Why Your Wildlife Photos Look Flat (And How to Fix Them in the Field)

Struggling with wildlife photos that look flat, washed out, or just not how you remember the moment? In this episode, we break down one of the most misunderstood tools in photography—exposure compensation—and show you how to use it with intention in the field.

Rather than treating exposure as a technical setting, you’ll learn how to use it as part of your creative process—helping you control light, shape your subject, and guide the viewer’s eye.

We walk through a simple, practical 5-step approach you can use on every shoot:

• How to identify your subject and its true tone
• What your camera is actually doing (and why it gets it wrong)
• When to add or reduce exposure in real wildlife scenarios
• How to make fast, confident adjustments without missing the moment

Using real examples—from bright birds to backlit silhouettes—you’ll learn how to stop reacting to your camera and start directing your images.

If you want your photos to feel more intentional, more impactful, and closer to what you actually saw, this episode will change the way you shoot.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

One of the mistakes that many wildlife photographers make is that they trust their camera more than they trust their own eyes, and it shows in the images they produce. So bright birds come out grey, dark animals lose depth, snow looks dull, backlit subjects become accidental silhouettes. And this is not because the camera is broken, it's happening because the camera is doing exactly what it's designed to do. It's trying to make everything average. And in my opinion, wildlife opinion uh photography is anything but average. So, what I'm going to talk about today in today's podcast is not just about exposure compensation, which is a key part of it. But I want to turn this into something practical and uh something that you can apply in the field, and really with whatever style of photography you like to uh that you're engaged in, whether it's wildlife or something else. So before I get into it, um just a reminder please like, subscribe, comment, all of that stuff is great. If there's anything you'd like me to talk about as a subject, please let me know because I I do get contacted by people and I really appreciate uh people taking the time to um to get in touch and talk about things they would like or subjects they'd like covered. That's fantastic. So getting back to it, if you've ever taken a photograph, and we've all had this, things look amazing in real life, but then when you look at the photograph later, it's really flat, it's lifeless, or it's just wrong, you know, there's something off when you look at it in the screen. So, excuse me, often the problem is that the exposure is wrong, and it isn't that it's wildly wrong, um, it's just often a way that just kills the the impact that the image had. And this is because exposure does more than control brightness, it's it's it is more than just you know how how bright and how easy it is to see things. If you've listened to the series I did on composition, um this hopefully will uh resonate and sound familiar, but exposure has a big impact on subject separation. So, one of the most important aspects in composition is having a clear subject. Exposure also controls the visual weight and it controls mood. And because it does all of that, it means that small adjustments can produce a big difference in the final result, and that can be good or bad. So, what I want to do, what I'm gonna cover in this podcast, is to talk about how to use exposure compensation to correct for those errors that are introduced by the camera, and I'm gonna talk about how they come about as well. So, in terms of the practical how-to part of this, the stages that you go through, and there are five steps to this. The first one is to identify the subject. So, this is the subject, not the scene, and this again is a big mistake that a lot of people make. They expose for the whole scene. And the question really to ask is what's your subject? Is it is it this bird, is it this animal, whatever it is? Is it a silhouette? Everything else is secondary. So what we're primarily interested in is this is the subject itself and not the scene. Then the second question to ask relates to the subject's tone. So is your subject bright? Is it dark? Is it a mid-tone? Is it somewhere in the middle? So, for examples of this, uh if you're photographing a white cockatoo, it's bright, a black bird will be dark, um, a kangaroo, it's brown, so it's going to be somewhere in the the mid to slightly dark. So this is not about precision, and that's what I really want to get clear because we're having to make these decisions, these decisions very quickly, because in wildlife photography things change very quickly. So this has to be a quick judgment, and this is where understanding what's going on and practicing really pays dividends. Now, the third step is to predict what the camera is going to do, and you this is the game changer, but you only get to this stage by practicing a lot. Because what the camera is doing, it's trying to push things towards a what it has been programmed to identify as a correct exposure, and that means pushing towards uh a mid-tone, uh middle grey, 18% grey. So, and and what it's also doing, depending on how you've set your um uh um exposure, so how it's actually working, but by default, it's gonna use most of the what's in the frame. So, if you've left it in terms of in the uh factory default, the exposure is being adjusted to suit not the whole frame, but most of the frame. So, in the case of a bright subject, the camera is going to darken it. In the case of a dark subject, the camera is going to brighten it, and that's because it's trying to expose to this middle grey. And of course, what happens when it does that? It it removes um how contrasty things are, and it can take all of the detail and all of the impact out of your image. So once you understand what the camera is doing, you're not guessing anymore, you're actually anticipating what it's going to do. So the next step is then to apply compensation. So, how do you do that? Well, if the subject is bright, add exposure, add compensation. So you do a positive uh addition. So, what you're doing in that instance is you're telling the camera to overexpose against its default settings. Because remember, if it's looking at a very bright image, it's going to try and reduce the exposure so that it gets that mid-grey. Equally, if you've got a dark subject, you want to reduce the exposure to go is to go to a negative compensation. Because what the camera will do when it sees an overwhelmingly dark image in the in the frame, it's going to try and brighten it, and you don't want it to do that. Now, if you look at exposure compensation, you'll see that in most cameras at least you're looking at thirds. So between uh let's say zero and plus one, there's actually two additional stops. So you're basically working in um thirds of a stop uh compensation. So just try that. Go for um either plus or minus 0.3, plus or minus 0.6, 0.7, and plus or minus 1. But go in those smaller steps because this is about increments rather than huge adjustments. The thing to remember is the camera is sort of going to get you in the ballpark, but what you're doing is just tweaking it back so that you don't lose that impact that you will otherwise that you'll get if you've got everything correctly exposed. So that's step four. Apply the compensation and do it quite quickly. And then the fifth step is just to check the result. So don't glance at the screen, just have a look. You've got to have a look and ask is the subject natural? Does it stand out? Does it match what you intended to do? So if if your answer is yes to that, then keep shooting. If no, then just adjust it slightly. That's what you're doing. So you're just readjusting as you need to, and this is a really good thing to practice because you need to be doing this quickly, because obviously things can change. So just to recap, um, because I've been yakking between the steps. So the first one is identify your subject but not the scene. You're really you're looking at what the subject is, you're looking at the tone on the subject. So is it bright, is it dark? Is it a mid-tone? You predict what the camera is likely to do in order to compensate if it's not in a mid-tone. You apply some compensation very quickly, but again, not a lot. So generally, no more than one stop, and you probably want to be less than that, and then just check the result, and then you know, reapply compensation as you need to. So, a scenario in the case of let's say a white bird against a dark background, your subject is the bird. The what the camera is is is going to do, this is likely to be seen as a bright image, because if you're filling the bird in the frame, that's going to look bright. So the camera is going to try and darken it to bring it back down to a mid-tone. And what you need to do is then add compensation because you're going to brighten it again. So you might add um 0.7 or 0.1, uh sorry, 0.7 or 1, and as a first check, and then ask, does that look clean and bright, or do you need to adjust one way or the other? Have you overcompensated or have you under? The reverse of that, the opposite of that is a dark animal in shade. So your subject is the animal, let's let's say a gorilla in shade, it's dark. Um, what's the camera going to do? Well, it's going to see a dark image. So, what's it going to do? It's going to try and brighten it. So, you now want to introduce compensation that reduces the exposure. So, you might be going minus 0.3, minus 0.7, or minus 1, and apply whichever one of those you feel initially to just see where it's getting you. But and then have a look at the image that you've shot. And is that does that still feel rich and grounded? Is it still giving you the the image that is it giving you what you're looking at, or do you need to make another adjustment? So another opportunity, another subject here is actually one of my favorites is backlit subjects because I really like them. Uh, however, um, this is where it starts to get interesting because your subject is the shape, not the detail. So when you've backlit something, you're not really now interested in the detail of the animal's coat, let's say whatever it is that is visible to you of the animal. What you are interested in is the shape, the silhouette, basically, and how you want to play with that. So you're looking at a bright background with a dark subject, and the camera's going to try and balance that. So the thing to do here is to go for an until the camera to underexpose against what the metering is giving it. So, in other words, go for a negative compensation because that's allowing you to lean into that silhouette and then check is that shape reading clearly? How does that shape work with the brightness around it? And then you know, change the compensation again if you have to to get the result you want. So, this is where you're getting more creative in deliberate underexposure or overexposure if you if you're going the other way. But hopefully you get the idea of that. The exposure compensation is not just about preserving correct exposure for a particular subject in a particular environment, but starting to use it creatively to tell a different story or perhaps increase the impact. And maybe with a given animal, when you backlight it, you get much stronger impact with the the silhouette than you do with kind of um semi-exposed animal, and and you know, maybe maybe just looking at it, it looks kind of wishy-washy. It's not producing the impact and and the story that you're hoping to deliver. So these are really important aspects of first of all, exposure compensation to give you a correctly exposed image, the image you're looking at, but also how you take that a step further and start to use exposure compensation to give you more creative results. So, again, exposure compensation is another tool that you have available if you want to use the full toolkit that a camera offers. So let's um just refine this because wildlife doesn't stay in one place, um, light changes constantly, whether it's in and out of shadow or you're in golden hour or whatever it might be. So, what we're looking at here are just micro adjustments while you're shooting. So, as your subject moves, if it's moving into shade, reduce the compensation a little bit. And as it moves into sunlight, increase or decrease depending on the tone that you want. So, this is steering, it not setting, it's fine-tuning, it's nudging along, but it's just going with the changing situation and and just tweaking it so that you stay in that zone where you've got something that has really good impact and really good impact at the point of shooting. So, although obviously in post you can do some sort of compensation, the key is to always try and get everything pretty much on the money when you're pressing the shutter butt shutter button, because then you you can do a lot more with something that's correctly exposed than you can with something that isn't. So, a powerful technique to use is to use short bursts and then expose slightly, adjust it slightly, either negatively or positively, and then shoot again. So this gives you options, especially if you're in fast-moving situations. So I like using short bursts. I I tend not to take individual shots, I'll use short bursts and see what that gets me, but keep tweaking between bursts so that you are um you're adjusting all the time, you're adjusting on the ghost. So you're not waiting for that perfect shot, you're just adjusting towards it, you're working towards it all the time. So the point here is you're not trying to nail the exposure on the first shot. I mean, you might get lucky and that might happen. But what you are doing is you're getting close to the perfect shot quickly, and then you're just tweaking your refining as you go. So remember, it's the moment that matters more than perfection. If you don't get the shot, you've got nothing. So remember what you're doing here is you're using exposure as a creative tool. So once you're comfortable with the basics, something changes. You're not asking so much what's correct, you're asking what looks right. And when you're asking that question, you're then making decisions about what looks right for you and the result that you're trying to get to. So remember, a slight overexposure might give you a softer feel, it might be more ethereal. If you've got a slight underexposure, that can give you more drama, more focus. This is about moods. This moves beyond just recording light and what you're seeing. So, what are the most common issues that you're going to get? First one is trusting the meat completely. The question to ask is what's it trying to do right now, knowing what it's doing in terms of presets and exposing to uh a mid-tone, and you start adjusting based on that. So, again, if you start to practice in different light situations where there's no pressure, that will really help you to instinctively um adjust your exposure to correct. You'll know which way you need to go. Uh, the other mistake is overcorrecting. So, remember to work in small steps, use that third of a stop adjustment and review, adjust again as you need to. Another mistake is ignoring the background. So, this is really important. This comes back to basic composition. Uh, you need to be clear on what your subject is, but also look at the background. How is the background supporting your subject? What's the story? And look at the separation. What separation works to make the subject stand out and to deliver that story that you're aiming for? And then the fourth mistake is freezing your settings. You don't just make one set of settings and then shoot for the rest of the day like that. That would be stupid, obviously. So, and and the same rule applies when you're shooting in a different situation, things are moving, lights changing, so you want to keep checking it as you go. So, just to I guess review a little bit, um, what's the process? So, you're seeing the subject, you're understanding its tone, you're making the decision about how it should look, and you're using exposure compensation to just tweak what the camera's giving you to get that loop that you or sorry, get that look that you are going for. So, that's the loop that you are working in because you're repeating, it's kind of a rinse and repeat. Get what you want, things have probably changed, so check it again and keep repeating. The ideal for this is for it to start becoming instinctive. So it's like most things, the more you practice it, the the more instinctive it becomes, and the less you're actually consciously thinking about it. And this is where you stop thinking about it in numbers and you start thinking about it in terms of outcome. So you look at a scene and you immediately know that this needs to be a little bit brighter, this needs to stay dark, and this is where exposure compensation stops being a setting, and it starts becoming part of how you're seeing that situation that you're looking at, and how you transfer what you're seeing to the camera, to the final image that you're storing on the camera. Okay, so that is pretty much it. Hopefully, you found some of that useful. Uh, what I do recommend is that when you're out shooting, just start getting into that habit for every shot that you're taking. Just ask yourself: is this a bright or a dark subject? What is the camera going to do in terms of trying to produce that um mid-tone exposure? Because that's what it's trying to do all the time. What do you want instead? And then adjust. So don't overthink it, but just take decisions, take small actions, and look at the difference. Remember to create, uh, to check uh that what you're getting into what you're creating. So that is it for this episode. If you've found that useful, please remember to um like, subscribe, do all of those things. Send me suggestions, that's always welcome. And remember that there is a new podcast every Friday. So enjoy your photography, and I'll speak to you next week. Bye for now.