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Now I don't know if you can relate to this, but um you've gone to a shoot, you have absolutely nailed the composition, the light was perfect, the animal, because this is about wildlife, uh, was close, and really all your stars aligned, and then when you got the shot back, it came back soft. And the purpose of this podcast is to open up a series of four where each week for this week and the next four weeks, I'm gonna be looking at five issues that happen specifically for wildlife, but they obviously apply to other types of photography as well. And I want to look at particular faults, mistakes, errors that we make as photographers that really do ruin those moments. And the reason I want to do this is that in wildlife, particularly, and there are other types of photography where this is true as well, but in wildlife, excuse me, particularly, you often don't get a second chance. So it's really, really frustrating if everything does line up for you, and then the shot's not right. And and I've I've experienced that. I'm sure pretty much everybody who photographs wildlife has had that experience as well. So that is the reason for this short series. So I hope you enjoy it. Um, so let's get into it. So the first thing is to the first thing I actually want to make clear before I do get into it is that this isn't about buying additional equipment. So those of you who've listened to me for a while know that um I'm only a believer in buying additional gear when you absolutely need it, and you are very, very clear on why you need it and what it's going to deliver to you. So um, I just want to add that caveat before I start. And so, like I've said, there'll be uh five mistakes in each of these four podcasts. So what I'm gonna talk about uh this time is shut speed being too slow, uh having the wrong autofocus mode because it's important, particularly with wildlife, that you understand how your autofocus is operating and it's you're using the right um mode of autofocus setting. Um shooting wide open when you shouldn't. So I'm talking about aperture here, and also number four is underestimating what happens when you're in an environment that's very hot, so you can get all sorts of distortion coming in. Uh, that is another factor. And then finally, I'm going to talk about uh poor stabilization technique. So that is oh, they're the five. Um I will go into them a little bit deeper. That wasn't it. Um, so here we go. So shutter speed too slow for the subject. Um now I tend to hand hold a lot of the time, so I'm hand holding my camera. It's not always true because sometimes um if I'm in a vehicle that's stationary, I might lean the just rest the camera lens. So I'm usually usually using a long lens, a 100 to 400, or I've just invested in some new gear, so I've now got a 100 to 500. And just to be more comfortable, I'll sometimes rest that on the edge of the vehicle if it's an appropriate vehicle. But if I do that, I always make sure I've got a pad of some sort underneath the lens just to get rid of any vibration that's coming from um the vehicle because typically uh we'll keep the engine running, particularly if it's large animals, because we might need to get out of there pretty fast. So, what do you actually need for wildlife? Well, when I'm hand holding, I tend to shoot fast, so I'll typically be shooting at one thousandth of a second or even faster. And the reason I like to do that is first of all to just freeze the action. So the way I like to shoot generally, not always, but generally, is to just freeze the action. So if it's a whale breaching, for example, everything's frozen. The whale in midair, water droplets everywhere, but everything's frozen. Or if it's if I'm lucky enough to see an animal hunt or predator hunting, then I want to freeze that action as much as I can. However, you it is a personal choice, so you need to just be aware of what result you're trying to get. So you might want something that looks much more dramatic. So if you are photographing um, let's say a cheetah running down some prey, if you shoot at a slightly slower speed, so here I'm talking in the hundredths of a second, maybe below five one five hundredth of a second, so you're panning with the animal as it's running, you're panning, you're following the cheetah, and what you get is foreground and background blur, and also maybe some blur on the animal. It depends. Generally, the heads on uh cheetahs will stay pretty much in the same place relative to the ground, um, but obviously the rest of the animal is going to be moving. So if you have the opportunity, and that's probably a big ask because it's not often that you get to see cheetahs doing that. And if this is a one-off trip that you're doing, that might not be the best approach. But it's something to think about. If you are shooting with a slower shutter speed, you can get a lot more motion in the image, and that's a completely different photograph to what you get if you are um freezing the action. So the first thing about shutter speed, if it is messed up, the chances are that your shutter speed is too slow because a lot of the time um when something's going on, the animals are in motion, we might be in motion. So, in the in the instance of a humpback well, for example, uh, I'm on a boat that's moving, um, I'm probably pivoting to get onto the animal uh because I don't always see where they're coming up. So I need to be ready to shoot. But it's got if you think about it, you've lost the shot. It's that fast, that kind of situation. So I will shoot fast so that I can freeze what's going on and freeze that moment. Um, with land-based animals, especially where I'm stationary, I'll experiment with different shutter speeds to maybe get a bit more motion. But having said that, I don't often get to see an animal chasing down prey. So um that that's definitely um somewhere where I tend to shoot fast uh just to make sure I've got a good good record of it. Um and this this is important to recognise as well. So the shutter speed that you're gonna use for an animal that's stationary, if it's you know, a lion sitting under a bush in the or having to sleep in the midday sun, um, is quite different to the shutter speed you're gonna shoot, you're you're gonna use if that lion was chasing something. So what it comes down to, so with the shutter speed issue, it's first of all know what your kit, your lens and camera combination needs in order to freeze motion. So get familiar with shutter speeds. And the rule I generally use is that if you want to freeze action, you probably it depends on what you're using, again, what you're shooting with, but you definitely want to be above one five hundredth of a second, and you probably want to be in thousandths of a second, depending on what it is you're actually using and the situation. So if you're still on the ground, um you know, maybe one five hundredth is enough depending on how fast things are happening. Uh, if you are on a boat that's moving, uh then you definitely want to be at least a thousandth of a second. As you drop below that, so certainly once you start dropping below one five hundredth of a second, you are likely to get more and more motion coming into the image, and that will show itself as blur, and it will be um at the the faster speeds, maybe a foot moving or um maybe a bit of background blur, and as you start to reduce that shutter speed further, getting close to one one hundredth of a second, you're going to get more and more blur in there. So, completely different subject. When I used to photograph um aircraft at um air shows, propeller-driven aircraft, I was all I would always shoot at one uh one one hundred and twenty-fifth of a second and pan with them and try and get my timing right so that the aircraft was sharp, and if I got lucky, I'd even get a nice view of the pilot. But the background and also the propeller were all blurred. So with the propeller, I was aiming for a propeller disc, not just propeller blades that looked like it was, you know, I just hung a model up and was photographing that. So the important thing to remember here is really two things is think about what you want as a final result, and then understand what different settings on your camera are going to deliver for you when it comes to uh shooting things in motion. That's what it comes down to. Do you want to freeze it? Do you want some motion in there? Because they can be really amazing shots, but the ch unless you practice a lot, the chances are you're gonna blow it. And if it is one of those one-off events, say a cheetah chasing down an impala or something, that's really hard. If you decide to be a bit creative and it all goes wrong, that that can be really, really disappointing. So, anyway, that's mistake number one. And with mistake number two, uh, now this I think this is a really important one. So it's the wrong autofocus mode um for what's for moving subjects and also where you have a lot of things in the foreground and background. Now, I will say, with newer cameras, with the increasing use of AI, to some extent, this is less of an issue, but you really need to understand how your camera works because with modern cameras, so I've just got a modern, as in the the latest um generation, particularly mirrorless cameras. Uh so I've just started using uh a Canon EOS Um R6 Mark III, and this you can program to recognize eyes, it can recognize faces, that sort of thing. So, with that setting, once you've established once the camera's focused on what you're aiming for, then it will keep focus on that as that subject moves closer to you or further away. If you are using um probably most DLS DSLRs and older cameras, that the you probably don't have that capability. So it's then really important to understand first of all what you're focusing on. I always use the um spot focusing, the the um the smallest uh focusing area, so it's generally a dot in the center of the screen as my focal point. I tend to use back button focus because that means I can focus on my subject and with the back button focus let go of that, and as long as it isn't moving towards me or away from me, I know my focus is good and I can just recompose as I need to. Uh, but there's I think moving to newer cameras, there's probably less need for that. But if you're working with um a DSLR, it's a good skill, a good technique to understand. But you do need to understand how your um autofocus is working, how it's locking on a subject, and also how the tracking is working. If you if you're tracking something and if you want the camera to do it for you, so again, the thing there is to practice as often as you can, and if you can in environments that are as near as possible, are similar to what you're going to be shooting in. And the thing there with wildlife is you tend to have things in the foreground that you don't want to be focused on, there tend to be things in the background you don't want to be focused on, and your subject might be relatively small in the viewfinder. So, again, coming back to our cheetah, uh, if it is cheetahs like to hunt in savannah, so savanna means that you've got a lot of grass, and if you're relatively low down, which you're likely to be in a vehicle or you might be you know above the grass level, but there's potential for different things to get between you and the subject. This is where you really need to understand what your autofocus is going to lock on because you don't want it locking on something that's very close to you, and then your um your cheater is very blurred in the background, and equally locking on something in the background, which again puts your subject out of focus. So the important thing is to I I think use the narrow the the smallest autofocus point you can. Don't I I never use zone focusing, um, I never use blocks of nine or sixteen uh AF points, so I just keep to that center one and then I can recompose. So for years now I've used that and back button focus, and that's worked really well for me on the whole. Um, the thing I like about back button focus is some things can be quite tricky to uh focus on. So, for example, uh I was photographing some elephants in Zimbabwe, and they were in the bushes, they were you know browsing, and um, so naturally I've got lots of staff, and I'm trying to focus on an elephant's eye, which if you're familiar with elephants' eyes, they're quite small relative to their head. So it's quite a small target I'm trying to focus on. And I've got loads of stuff getting in the way, like twigs and leaves and branches and whatnot. So having got that point though, I could then shoot away, I could then recompose as I wanted to and shoot, and I'm setting a depth of field to make sure I've got a a re a useful and a usable uh focus box, is how I think of it. And um, so that's really important to understand how your autofocus is is um working. So if you're not very familiar with that, or if you find you're getting a lot of um images where your the camera's just focused on the wrong thing, then look at how your AF is set up and set it up accordingly, as I've described here. Okay, so that was mistake number two. Mistake number three is shooting wide open when you shouldn't. So this um this is about depth of field, which is really important. Um what you need to understand though is what stays in focus, it depends on the lens you're using. So telephoto lenses are much more sensitive than say a wide angle. So you're probably not going to be using a wide angle lens for wildlife, but you might. Um, I don't know. I don't want to stifle your creativity here. But if you're using a telephoto lens, then what's in focus will will vary much more depending on the aperture you set. So, for example, you might have an animal. It depends, it also depends how far away you are, which is the other thing as well. If you are shooting a state uh an animal, I'm thinking of animal portraits, this portrait of a line, actually, that's uh been in one of my collections that I really like. It was shot in South Africa, and I can't remember what the to be honest, I'd have to check what the um aperture was, but it was pretty small, so uh I'm pretty large. So the the depth field was quite narrow. It was either around F4 or possibly even lower, maybe 2.8, something like that. So you have to remember if you're a fair distance from the animal, you can zoom in, so it looks nice and close, but it is really important to get a handle on exactly what's in focus and what isn't. So I've caught myself out with this. With I remember with crocodiles on um um uh I was in I can't remember the name of the rear and box one or now, but anyway, the load of crocodiles by the edge, and I was trying to I was focused on the crocodile's eye and it had its mouth open, it was just gaping to stay cool. And unfortunately, my depth of field, I didn't quite set it right, so the snout was slightly out of focus. So if you don't understand how depth of field works, what you've got to remember is that once you've focused on your focal point, so generally an eye, the area that's in focus between your focal point and yourself, so the eye and where you're standing or sitting or wherever, is going to be less than what's in focus behind the focal point. So, in other words, behind the eye in this case, so the back of the head, you know, back if it's an animal that's uh you know on the ground like that. So it is important to just get a feel for that, and of course, that will vary with distance, what's actually in focus. So, again, with with these, uh, I think I I'm not a fan of chimping, which is um where you take a shot and you have a look at it, but it is really important if you're not sure what your depth of field is, and you want to make sure you get the shot right, and particularly if the animal's just stationary. I mean, it crocodiles, when they're just lying there doing that, tend not to move much unless something really disturbs them. So, you do have time to have a quick look and maybe shoot at different apertures, just so that you know you've got a range of focal zones, areas that are in focus in that depth of field. So, generally, what I like to do is to use the biggest aperture, as in f4 or f2.8, something like that, if I'm shooting a portrait, because I prefer to keep the front of the face in focus, so you know, the snout or whatever, um, and the nose. But what's behind is less important because what I really want to do is have people look at the eyes of the animal. They might go, I might use leading lines or things like that to create a little journey for them to reach the animal's eyes, but that's where the real connection is, and that's where you get some sense of the animal in terms of its personality. Is it aggressive? Is it is it peaceful? Is it feeling threatened? You know, all of those things. So I always do that, and I like to keep the depth of field as narrow as I can in order to do that. But as I've said, there is a danger if you're not careful and you're not really watching what's um what's going on, that you can keep that area too narrow. Now, in the case of things like humpback whales, which I've spoken about, so if I'm gonna be shooting those, I'll set quite a large depth of field zone. I might even just shoot at F22, something like that. So I know pretty much everything is going to be in focus. And the reason, very simply, is that I don't know where the whale's gonna come up. And um, I do shoot with um other apertures with a narrower depth of field, but that's only when I've got a re I've still set myself uh that sort of focus box in front of me where I know everything will be in focus, and I'm pretty confident that's where the whale is most likely to come up. I've even shot one where a whale came up and then fell backwards to fell away from me. As it went backwards, it went out of focus. So there's an aspect to trial and error with this, but of course, with wildlife, um, they're gonna pop up anywhere. So you you really need to be able to work on the fly. Okay, so that was uh mistake number three. So shoot wide open when you shouldn't. So again, just be aware that um if in doubt, give yourself um a larger depth of field. So shoot at f5.6, f8, so that you've got more depth of field than if you try and get too precise with the uh what's in focus and what isn't. Okay, so um number four, um, if you're paying attention at the beginning, is understanding what the atmosphere is going to contribute. So if you've got heat distortion and distance, so this is something to be honest, there's not much you can do about it in terms of. I mean, you can shoot at a fast shutter speed, that might minimize it, but you're gonna get some distortion. But but what I would suggest there is um so you're gonna get this when you're further away from your subject. So you can try just cropping in, zooming in as much as you can. It may be that you just use the effects of that atmosphere to create something that deliberately isn't sharp, because if you're not gonna get a sharp picture, you're not gonna get a sharp picture. But what can you do with that situation? So think a little bit more outside the box. And those kind of images can be quite atmospheric, even though the animal you're photographing, which is probably some distance away if if um heat haze and things like that are are really having an impact. But it does give you it, it can be a little bit abstract, but that you know, much more um moody kind of. Kind of outcome. So just be aware of, and the other thing to be aware of is dust. So if you're in a dusty environment, that will obviously get onto your lens. So you you need to make sure your lens is clean and keep it covered up. I tend to use the lens cap a lot in those situations. Or failing that, I'll just keep the camera in a bag or keep a shirt over it or something like that, just to keep the dust off. So I'm not having to constantly clean the lens. Because once you're out there in the dust, if you're trying to clean it, if you're exposing the lens, you're you're the you know it gets a bit tricky. You you may not be too successful with that. So be aware of that. Um, I also try and keep dust off the camera body itself because I have had issues with dust getting between the camera lens and the camera body and giving me um communication errors. So that's not a situation you really want to have to work with. And of course, if dust is getting in there, it's getting in to where the sensor is and uh all that stuff, too. So shooting in dust, you really wouldn't first of all try and keep everything covered as much as possible so that you absolutely minimize the amount of dust, particularly well, that's getting on the camera, but particularly on the lens, because obviously um that will create an effect that will if you get enough, that'll start to give you these sort of hazy looking things. With heat distortion, uh, you're probably a long shot anyway. You're probably a fair way off if it's significant. I mean, if you're close and it's still really significant, then that's probably not an environment you want to be in for too long, anyway. I would suggest. So just think about it. Can you get physically closer? Is that a possibility? Um if you try zooming, it won't, you've still got the same distance between you and the subject. You just magnified, you know, you've optically gone in closer, but physically you've got the same issue. So I would simply look at well, okay, you know, be flexible, think on your feet. What can I do in this situation that's going to give me an interesting result, an unusual photograph? Why not? So that was um number four, just underestimating atmospheric heat distortion and distance. And again, what I would suggest there is again, try not to monkey or to chimp rather, but um, do have a look at what you've got as much as you can. I mean, what you see on the back of the camera generally looks a lot better than what you've got if it's a bit marginal, but um, all you can do is see what you can see while you're there. I generally zoom in on the back a bit as well. But that is a little JPEG that's produced, and it's um it's it's not the same as the final image. Okay, and then finally, uh, number five, um, pull stabilization technique. So this comes down to um a little bit what I mentioned before when you're in a vehicle. But if you're hand holding, which you probably will be for a lot of it, uh you really need to practice bracing, you need to practice techniques, so keeping yourself steady, um, holding your breath, gently squeezing the shutter button, no sudden movements so that you jerk the camera. Um all that kind of stuff. If you're on a vehicle, so I mentioned earlier, if I'm on a stationary vehicle and I'm resting the lens on the side of the vehicle, uh, something like a beanbag is really, really useful. Or if not, I'll use a rolled-up jacket or something like that. Just something to damp out any vibration from the engine that's coming through the um the vehicle itself, because there will likely be some if you've got the engine running. Um, you can do a faster shutter speed as well, so that might be a way of reducing that will minimize the impact of that. Uh, the other thing you have to that you can't do much about when I'm talking about vehicles is people moving about because people always will. Um you're set up for the perfect perfect shot, and then somebody moves and it all goes all over the place. So if you're not very practiced um at hand holding and shooting, then I'd strongly recommend you do put yourself down to either a 60th of a second or use the um the inverse focal length rule. So, in other words, if you are or the inverse shutter speed, I should say, rule. So if um you are sorry, is inverse focal length, it's been a long day. Um, so if your focal length is 100 millimeters, that's the lens you're using, um, then don't shoot any slower than one over one hundred millimeters, so one hundredth of a second, or if it's cropped sensor, generally the the the rule of thumb is to do twice the focal length. So, in the case of the 100 millimeter focal length, try not to go lower than one two hundredth of a second. Um if you are using a long telephoto, so I use a 100 to 400, I work with the longest focal length. So, with that, I'll try not to shoot less than one four hundredth of a second because there's quite a lot of uh lens basically in front of my centre of gravity, so it gets you've got two issues there. One is it's heavier, the centre of gravity is further away from the body of the camera, which makes it slightly more difficult to balance, and any because you're magnifying more, any very small change in angle is going to be magnified just as you're you're magnifying um the subject. So just practice stabilization technique. There's not really much else you can do with that. You if you can use a monopod or a small tripod, that's great, but often with wildlife you can't. So you really it is down to practice and technique, and maybe just do a bit of strength exercises so that you're a little bit um, you know, if you're stronger, you're steadier with the uh the gear depending on how heavy it is. Okay, so as I said, that was number five. So in this podcast, I'll just um recap. So the the first mistake or the first issue is the shutter speed being too slow for the subject. So that comes down to um what kind of result you want to get, really. But if in doubt, shoot fast. Just shoot fast, and that's likely to freeze things. Um, the wrong autofocus mode or the wrong autofocus point for moving subjects. So again, if you're using an AI system on your camera, then just practice with it. If you've got if you know, if you have a ped or something, see if you can get it running about whether there are things in the way and see how well it tracks so that you know what you can expect. But it is really important to know your gear. And if you're working with older gear or DSLR, then um I recommend using um the tiniest, the smallest um autofocus point, generally the one in the center, just to keep it simple, and use back button focus. So you set the focus once, and then you can recompose and track the animal, and you haven't got to worry about uh when you're pressing the shutter button, the the camera just locks onto the wrong thing. Uh, number three, we were talking about shooting wide open when you shouldn't. So, again, it's just understanding a little bit more about how depth of field works, particularly with your gear and the lens you're using. So, as I've say, if you're using a telephoto lens and you're further away from your subject, both of which are likely with um wildlife, then just be aware of exactly what depth of field you're working with. So you may have a depth of field preview button depending on your your camera, or have a look at what it shoots. Do a test shot if you can, if you have time, and um go with that. But if in doubt, just shoot with um a smaller, physically smaller aperture. So rather than f2.8, go to f5.6 or f8. Um, if in doubt, maybe start at f8 would be my recommendation because you're sort of in the middle of the range. And um, again, depending on the scenario, you might get some out of focus background anyway, but you can you know, you're you should have your target animal nice nicely in focus if that's what you're uh going for. Okay, number four, we spir I spoke about underestimating what happens with atmospherics, heat distortion, distance. So, look, um, I I think this probably not one you're likely to come across that often, if only because it tends to happen middle of the day in very hot places. And the reason I'm saying you're probably not going to come across it that much is that even if you are in those environments, first of all, they're really unpleasant to be in yourself. You need to be drinking lots of water, as much shade as you can, but also you're the animals aren't going to be doing much either. It's too hot for them. Most of them would be finding a shady spot and having some sleep. So, and generally, as well, in that scenario, you've got middle of the daylight, which is very, very harsh. Uh, it burns out details. Um, you're not look, you might get something. Uh, you could get, as I say, you could get something a little bit atmospheric, a little bit different. So, from that perspective, it's worth having a go. But if you want to get um the the more, let's say the more regular, the more predictable wildlife kind of pictures, that's not the ideal, ideal time of day to be doing it. And then finally, number five, um, ball stabilization technique in the field. So that comes down to just um working on your technique, how to hold the camera. Um, so I always recommend elbows into your sides so that you're nice and strong, you're nice and steady if you can lean against something. And that breathing technique is also really important. So you take a deep breath, you hold it while you're pressing the shutter, so you're not your body isn't moving through breathing. And when you press the shutter button, just gently press it down and hold it until you hear the whole thing, you know, the whole cycle click, um, so that your mirror's back up or you know, the photograph's been taken. And then think about how what what you can use to brace the camera. So it might be a bean bag. Um, I braced on all sorts of things, so it's just about it's just about looking at what's what's around and uh doing that. Okay, so that is it for um for this one. Now, what I'm gonna look at uh next week is we're gonna look at composition mistakes because they're really common. I talk a fair bit about composition anyway. I have a composition course that I run periodically, and of course, in um my online course, so discovering uh DSLR mirrorless photography, a lot of that is a big chunk of it, is I think there's actually two sections in there are about composition and composition technique. Because once you've got a good composition technique, or you've got some ideas or some just guides that you can fall back on, that can immediately make a big difference to your photographs and how they feel, how engaging they are. So, anyway, we'll talk more about that next time. So, thank you for uh listening. Please like, subscribe, all those other things. I think you can hype. I haven't worked out how to how to hype, but I see it on other people's YouTube videos, so I'll throw it in. And um, if you've got anything you would like me to talk about in a podcast as well, I always like to hear those or any feedback. It's always good to uh to know. All right, thanks very much. Have a great uh have a great week. I'll be back on Friday and um speak to you then. Bye for now.