Gear Up For Summer: Wildlife

Wildlife aficionados love nothing more than spending their weekends huddling in hides, waiting for a rare bird to pop up in front of their lens - or crouching in the undergrowth, holding their breath as a stag steps into view. It's also a game of chance: quite often you'll return home with an empty memory card, having seen nothing at all. If despite this, you're still set on critter pictures, then we reckon you might be wild about wildlife. And if so, we're ready to help you take the next step with your photo-taking!

Gear Up!

Capturing creatures on camera requires a few specialist bits of kit. Firstly, you'll want a DSLR or mirrorless to give you the creative flexibility and picture quality required to make the most of your superb subjects.

You'll also need a long telephoto lens, such as a 75-300mm or 100-400mm, to get you close to your subjects without startling them. A strong tripod's a good idea, so you can set up your stall, frame up a shot and lie in wait for the action. A remote trigger's always a good addition to your kit, as it'll allow you to capture a picture without moving and potentially startling your subject - and a good, weatherproof camera bag's an essential part of your armoury.

Oh, and you'll also benefit from a large memory card: wildlife's notorious for eating up storage, especially if your chosen subject's a fast-moving one...

Pick a project

There's an almost infinite number of different kinds of beasties and birds out there to tempt your camera, so an easy way to start is to choose a single species that you're going to study. The more you focus your mind and photography in this way, the better you'll get at capturing your chosen beast on camera - you'll be able to anticipate its movements, know what time of day (and where) it likes to loiter, and you'll be able to build up a glorious album devoted to your special subject. You could even start taking special trips to places where you know they're going to be found...

Set your alarm clock (and make a plan)

Most creatures are active towards dawn or dusk, preferring to avoid the heat of the day. This means that in the summer months, you're looking at an early start or a late finish to increase your chances of spotting a subject.

Additionally, make sure you're heading to a specific spot where you know your subject hangs out: wildlife photography's not like watching a David Attenborough documentary with relentless animals and birds everywhere you turn - there could easily be hours and hours of waiting for just a few seconds with your creature, so you have to be ready for the shot.

Repetition, repetition, repetition

Creatures will quickly scatter if someone potentially threatening wanders into their patch. Get your subjects used to your presence by visiting regularly, normally at around the same time of day, and being nice, quiet and non-threatening: this will teach them that you're not a threat, and will increase the likelihood of getting a picture of your chosen subject.

Give them space

We're not talking about physical space (though try getting too close and you'll probably see them scarper) - we're talking about the space around your subject in your photo. Use the rule of thirds to compose your picture by placing your subject on the intersections between the grid lines that divide up your frame - most modern DSLRs and mirrorless cameras allow you to display a grid over your image to help you - and always be sure to leave space around your subject to get the whole picture.

Freeze the action

If your chosen creature's a particularly fast-moving one then experiment with shutter-speed for creative effects. For pin-sharp shots of flying beasts, you'll need a shutter speed around 1/500sec - or blur the wings a little for at around 1/30sec. Experiment to see what shutter speed works best for you.

It's behind you

In the heat of the moment, it's all too easy to forget basic photographic principles: make sure you're capturing your creature against a non-distracting background so they stand out in the scene. If you're capturing birds on camera, one easy way to guarantee a great shot every time is to create a feeding station, then set up a twig or perch for them to land on before they tuck into your treats: frame your photo up on this branch and as long as you keep feeding your feathered friends, you'll be presented with a stream of visitors - and you'll be able to perfect your images in no time at all.*

* If you do start feeding birds regularly, don't stop - especially if you try this out in the winter months! Many birds come to rely on sources of food and can struggle if they're suddenly removed: your reward will be some fantastic photographs...

If you know you're the next Wildlife Photographer of The Year, make sure you show us your fantastic wildlife pictures by tagging us in your pictures on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram- we can't wait to see what you come up with!