Animals can be well camouflaged; their survival depend on it. That makes them difficult to spot. Now that you have spotted them you have a second problem. They blend in with their surroundings. Your photograph will be no good if people cannot find the animal in your image. Such animals are best taken as wildlife images rather than placing them in a landscape shot. That means that they need to occupy a large part of the photograph. Get that frame reasonably full with the animal. You will need a looooong lens for most animals in the wild.

You have to separate the animal from its background to make them stand out. Use the largest F.Stop your lens offers you. Use a very fast shutter speed if possible as these animals can move quickly and you are working with a long lens which requires fast shutter speeds to get sharp images (to cancel out camera movement). You want the background blurred.

          Making eye contact with the animal can add interest to the image. Work on the composition as has been discussed in previous blogs. As you drive around looking for animals always keep an eye on the camera's battery level. Once your battery is near exhaustion replace it, don't wait for it to get too low. You just never know when a rare animal shows up, or a kill happens. That is the last place you want to be stranded with no juice. By the time you replaced your battery it may be over, the animal may be gone. Change that battery when nothing is going on and it is approaching low levels.

          Just like I mentioned last week, get to know the animal's behavior to better equip you to get good images. Work with the group of people with you so that they will be quiet. Get them not to move around in the vehicle as that will make you loose the animal in the viewfinder. Shut the vehicle's engine off when you shoot as engine vibration ruins your sharpness.

          Always respect the animals and try not to disturb them.