you cannot focus on a porpoising dolphin, it's far too fast. You can't use autofocus, you can't even do it manually. You have to set up an area that is in focus and then, you know, anything that pops up inside that box will be nice and sharp and you do a fast shutter speed and that's how you shoot them. Again with land animals, things like impala, when they're running again, you, you can't focus on an individual animal if they, if they're really going for it. You've just got to have a focus box and shoot that way. So that's the kind of the pro tip, I suppose. you're not trying to shoot an individual. You are shooting into a zone for a period and then you go through what you've got and hopefully you've got one or two in there that are usable. Okay, so that definitely is it. Just to recap so very first thing, again, be ethical. Really respect the animal space. You want to be there as an observer. You don't want to be interacting with the animal. It's as simple as that. So respect this space. When you're on the ground, if you're tracking on foot, move m very slowly, dress very neutrally. Minimize your noise and your scent. So for example, when I was photographing gorillas, that involved a lot of hiking. And in fact we were then meters from the gorillas. And in fact at one point I was millimeters from a gorilla because it had run at me. And again, if you're in that situation, you really need to listen to the briefings that you get from the people who know because that can be potentially dangerous. Obviously a gorilla is a very powerful animal and this was a sub adult male that wanted to express a bit of dominance over me and I had no issue with that whatsoever. but the drill was very clear. If one runs at you, you stand absolutely still as you are. You do not make eye contact. You stare at your feet, which is slightly submissive. So not not making eye contact is essentially a submissive behavior. And what you're doing in that is not challenging that animal to basically say, I'm tougher than you because you won't be. Okay? So do understand that, understand the briefings, understand know what to do if something like that does happen. It's really important that you know what the drill is. use a long lens where you can, use big image that you know, that you can crop later and get maybe a, much more intimate shot than you're able to shoot in reality. But post processing is most definitely part of the photography process and that can give you absolutely brilliant photographs. But you need to have a file size and an image size that will allow you to crop in and still retain a, a good level of detail. there is software available that will allow you to do that. So, tech labs, I think that's right. we'll do Gigapixel, AI. That doesn't sound quite right, but I shall make sure it's right in the description. but that allows you to expand up using an intelligent algorithm so that you're essentially adding detail into the file as you expand it. but yeah, you know, you, if you're not into that kind of stuff because this software isn't cheap. So if you're not going to use it regularly. It's not worth it. So just have the biggest file size you can, do. Study the animal's behavior, because that way you know what to expect and you can kind of plan, your shot as far as you can with wildlife. And finally, you know, be patient. Don't set unrealistic expectations. They're going to do what they're going to do. And, you might get really lucky or you might see nothing at all. All of that, all of these things happen. So just be aware of the realities of, what you're doing. So in the next podcast, we're going to start diving into a bit more of the camera side of it, and particularly how you use light to really make those photographs, stand out. So more of that in the next podcast. So please remember M to like and subscribe now. If you would like more information on wildlife photography or even basic photography, I do have some ebooks on the website and there is a link in the description that you can just click on that will take you to the wildlife, photography ebook. it's essentially a PDF. And, there are other books there in the bookshop and of course, have a look on the website at training files, challenges, all that kind of stuff. Okay, hope you've enjoyed that. I'll speak to you in the next podcast. see you then. Bye now. Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Now, I just want to say thank you for tuning in and joining me in the, wildlife and Adventure Photography podcast. If you have enjoyed today's episode, please give me a, like a subscribe, maybe tell your friends, and by all means leave a comment. And, and if there is a subject you would like me to cover in the future, please let me know and I'll, be very happy to do my best. So thanks again for, joining me and I look forward to seeing you again next podcast. Bye for now.