What I learnt in my first year as a wildlife photographer

While February isn’t the traditional time to do a look back on the last year, for me, this is actually the time when I first got the bug for wildlife photography, and so I thought to celebrate, well, one I made myself a photo book of my best photos from 2024 and two, it would be a good time to have a look back on what I have learnt in my first year as a wildlife photographer.

Finding animals to photograph, is harder than I thought

My first experience with wildlife photography was on a dedicated wildlife photography holiday in the Cairngorm National Park in Scotland in February 2024. On this trip we got to see some of the most amazing animals that the UK has to offer including Pine Martins, Stags and Mountain Hares. While we did do a fair bit of walking to see some of these beautiful animals, for the most part, they were relatively easy to find, which gave me a false sense of reality for when I was going out solo.

I have learnt that, actually, I need to do my research beforehand if I am to have the best chance of finding and photographing what I am actually after. Things like when and where they are likely to be out and how I can set myself up for success.

Also, talking to people is very important, whether it is locals who have seen the animal you are after in the area, or other photographers who can help guide you with what to look for. When I met with Ashley Barnard earlier this year, was a font of knowledge and also suggest Simon King’s Nature Watch book, which has been a great source of information on a whole load of animals here in the UK.

There are also apps that can help find specific animals, I have been using the eBird app so see what is around the area and try to find where specific birds have been spotted.

Equipment is key

Now this is a very broad topic, but stuff like, making sure I have enough clothes on to stay warm when sitting out for hours is very important, as is making sure I have food and drinks for the longer outings, so I don’t go home early, cold and hungry.

When I went on my Scotland trip, I only had my bright yellow coat as a waterproof layer, so getting my camo coat when I was home was on the top of the shopping list to make sure I could blend into the surroundings better.

One of my best purchases of 2024 was my seat pad, not only does it make sitting out in the wild more comfortable, it’s lightweight and waterproof, allowing me to sit out in nature for much longer than if I had nothing.

Another key thing I learnt, was that if I want stable footage, and arms that don’t ache at the end of the day, then I need to take my tripod and gimbal with me, to take the weight off my arms and allow me to be out all day.

Be Patient

I thought I was a patient person but turns out I’m not. This is something that I am working on, getting used to sitting out for hours in one spot, allowing the wildlife to come to me, rather than chase off the subject I was to photograph by trying to get myself closer.

Working on my shooting style

If you saw my Red Kite post a few weeks back, then you will know that I actually froze up and hardly took any images, and when I did take my photos, I was only taking 1–2 shots at a time with my final count at about 200 images to Ashley’s 700+. Now, while that meant I had an easier time when editing my images once home, it did mean that I missed some tweener moments and didn’t get any long sequences of action. While I think that that is OK for some instances, where the subject is going to hang around for a while, but for most encounters, I have to remember to hold that stutter button down and then pick my best shots from them, because not all of them will be in perfect focus or be the best moment when they are looking straight at you. When I went to photograph the Short Eared Owls a few weeks back, I made sure that I deployed this method and was rewarded with an image of the owl looking right at me, which I would have otherwise missed had I been shooting 1 or 2 frames at a time.

While out with the owls, I also used the auto ISO feature on my camera for the first time. This was great as the light was changeable in the field where the owls were flying, and it meant that there was one less thing that I needed to think about when following the owls with my camera. This is definitely a feature that I will be using more often with my photography.

Stop overprocessing my images

At the end of last year, I decided to make myself a photo book of 2024, filled with my best images of the year. As part of the process of getting that book together, I went back to select all the images that I wanted and found that I didn’t actually like the post-processing that I had done on a lot of them (especially the earlier ones). Looking at them now, I feel like they were overprocessed and just a bit much compared with the editing I have been doing more recently. So I actually re-edited most of the images, a bit more light-handedly, enhancing what was there and keeping things more natural, and not pushing the image too far.

The gallery below shows a few of my original edits (originals on the left), and the re-edit I did for my photo book. While all screens are different, you should be able to see that the more recently edited versions are much more toned down and more natural than the original edits I made.

Printing your work is awesome!

Now while it’s nice to go out and take all these photos, having them sitting on your hard drives, or posting on socials, just to forget about them, really doesn’t do them or your experience’s justice. There is just something special about having a physical copy of your work

With some of my favourite images of 2024, I actually put together a calendar that we could gift out to our family at Christmas. These went down really well, and it will definitely be an annual thing for me to do from now on.

I also made myself a photo book with a selection of my favourite images of the year, and I didn’t limit these to just my wildlife images, but filled the pages with images of Skylar and landscapes alongside them. It is great to be able to look through the pages at the images I created and go back and remember the experience again and again. It is also a great way to see how far I have come in my photography in just a year, and I am looking forward to seeing how my skills have progressed when it comes to the 2025 edition.

All in all, I have had an amazing year of photography. I have learnt so much, and I believe I am a much better photographer for pushing myself to get out with the camera and create all the images (and videos) in 2024.