Stop Taking Random Wildlife Photos E1/4: Why Some Wildlife Photos Work (And Most Don't)

Most wildlife photographers think inconsistent photos come from bad luck, missed focus, or not having the right gear. But often the real problem is much simpler: shooting without a clear intention.

In this episode, we explore why so many wildlife photos feel random — even when the technical settings are correct — and the mindset shift that changes everything. Instead of reacting to every wildlife encounter and hoping something works, we look at how stronger photos begin with clearer decisions before the shutter is pressed.

We discuss:

• why “spray and pray” shooting creates inconsistency
• the difference between reacting and photographing intentionally
• how strong photographers simplify scenes and identify what matters
• a simple mental approach for making more deliberate wildlife images
• why taking fewer photos can actually improve your results

This episode also introduces the next challenge: once you stop shooting randomly, how do you make strong decisions quickly in the field?

Part 1 of the series: How to Stop Taking Random Wildlife Photos

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello again and welcome to another podcast. Now, this is the first of a short series of four podcasts where what I'm going to be looking at is why some wildlife photographs work and why most don't. So if you are struggling with not only wildlife photography or you'd like to have better insights into wildlife photography, but more general photography, because uh what I'm going to talk about applies to uh many other types of photography, then hopefully you'll stay with me over the next four episodes. So before we start, my name is Graeme Elliott, and please remember to like and subscribe. It makes a big difference. Give me a comment if there's anything you'd like to add, or if there's anything you'd like me to cover in another podcast. And you can also um subscribe, make a monthly donation, and that helps me to keep all of this going. So, most wildlife photographers, and probably most photographers in general, I would say, think that inconsistency comes from their camera gear, their autofocus, it might just be bad luck. But what it really comes down to is that many people just shoot reactively and not intentionally. So, what I mean by that is that they are sort of grabbing whatever's there. And another thing that you have to remember that's really, really important is that a lot of people think that photographies photographs will be great if they're in focus, if they're correctly exposed, but that's not really it either. So I'm gonna talk through the process that takes you beyond technically correct photographs, as in correctly exposed, correctly focused, into photographs that you would want to blow up and put on your wall. That would be the ideal. So the bottom line here is simply that you're not failing because you miss shots, you're failing because you haven't decided what kind of shot you're trying to make, and you don't really understand what it takes to make that ideal if if if I use that term, that ideal shot come about. What are the components? So let's start with common behavior that people have in the field, and I'm gonna call this random shooting. And what happens is an animal appears, they get excited, they immediately grab the camera up and they're shooting away, and they might change their settings mid-sequence. But basically, what's going on is that they're just firing away and hoping that somewhere in all of these images will be one frame that actually works. So what's is that a good approach? I'm gonna suggest it isn't. And what drives that? Well, a lot of it is a feeling of uncertainty, that's definitely there. There is also that pressure of not wanting to miss the opportunity, which is completely understandable, particularly if you are in a situation where this might be um the holiday of a lifetime or something you've been planning for a very long time, and then the opportunity arrives to grab this shot. A lot of people will just snatch at it, and that's where it can all unravel, it all goes wrong. And they also it also partly comes down to a lack of self-confidence, and that's not only in terms of using the correct setting in the camera, which is definitely a factor, and this is one of the reasons why I really, really recommend that people practice as much as they can with the camera gear before they go away, if it's one of those situations where you're you're doing this kind of a trip, and that you also try and experiment with different other aspects of photography before you go away. Because what happens is it's like with anything, you you always start these things with being completely inexperienced, not really having much of a clue of where to start, and then gradually you you work things out, you figure things out, and that can be through a lot of errors, which is often the way, or you can take a course or two, hopefully, one that will really work for you, and that gives you some really good solid foundations to build on, and with that practice, ideally you'll do a course that goes through step by step, which is how I tend to do mine. I assume no knowledge, and I like to give people solid blocks, but we only cover one thing at a time, and I think that's also really important. So it might be focus, for example, and you just work on focus till you get comfortable with it, and then you move on to something else. But doing it that way means that you've got not only a solid foundational understanding of how to do a certain task or produce a certain aspect of a photograph, but you've got that confidence that comes from just repeatedly doing it correctly, and this comes back to consistency. So, one of the things I like to say to people when I'm teaching is that it's really important, in my opinion, to become consistent first. How good you are is almost irrelevant. Most people will start off being consistently bad, and that's fine because what that allows you to do is to recognize specifically where you're going wrong, and then you just work one area at a time until you start getting consistently good at it. And what happens is consistency will build, and that level of competence will increase. So you'll start being consistently bad. We all start off that way. I remember learning to play the guitar, and I just felt like I had a bunch of bananas at the end of each arm. That was how it felt trying to string a few chords together. But with just knowing the techniques, persevering and practicing, I got beyond that point. And this is true of photography and everything else. So the very the first thing to focus on is making sure you understand the basics, you know how to apply them, and you then practice so that it almost becomes second nature. You you if you're using if you're going out and using your camera a lot, which I I absolutely recommend, you might want to join a photography group or something like that. Uh, I used to help out with photo walks, they were really useful because it just gives you a you know, you commit that time every week or every fortnight, whatever it might be, when you're out photographing and you're doing it with other photographers, so you're not annoying everybody that you're with, which is the other thing. So, one of the things that drives that kind of knee-ja reaction that produces a lot of really bad images is this emotional feeling of it's uncertainty, and it's also maybe that that we we all suffer to some extent or another of imposter syndrome, where we might have got a few good shots, but we're kind of putting that down to just luck, and hopefully, no one will know how bad we really are. And you get into that kind of a loop. And the truth is if you're getting good shots, you're getting good shots, and as I've said, if you make that more consistent, then that is definitely a place to go. So, what else drives this behavior of snatching at photographs? Well, depending or feeling that there's a dependence on luck, which to some extent there is with wildlife, because you can't guarantee uh whether or not you're going to see anything. This is another important aspect of wildlife photography, particularly, that you need to have realistic expectations. And part of that is knowing that you may not see on a given trip the animal or animals that you're hoping to see, it's just the nature of it. So, yes, there is an aspect of luck in terms of seeing the animal, but you don't want to rely on luck to get the right shot. That needs to be uh something that you are absolutely controlling yourself. So, again, this comes back to uh understanding technique, understanding the essential elements to a good photograph, and then practicing to the point where you feel confident and you're delivering a consistent result. So these things definitely contribute to a lack of consistency, and I would not want to go on a trip for a lifetime if I felt that my photographs were not consistent. So, another um problem, I guess, with randomness. I was searching for the right word there, but it's not coming. But the problem with being a bit random in your photography is that it can actually feel quite productive, and this is another real trap that you don't want to fall into because the reality is you're not improving at all, you're you're relying on luck to get that good shot. So it feels productive because if you're shooting bursts, it creates an illusion of control. Unless you know what you're doing, you're again just relying relying on blind luck that the settings you've selected and focus and what the animals do, and all that kind of stuff, at one point in one or maybe two frames, it's going to come together and you'll get something that looks pretty good, hopefully, or at least half decent. But that is not control, that's just relying, that's pure guesswork, and that is not where you want to be. Um, movement feels like progress, so doing something new can feel like progress. But again, if you cannot repeat a result, if you cannot do it consistently, you have not made progress, you just got lucky. And what a lot of photographers do, they confuse activity with intention, and they are definitely not the same thing. So, what I'm talking about with intention is making conscious decisions about how you want to approach a particular subject, what kind of photograph you're going for, how you are putting that whole image together. And taking a lot of photographs is not the same thing as making better decisions, and and again, it's one of those things that it's really important to understand. So let's talk about what good photographers do. What do experienced photographers tend to do? Well, there's a few things uh that they will do pretty regularly, actually. Uh, one of them is they'll simplify what they're doing. That's not just in the frame, but it's when they get somewhere. One of the things that they will tend to do is to get there and have a look. And what what what is a photographer can't even speak now? What is a photographer trying to do when they get to uh a place and they just stop? They're not looking through the viewfinder, they're not looking at the screen on the back, they're just having a look around. So there's several things. You're first of all looking at the light. What is the light doing? Where's it coming from? How strong is it? What is the impact of the light on the photographs that I want to take? So there might be lots of light, it might be an open savanna at midday, which is a really bad place to be trying to take photographs because that is a light that doesn't work for you. It could also be in a forest where the animals are inside a lot of tree cover, and that also is very difficult because you're now working in an area where it's very dark. But these are the kind of things you're looking at, and then the questions are okay, how can I use that light? Can I change position and have the light working for me? So this will definitely impact where the light's coming from, if it's coming from one side or another. It may be if you're able to change position, you can get your subject lit in a much more useful way. They're also looking at backgrounds because another element that is vital to good photographs, and this comes back to composition, which is um really one of the absolutely it's an essential thing to understand. If you're going to be shooting good photographs, you've got to understand composition and what the elements are and where the traps are, and how you make the most of good composition, how you set up an image so that you've got good composition. So one of the things they're looking at is background. Is it cluttered? Do I have a choice of backgrounds, particularly again with wildlife? They might be moving or they might be in a particular position and they're not moving. So, how can you isolate the subject from the background? Because that's what we want. It needs to be really clear for anybody looking at the photograph what the subject is, what's the main point of interest in the shot? Now you can have multiple points of interest, and they can all work, they can create a really balanced photograph, but you've got to be thinking when you look at the scene and decide how you are going to do that. So this is conscious, it's intentional, and this is how really good photographs come about. So good photographs are uh sorry, good photographers are introducing contrasts, so they're simplifying the difference between the subject and what's around them, they are identifying what matters, so not only is it where your subject is or likely to be, but what's the lighting? Uh, how can you minimize clutter? How can you simplify things? And they'll eliminate weak opportunities early. So that might be that sometimes the animal is doing something and it really isn't the shot you want. That might be it's turned away from you, is one example. And the number of times I've been faced with the back end of an animal, I've no idea now. But this is not really the kind of shot I'm going for generally. I prefer to get the face. So it's a it's a case of just deciding when you're going to shoot, looking and also looking at the animal and deciding what they're likely to do next. Are they likely to move towards you? Are they likely to go further away? Are you likely to get a shot? So this is all about observation and it's about asking very, very specific questions before you even lift your camera up. So these are not magical instincts, this is not elite talent, these are not secret settings. This is simply understanding what the key elements are that make up a good photograph, a strong photograph, and working to get the most from those elements and doing it deliberately and doing it consistently. So I'm going to talk about um a really simple framework that you can use. So before you start shooting, just stop for a moment, pause for a moment, and just define what's your subject, what is the moment that you're going for? Because another thing that separates really good photographs from the ordinary ones is that there is something going on. So there's some behavior, or it may be that you can get a really good um portrait type shot with an animal. So you've got really strong eye contact, and it's the kind of thing that just draws the viewer into the image. So be really clear about the subject, the moment, and what your visual priorities are. So, what I mean by all of this is first of all, think about eye contact. That's the most important thing, whether you're photographing animals or people or whatever you're doing. Eye contact is really important because this is how we connect with other living things, let's put it that way. Um, where you have your subject, you want you want it to stand out, you want the silhouette, you want the outline, you want it to stand out, you want it to be clear. There are different ways of doing that, obviously, but you need to decide how you're going to do it in that moment. You might be looking for particular behaviours or observing a behaviour and recording it. And and I remember watching um a couple of zebra in uh zebras in um I think it was in Uganda, and that they were doing something, uh I think it was Namibia, but anyway, they were doing some real interest, and I wasn't sure if they were fighting or making up or what was going on, but I just shot a few frames of this behaviour while they were moving around and this sort of tussling a little bit with one another, but it was an unusual behaviour. But that to me was the the purpose of the shot to try and capture some of that in the photographs I was taking, but that was allowing it to unfold, and I was being very deliberate in how I was taking my photographs, and you're also looking at things like interaction uh with the animal and what's around them and behaviors that are going on. So this changes once you start approaching your subject that way, it should it changes your behavior in terms of your behavior as a photograph immediately, and it makes the whole thing much more deliberate. So you are choosing not only what you're photographing but how you're going to represent it in the frame. You're looking at the whole thing, you're becoming a visual storyteller, which you will have if you've listened to uh many podcasts before or been been on um any of my webinars or courses, you'll know it's something I talk about a lot. So, um, what do so, what do we have if we've got a real scenario? So let's say we've got um a bird on a branch, we've got a cluttered background, we've got changing light. How do we approach that? So, someone who isn't really thinking what they're doing, if they're just grabbing the shot, they're just going to point the camera at the bird and just fire away, and hopefully something will look okay. If you are being more intentional, what do you do? So I've just outlined a process. So, in this particular instance, what would I be doing? Well, I'm looking at the bird on the branch, and the first thing I'm looking at is is it likely to stay there? Because I might need to just grab a shot anyway. A kind of can I think of them as contingency shots, so I've got some record of that animal. But what I really want to do is get something um a bit more um deliberate about it. So, is it likely to go anywhere? Are there signs that I'm looking for that it's going to go? So often birds will make a small movement before they actually lift off a branch, and it's it's studying the animal um before you get there, if you can, that gives you these clues that something is about to happen. So you might want to observe. I mean, this is another thing. Sometimes I'll get to place and I'll just watch what's going on. If there's a lot of activity, um, I might just sit and watch and let it happen for a bit. Just so I can see what's going on, and these are the kind of signs I'm looking for. Uh, what are the signs that something's moving? Um, you know, what is the movement? If they're moving around, are they likely to come back to a particular spot? And so what I'm also looking at with where I'm going to shoot them is background, it's lighting. So, are there places from where I am at the moment that give me a good background? So it may be that there's areas of trees, for example, but then there might be more open ground. So, in terms of background, rather than having a lot of sticks and branches around the animal, maybe I can just change position and weight for them to move so that they're in a more open location. So I'm no longer trying to or somebody looking at the photograph is trying to work out where they are in all this all this mess. I'm definitely considering depth of field. That's what I quite often use as uh one of the primary tools I'm using to isolate the um the subject. And how out of focus can I put the background? If I've got a sheet against a messy background, how out of focus can I push it? Because the more out of focus it is, the better, really. Um, in terms of light, how does that work? Um first of all, is it really bright overhead? Because that's not ideal. Uh, if it's coming from behind the animal, that's going to give me a silhouette. So, can I work with that or can I change location? Or they likely to change location so that I've got light coming in from the side. So often that produces the best light because it will tend to highlight facial features a bit more. So I'm thinking about all of these things. I'm thinking about depth of field, I'm thinking about how fast a shutter speed I need as well. Because if I want to freeze motion, then obviously I've got to be shooting pretty fast. Um, I'm probably going to go for a burst anyway, particularly if it's a bird in flight, because I'm going to I'm going to set up what I think of as a focus box. So there'll be a physical area, a physical distance from my lens that I know that while the animal is inside that, they're going to be sharp and in focus. If they're not moving, I might work with a much narrower depth of field to really draw the viewer's attention into the animal's eyes. So I'm going to work with something where the eyes are in focus. Maybe the snouts or the nose is in focus, but the ears are going out of focus. So that kind of a shot. So these are. These are just ideas of the kind of process that goes through my head when I approach an animal and approach a shot. The key thing about all of this is that it's all very deliberate. I'm thinking about how I'm going to use the tool, the camera. I'm thinking about how I'm going to use the medium, which is the light, and I'm thinking about how I'm going to get the best composition with what I've got. So that essentially is the process. So if I've given you a checklist for one of a better term, why would people resist using that? Well, it comes back down to this fear of missing the moment. A lot of people feel a pressure to shoot immediately. And look, if you really need to do that, then take um what I've described as a contingency shot, just a quick shot of the animal. So you've got something. But then step back and then go through that process. Pause and have a look around. Social media influence can be another uh reason, which again is more about um be wanting to post something, although social media is a whole other discussion, frankly. Um, and there's something that I've seen described as spray and pray habits, which is basically um just setting uh setting up um uh a high speed burst and then just blasting away for as long as you can, and hoping that somewhere in those dozens, hundreds maybe of images there's something worth keeping. And in fact, a good way to cure that is to go and use um film cameras for a while because that's how I learn photography. And uh I tell you, when you've got very limited number of frames, so I might have 36 in the camera, I might have a couple of rolls with me, and um then that is it, uh, that definitely uh makes you a lot more choosy about what you're what you're taking. But the the bottom line is that the fear of missing shots often causes people to miss better shots, and this is really where I'm trying to well, let's say suggest that you go. It's it's not just being satisfied with any kind of shot, but taking better photographs. Now, there is an aspect of restraint to all of this, and it's worth remembering that not every sighting deserves a photo, and strong photographers reject weak situations. Now, I can definitely um relate to this because I have to say, if I've been away for a while and I'm back in let's say Africa or somewhere, and I'm back among wildlife again. Um, an observation I've made is I'll tend to shoot a lot of images on the first day or the first time out, and they very that number very rapidly diminishes um after that because um it's just great to I'll be honest, I get excited, it's great to see animals again, it's great to be doing the kind of photography I love doing. So I'll might have a little bit of time where I'm shooting a lot more images than perhaps if I thought about it, I would. So that's um the confession on my part. But then after that, I get a lot more selective because I've got a zebra, I've got a um you know, an antelope of some sort, whatever it is. So now that I've got that shot, that contingency shot, if you like, I can now be much more choosy about what I'm gonna photograph. So, in order to make sure you're getting good photographs, photographs that deserve to be taken, the kind of thing you need to be patient, and this is an absolute cornerstone of good wildlife photography, and I think also for many other types of photography, you really got to be patient and only shoot when you are when you've got what you needed, you know, the the setup is correct, you've got your settings correct, you're good to go, and you want to produce something that's worth taking. So patience is important, waiting is important. Um, with wildlife again, you might spend the whole session just waiting for something to happen and come back with nothing. And I've definitely had that situation. I I've had sessions where I've had nothing. Um, and I might just I'll I'll be honest, I tend to photograph birds flying if I if nothing's happening because I like to uh photograph something. Um, you might need to think about repositioning, you might be in a bad location, it might be because of light, because of background, or maybe it's just not where the animals are at the moment, and you just give it a time, but you may need to just try somewhere else. And then it comes down to choosing not to shoot. If you cannot get a good photograph, then what's the point of shooting? If you're just gonna get pretty poor photographs, to me, it's it's just not worth taking the shot. Um, so what are you gonna do with them? You'll probably just delete them anyway. So, what's the point? Okay, so um I want to talk about small changes that you can make, and these are things that will create an immediate improvement. So, I guess partly I guess we're really summarising at this point. Um, before you shoot, just again ask those questions. What matters? What's the subject? What are the points of interest? What are distractions? What can I remove? And what does a good photograph look like? What does success look like? And once you approach what you're doing in that more measured way, first of all, it slows down that kind of panic impulse where you just want to take something, and it's almost for the sake of taking it, it will most definitely improve your consistency because you're now working against a mental checklist. You are very clear, and this is important, you have to be clear on what to you makes a good photograph, and this is where research comes in with uh wildlife photography. And once you are clear on what those specific aspects are, don't shoot until you've got them or you've got an acceptable number that gives you a the chance of a good shot, and this will improve your consistency, and it reduces random shooting to the absolute minimum. So having said all of that, there is a downside, and that is that it creates a new problem. So you're now thinking intentionally, but field situations can happen quickly. So the new challenge is how do you make strong decisions fast enough in real situations? And basically this is what we're gonna look at in the next episode because randomness will take you to clarity, but the next challenge is to build a process that you can actually use under pressure when you're in the field. So that's what we'll be talking about in the next episode of this um this little group of episodes. So I hope you found what I've discussed so far useful. Uh hopefully there are some things you can implement. Maybe you've recognized there are some things that um you're doing that perhaps on reflection it'd be better if you didn't do. And as I've said, please remember to like and subscribe. Drop me a comment if you've if you've liked it, if you haven't liked it, uh just let me know. And I'll speak to you in the next podcast, which will be out on Friday. It's by for now.