posted by Travel Cat on Jul 26
Want to improve your wildlife photography - without standing in the cold!
There are hundreds of wildlife photography centres around the world that offer the chance to get up close to ‘wild’ animals in their natural habitat.
Some specialise in local or native wildlife and others hold a vast number of more exotic species for you to get up close to - like Lynx, Jaguar and Tigers - and you are virtually guaranteed a sighting!
So what are these places and how come you can get so close to the animals - and have the perfect backdrop for your images as well?
The Setting:
Basically, wildlife enthusiasts have built up a collection or animals over the years and house them in captivity.
Whether they were originally rescued animals or have been bred in zoo-like circumstances - they look great - just like their free-roaming counterparts. I mean a fox looks like a fox whether its in the local woods or in a wooded enclosure doesn’t it.
So why stand around for hours all day waiting for a sighting - when you can virtually guarantee a perfect view from a local photography centre?
Many animals are kept in outdoor enclosures that mimic their natural habitat, whereas others are kept in an easy to maintain enclosure and transferred into a more photogenic and natural looking location when you arrive on site.
The Benefits:
Well clearly you can see that a days shooting is going to be a lot more productive if you visit a centre like this for your photography - and you pictures will be better to boot!
By getting so close to quite human-accepting animals, you don’t need to use your longest zoom ever! You can use a normal shot thus making your shot that much clearer and easier to enlarge at home.
And as the animals are so used to people being around, you can get some great shots of their natural behaviour with their surrounding and other animals in the enclosure. For example, they will curl up to sleep close to you - and if it is snowing you could get some fantastic shots!
But it’s not just about the final shots - its about the techniques you can use in the field. For example, you can get to see how these animals move, what settings work best for still or moving animals and of course what lighting and angles get you the best images.
All this is virtually impossible in the field as you may just see an animal for 1 minute as it passes behind trees - you will have no time to plan for these - so you need to already know the best techniques.
The Extras:
Not only could you come away with your best photo ever of an owl - but you could have your only ever picture of a shrew or an otter or an exotic species.
Animals that are nocturnal or live underground - or in a different country - are things that you may never get to photograph in the wild. Or you may have a collection of shots where you have to tell people what it is as it’s too small or blurry to see!
And, many of these sites have both wildlife experts to hand and if requested a wildlife photographer on site to help you work through your shots and to understand your camera that little bit better.
And becoming a regular at any animal sanctuary or photography centre could mean that you are in line for ‘first pickings’ at any new animals, scenes or special events that they offer.
And if there is a fresh layer of snow on the ground - you could get those perfect moments on film!

