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How to Photograph Moving Animals
Kamera Express
Photographing Moving Animals
Photographing your lazy cat or slow turtle is not that difficult, but capturing that fast cheetah or lightning-fast buzzard on the sensitive plate is another story. Besides the right equipment, it also requires the necessary skills. We will help you get started with a few tips.
Practical: know which photo you want to take
It may sound stupid, but think carefully beforehand about which photo(s) you want to take. With moving animals, you sometimes only get one chance. You do not want to mess that up because you have the wrong lens on your camera or your settings are still completely wrong. Therefore, a few practical things before we dive into the execution using some inspiring photos.
Lens
Which lens is the right one for the job obviously depends on the type of photo you want to take. When capturing movement, the telephoto lens is ideally suited. Because the perspective of the photo is small, the action stands out more in the image. Just think about it: in a wide-angle photo, the action often does not jump off the image. In addition, with most (wild) animals you cannot get close with a wide-angle lens. If you want to know more about which lens is suitable for different types of wildlife photography, take a look at our selection guide.
Camera
A suitable camera for wildlife photography is fast, has accurate autofocus, and offers sufficient grip. You will therefore quickly end up with mirrorless and DSLR cameras, which give you the possibility to choose your settings yourself and pair it with the perfect lens. With moving animals, you especially want to take many photos, which is why the maximum number of photos per second is very important. Naturally, you also do not want the autofocus to lose track in between. The mirrorless cameras from Sony and Canon, for example, feature the handy Animal Eye AF, where the focus always remains on the eyes. Finally, in rushed situations you want the camera to feel comfortable and solid in the hand, so that you are immediately ready to take photos.
Settings
Because you need to react quickly, it is important that you have control over your camera settings. Preferably do not use one of the automatic modes, because these can never be suitable for every conceivable situation. When determining the settings, it is once again important that you know what kind of photo you want to take. A panning shot requires different settings than a 'frozen' image. More about that when we look at the inspirational photos.
Patience
The moment suddenly presents itself and is gone again in the blink of an eye. Sometimes you therefore need some patience before achieving the desired result. Your own dog may listen to “sit”, but you really will not get a wild animal to do that. Did it not work out or did you miss the moment? Then do not give up immediately.
Inspiration: how do you take an action photo?
This panning shot was made by moving the camera along with the deer. The trick is to find the right shutter speed where you do not make it impossible for yourself to keep the animal sharply in frame, while still creating a nicely blurred background. At the same time, you must also maintain the right composition.
The shutter speed forms the basis of your settings. Therefore, set your camera to shutter priority mode. This way, you do not have to worry about the other settings. Unfortunately, we cannot give you a fixed shutter speed that always works. This depends too much on the speed of the animal, the distance between you and your subject, the lighting conditions, and of course how blurry you want the background to be. A good shutter speed to start with is 1/60 of a second. First see what that does to your shot and only then adjust your shutter speed up or down.
Set your camera to burst mode, so that you benefit from the maximum number of photos per second. This gives you a greater chance that the right picture is among them. For extra stability, you can use a monopod. When photographing moving animals, always pay close attention to the composition as well. Leave open space on the side of the photo towards which the animal is moving. This makes the photo much more pleasant to look at.
In contrast to the panning shot, the movement in this shot is frozen. Especially when animals are coming towards you, this is often the best option.
Set your shutter speed so that there is no longer any movement in the animal. For this, you will quickly have to increase it to 1/500 or perhaps even 1/800, depending on the situation. This requires a large aperture to avoid having to unnecessarily push the ISO value upwards. Fortunately, that is also what we want, because it is precisely that blur in the background (bokeh) that separates the animal from the background and therefore makes it stand out even more. So it is a matter of playing with the exposure triangle, but stick to this: fast shutter speed, large aperture, lowest possible ISO value.
A substantial telephoto lens comes in very handy for these types of photos. Sometimes because you cannot get too close, but also because the perspective is more attractive. A monopod is not an unnecessary luxury here. With a camera that can focus on eyes, or more specifically animal eyes, you are completely in luck. Here too, pay attention to the composition. Is there perhaps something in the background that you can beautifully incorporate into the photo to clarify the story of the image? Finally, the animal is coming towards you, which means you must be prepared to zoom out in order to maintain the right composition.
The best lenses for wildlife photography
Do you want to get started with wildlife photography, but are you not yet entirely sure which lens you need? In our selection guide, we help you choose based on your wishes and budget.
