Mastering Wildlife Photography Part 5: The Secret of Photographing in Harsh Environments

Wildlife doesn’t always live in comfortable places. Sometimes, the most incredible images come from the toughest conditions: cold, blistering heat, or sudden storms. Today, we’ll uncover the secret of thriving in those environments.

These conditions test photographers both physically and mentally. But fewer people are willing to endure them, so you have a great opportunity to shoot unique images.

In this episode, we'll look at:

•  Preparation
•  Protecting Your Gear 
• Shooting Techniques in Harsh Conditions
• Mindset: Embrace the Challenge.
• Safety First 

Remember to check out my PDF "A Brief Guide to Wildlife Photography" for more tips and suggestions.

Next episode:

We'll look at how to capture the most intimate side of wildlife,  portraits with true personality.

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 again and welcome to episode five in this, deep dive into wildlife photography. So in the last couple of episodes, we've looked at the, photography techniques that you can apply to wildlife photography. In this episode, I'm going to jump back to something that is quite important actually, and, can easily be overlooked. And that's how you deal with harsh environments. So the reason for doing this is that you can, well find yourself in environments that you're not familiar with and you're not used to when you photograph in wildlife. And there is a temptation to not take those conditions too seriously, particularly if they don't seem that extreme initially. And the truth is that wildlife often thrives in extremes. So that might be deserts, it could be tundra, jungles, mountains, anything like that. And if you're not used to that sort of environment, it's very easy to get caught out. So that's what we're going to be looking at now. dealing with these kind of environments can be very testing, both physically and mentally, depending, where you are. The benefit of being in these environments is that a lot of people won't go. So that means that if you persevere, if you take the right precautions, if you get the right guidance, you can come up with photographs that very few people have. So that's the benefit, and that is also the challenge. So let's start with how you prepare yourself. So the first thing to look at is, clothing. So generally, and this applies whether you're in a hot environment or a cold environment, or even a very wet environment. I'm a big believer in dressing in layers because that way you can have, a sort of base layer, that will keep you warm and maybe protect you from other threats. It could be insect bites, it could be leeches, it could be things like that. Or even, vegetation that has stings in it or thorns, those kind of things. So you might at times have to go through those kind of conditions and then just build up with layers that you can get rid of as you need to. If you are in a cold environment, but it starts getting warmer, and then maybe outside you would have a, waterproof layer. It's a good idea as well to have breathable fabrics. So I use, Gore, Texas, in the outer layer. I use, and I've used this in, generally that's my go to outer layer where it might be raining, but also as a wind break, because sometimes in a vehicle. This actually happened recently in Zimbabwe. It was quite hot when we were out, taking Photographs. But as soon as the sun went down and we're driving around in the vehicle, the temperature definitely dropped by a good 10 degrees as soon as we got into shadow, into shade. So I was just wearing a T shirt, a light long sleeve shirt that I generally wear to keep the dust and insects and anything like that off me and also to provide a layer of protection against sunburn. I immediately popped fleece on and seriously thought about putting on my waterproofs as well because that's quite effective at keeping the cold wind out that you get when you're driving in an open four wheel drive. And sometimes fleeces, while they'll keep you warm, they're not quite as good at keeping that cold air coming through when you're driving at ah, speed. So have a think about what you can do to just be prepared for any environment that you're in. And it might sound like a small thing but if you've got to drive for an hour or two and it's very cold or even wet, you can. Not only is it very uncomfortable, but you do start to expose yourself to the kind of issues you can get with extended periods in the heat or in the wet or in the cold. another thing to think about here are ah, things like hats, sunscreen, sunglasses. So going back to so particularly when I was climbing Kilimanjaro, but this is also true elsewhere. I like to have a floppy hat. It doesn't look very cool but the thing is it's got a brim all the way around and that gives me a bit of protection to my face, also to my ears and the back of my neck when I'm out in the sun. The, with sunglasses particularly when I was up at higher altitude. So that was the case in Kilimanjaro. I used wraparound sunglasses. Now I generally the sunglasses I normally use are prescription sunglasses because of my eyesight and they're good if I just want to protect my eyes. I have to use just regular glasses when I'm using the camera because I find with the sunglass I can't actually read the the information within the viewfinder easily. So I switch back to regular glasses when I need to do that. But I'm very conscious of protecting my eyes as much as possible. And the advantage of wraparounds, particularly if you don't need prescription sunglasses is that they do protect your eyes from UV light. Everything else coming in around the sides of regular sunglasses. So do have a think about that, the other things I do have with me usually are and I can never remember the name of these things. It's like a boob tube for your neck. They see they're quite long, you stick around your neck but also you can pull them m up right over your head. And they protect your neck, your head, they're great in cold weather. And also they kind of block that gap just under your chin between the underside of your chin and the top of your waterproof jacket. You can pull them up so you seal that. So if you're in cold weather or just where you, you might be going through, not so much cold weather but if you're again in an open vehicle and that draft can get very cold, it just keeps you keeps you warm that way. So basically have a think about the environment you're going to be in and make sure that you're comfortable. And it isn't just about comfort but it is making sure that you don't inadvertently cause problems for yourself later on. Now just basically, and I've spoken about this before but just be aware of hydration, electrolytes and the heat. So make sure you are drinking the appropriate amount of water. And so in the warm I'm generally aiming for probably anything from one to three liters a day if I'm not that active, if I am active. So when I was doing a hike in the desert in Namibia, that was last year, it was quite hot. I had a camel pack on and I was also carrying that had two liters, that could store two liters of water. And then I had my a regular one liter flask, ah with me on one particular day when it was hot and I'm walking all the time. When we're walking at a fairly brisk pace because we were covering, we covered 23 or 24ks that day. I drank 6 liters of water that day. I drank everything that I had in the morning as, and kind of timed it as we got to the lunch break but I had drunk three liters that morning and then the same again in the afternoon. So when you are exerting yourself you will definitely, definitely need more water. But it's really important to keep your electrolytes up as well and make sure you're eating food to make sure you've got minerals and other things that you need. Now somebody I saw on a trip in Uganda, this was actually this, this guy and in fact this lady, I'm not Sure what she did. But he was definitely, one of these personal, trainers. He was drinking lots and lots of water. I mean way more than anybody else. And they had to start drinking water with minerals in it, mineral additives. And basically the reason they had to do that, they were drinking too much water and they were actually flushing all the minerals out of their system. So do be sensible about it. Some people just got to be in their bonnet that you've got to just drink lots and lots of water. And it's not true, but you do need to drink the right amount. And an indicator that you have is, when you go, put this politely to the bathroom in the bush, if you can check the color of your pee of your urine. So if you're properly hydrated, it will be reasonably clear. Just maybe a light sort of straw color that indicates correct hydration. As it gets darker, that's a warning sign that you're dehydrated. And once you start getting into quite dark urine, and here I'm talking dark greens, orange, that kind of thing, you are seriously dehydrated. So you really need to drink straight away. the other thing to remember is that when you start feeling thirsty, you're already dehydrated at that point. So don't go crazy. but keep drinking regular sips is the best way to go about it. So just mouthfuls, but quite frequently and that will keep you hydrated. Pee when you need to, you know, you, you want to respect your body, allow it to function the way it's designed to function. But, that's really important. So that's why I've labored that point a little bit. If you are at altitude, remember that it takes your, your body a few days to adjust. So do respect where you are and don't just plow on as normal. If even if you have, even if you live at altitude, if you've been down at a low level and you go back again, it does take your body time to adjust. And again, when I was at Killim Manjaro, ready for the final, climb up to the, the summit, there we were. I, forget my limits, but I think it's above three k's. You, you really need to adapt. I'm some. Please comment if you remember what the limits are. I, I forget as I'm recording this. But the point is, above a certain level, your body can't adapt anyway. And I remember just putting some trousers on, just some externals, to keep myself warm during the ascent, and it took me ten minutes. so you are out of breath, very tired, you lose your sense of taste. You don't particularly want to eat anything, but you really need to keep your body fueled. All that kind of stuff goes on. So if you are getting into that sort of environment, you really need to get some. I would suggest professional advice. Talk to somebody who, coaches people who do that kind of work. Joe Bonnington is somebody in Australia who, does run that kind of gym. But you might, might know somebody locally, but do find a specialist so that you are properly briefed and you know what to look for. mental preparation, you just need to stay focused. So that's, about living with discomfort, knowing how to manage that, and also knowing when to stop for safety. So I kind of stress the health and safety part of it. But it is really important, protecting your gear. So I did a whole podcast on this a little while ago. Now. Somebody asked about it, but, just to quickly recap that, if you're in cold conditions, remember that your batteries don't work as well. And again, in Kilimanjaro, what I did, I had a battery in the camera, but I also had a second battery in my jacket pocket, which was against my body. So I just used my body heat to keep that particular battery a bit warmer than the outside. So if I needed to switch them, that battery at least started off at a higher temperature. So therefore, more efficient. Obviously it will, cool down. And you need to think about spare batteries as well if you don't have the opportunity to recharge them. So there are some very good solar, charging systems these days which are quite portable. So you might look into one of those, you might have a, one of those charge pack things. So there's various other items you can carry with you to, make sure you have got adequate charge in your batteries. I definitely recommend taking a backup. but remember, you've got to carry all this stuff as well. So, do think, about that. The other thing in the cold is just to avoid condensation. so when you move from indoors to outdoors, give your gear a chance to acclimatize slowly so you don't go from the very warm environment to the outside where you want to get condensation forming. The, opposite side is heat and dust. So, I recommend using, a spray cover. I use that on my gear and, and it's great for keeping very fine dust out of the whole camera system. So when I am, if I am changing things. Normally the only reason I need to access the camera body is to just recharge a battery or to just connect to the battery so that I can download whatever's on it onto my, laptop. but yeah, the spray cover is great because I have had a situation and if I did have one recently in a camera that wasn't protected, where this very fine dust can get between the lens and the camera bodies, this on a dslr and that can really mess things up. So you want to keep very fine dust out of your gear. And I do absolutely recommend buying a spray cover or some other cover that just keeps all the, all of the little joins where dust, can get in. It keeps those covered. You'll need to make sure you clean your lens often. you may have to do the sensor as well if you haven't got a dust cover. So obviously anytime you're doing that, do that in a very clean environment. So not where there's dust, you might not have a choice. But in, in some conditions, unless you know there is dust on the sensor, I would probably not take the risk and just run with it. I, do recommend getting the camera serviced regularly. So if you in particular, if you've been in a very dusty environment, do get the camera professionally cleaned. The other thing about sensors is you can get a buildup of just, not not only dust, but just stuff that kind of sits on there and you get a great. It gradually degrades the the quality of the sensor. And here again, I reckon that recommend that you get the camera sensor professionally cleaned. I don't mess about inside my camera. I don't really know what I'm doing and I'm not going to risk ruining the camera. I'd rather pay someone to do it properly. Try and avoid as well leaving the camera in direct sunlight or in cars, things like that. If you've got to have the camera in a vehicle or where there is bright sunlight, I would just chuck a cover over it of some sort. Whether it's a fleece or a coat or jacket, something. I will wrap the camera, particularly when I'm not using so much. wrap it up so that there's some level of insulation to protect from direct heat. Now the other one is, rain and humidity. So if you have your gear in a case of some sort, you might want to think about a silica gel pack just to minimize the amount of condensation where you have it stored. Waterproof bags, dry sacks, things like that might be necessary if you're in really extreme conditions. And it, it might also be worth keeping a towel handy and again maybe even wrap your gear in a towel if you don't have anything else. So do think about how to keep the gear as dry as possible. Minimize the chance of condensation, protect it from dust. Okay. What happens to shooting techniques when you're in harsh conditions? So if it's cold, you probably animals are likely to be moving more slowly and often the light will be quite bright. So here I'm particularly thinking if you're in snow, so this means that you might need to look at the white balance, you might need to look at exposure, compensation because there might be a risk to underexpose the subject if you're depending on how you're setting your exposure levels. So obviously if you're in a very bright environment, you need, really need to compensate for that. Again, if you're in the heat, you might have a lot of distortion which is really not going to help too much. So if you've got shimmering heat haze, that kind of thing. probably the, the best thing to think about is if you don't need to shoot at midday, don't go for the cooler times of day. And this is another reason why I recommended in a previous podcast that during the heat of the day, if you are in the heat, just use that time to have a bit of rest. Excuse me. The chances are that your subjects likely to be resting anyway, so follow suit. if you're in rain, it's very dramatic. But just beware of how that might upset autofocus. you might have to cope with more reflections that can add to the image. But also just be aware of exposure, correct exposure, that kind of thing. wind and sand, you probably, you're more in concern with stabilization. In that case, you might need to brace yourself. If you're hand holding, your camera, you might need to use a tripod. If you're going to use the tripod, make sure it's weighted and it's pretty stable. So the things to remember when you're using the tripod, first of all, if you've got a long lens on with the tripod, the leg that is facing away from you and sticking away, make sure that your lens is over that leg. So what you want to do is have the tripod's center of gravity, what it's supporting somewhere in the tripod center of gravity. Hopefully that's making sense. so Basically what you want to do is minimize the chance of the tripod falling over. Another thing to make particularly a lightweight tripod more stable is to put something heavy, maybe a camera bag or something else, hang it from the center of the tripod. So the bit that goes up and down, if you can find a way of hooking something onto that, that's pretty solid and pretty heavy because what that will do, it provides you a good solid base, and it drops the center of gravity of the whole camera, tripod assembly and makes it much more stable. And, look at your camera settings. You might want to have a fast shutter speed in certain conditions, but do test shots, make sure that before it becomes critical, you know that your settings are somewhere in the ballpark. Okay. so the thing about mind. So I want to talk briefly about mindset. But, in those conditions, you need to maybe deal with, frosty conditions. Your breath. I had a situation when I was photographing, gorillas. So with the gorillas in Uganda, first of all, we had to hike quite a lot in like, several hours. So I'm having to lug all this gear on my back was killing me because I'd managed to hurt my back a few weeks before when I was running. so I was not in the best shape. I really overloaded my backpack as well. I put a long lens in the end I couldn't use because the light was too bad. It wasn't fast enough. So that was quite heavy and I had a spare body in there. But all of this stuff is weight. And, I made the mistake of using a backpack where a lot of the weight was on my shoulders. I always recommend now backpacks that have a. Have hip straps because it drops the weight. Most of the weight is on your hips, not on your back. So if you do have a bad back, it means you can go a lot longer without having problems. Anyway, there was a bit of a catalog of errors on my part. And when, we did finally get to the gorillas, we had a briefing before we met them. So there were guides there and trackers, the tracks with gorillas. The guide had taken us there to where the gorillas were before we actually met the gorillas. When we sort of a few meters away from them. We had to get rid of any sticks, anything like that that the gorillas might see as a threat. And we were also told to wear masks. So this was pre, post Covid. so this was 2022. So we're a couple of. On a year or two out of it. But still it was a concern about cross species contamination. So anyway, I had my Covid mask on and I, as I mentioned before, I normally wear my normal glasses, so that way I can see what's going on in the viewfinder and see what I'm actually looking at. But the issue I had when I was with the gorillas was as with this mask, and if you remember during COVID if you were wearing glasses, you will no doubt have experienced this. My glasses started to steam up so I couldn't really see too much. So I had to take the glasses off, which meant I still couldn't see too much, but I could see a bit more than I could with the glasses on because I'm having to use the eye that doesn't focus terribly well. I, could have used the diopter adjuster on the camera, but I hadn't thought about it. So there you go, another mistake. So something to think about. And that did mean that I was kind of relying a little bit on the camera doing its job. And what I was doing was just setting bigger depth of field and that kind of thing to compensate. But this is a situation to just think about that in cold conditions you may well steam up. One place or another, your viewfinder might steam up. So again, just, just try and allow for that, be adaptable. the thing is again about being in, let's say, uncomfortable environments, cold, wet, all of that sort of thing, it can change a lot. And again, in Uganda, because we're in rainforest, we were warned that conditions could change very quickly and it can be dry one minute and then raining quite heavily the next. So I had all of my gear with me in terms of wet weather gear so that I could quickly switch over and keep dry myself and also keep my camera as dry as possible. So do have a think about the environment and changeability and just be prepared to run with it. So I think thinking that through before you get into those situations is well worth, you know, sit down, particularly before you go, think about what you're taking with you and just consider all of the different options that you might have to contend with. Okay, so the final thing I want to talk about is safety first because I've kind of been talking around this anyway and it's something that I've spoken about in other podcasts and I, I think it's bears repeating because no photograph is worth a serious risk. So really do put your own safety first. I've kind of been a bit naughty at Times and probably pushed the rules a little bit more than I should, particularly as I, I don't like heights for ex, but I have got myself in positions where I've got up high to get a good shot, and then I've got to kind of talk myself down a little bit so I don't panic, because panicking is the worst thing you can do. So do be just sensible about it. more importantly, be aware of signs of heat stroke, dehydration, frost bite, altitude sickness, all those sorts of things. So essentially, if you start to feel a bit unwell, don't disregard it. Treat it as your body telling you you've made a mistake and you now need to take some sort of remedial action or else you will be in serious trouble. generally, things like heat stroke, dehydration, altitude, you probably start getting headaches. you might feel really thirsty, you might start feeling disorientated, confused, maybe a little bit drunk, all these kind of things. so just be aware. And wherever you're going, do spend a little bit of time just looking at what the warning signs are and making sure you understand them and that you know what remedial action you can take to resolve them, because that is very, very important. Always let somebody know where you're going. I always recommend, certainly not going on your own if you can avoid that. go with a few people and have some basic first aid knowledge. So in Australia, we have St. John's Ambulance. Do, first aid courses. I think they're free. I can't remember now. but always do something like that so that you, you won't probably remember all of it, but you can particularly pay attention to the things that are relevant to where you're going. So, for example, snakebite is one that they teach you. So I always take a compression bandage with me because snake venom often works through the lymph system, the lymphatic system. And the way that works is that fluid is pumped around that system by your movement. So this is why after a snake bite, they tell you not to move. Obviously, you want the snake to ideally stop biting you and go away, but don't chase it or do any of that. Normally, animals like that, they'll bite you because they feel threatened. And often it will be a bite and then they'll get away or you just step away. But if you are bitten, as one example, take things very slowly, sit down when you can, and then get a compression bandage over the wound. And you do that because it stops fluid moving. Throughout the body and then obviously get help as quickly as possible. So you ideally want some to be able to contact somebody. So is there going to be a mobile phone coverage where you. Are your mobile phones batteries charged? Do you need, maybe a satellite phone or something like that? Is somebody with you having all of that? pack some essentials, so water, a bit of food, always have water, gps, first aid kit, those kind of things. so all of this stuff is really important and it's more important when you're in harsh environments. If you are somewhere you don't know, I absolutely recommend having a reputable guide with you and they should have, and make sure they do have all of that stuff so that if there is an issue, you can get help promptly. And the final thing on that, and I've spoken about this before, is if you are, having to get travel insurance where you're going, make sure that if you are off the beaten track that you have the appropriate insurance. Because the standard insurance policies that you might get with your credit card or your home insurance, whatever it might be, they probably don't cover you if you're in somewhere that's a little bit unusual. And particularly if you need an aerial evacuation, because of an emergency. So you don't want to suddenly find on top of everything else that you've got a massive, bill for a medical evacuation. Okay, so just to recap, what I've covered here. Prepare your body, that's clothing, hydration, pacing, get, get fit, you know, work you might, you don't have to get super fit, but at least be adequately fit that you can, you can walk a reasonable pace for however many hours you might have to do that sort of thing. So do, do spend a bit of time getting fit. Check your gear with covers, spares, clean them appropriately, that kind of thing. Adapt your shooting techniques to the conditions, particularly the light conditions that you have. But beware of the impact of temperature. Particularly respect your personal limits and think about safety first. So the thing about being in these environments is it often does give you the opportunity to shoot really interesting and in many ways unique images. But you do have to be sensible about where you're going and respect the environment that you're in. And this is where, people, the people who do have issues tend to be the people who haven't respected the environment. They think it's just like what they're used to and they don't take any, particular, precautions. So that's it for this podcast. Now in the next, episode, we're going to talk again about photography and animal portraits and, some things you should be thinking about there. Please remember to like and subscribe. there is a PDF, to go with this particular, episode. So, you should find the link in the description to download that and I will see you in the next podcast. Or at least I'll be talking to you. Bye for 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 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.