As photographers we analyze a scene. We don't want to photograph an iconic scene, that has been photographed a million times before, in the same way as everybody else did. We seek a different angle, a different perspective, different conditions. We want our image to stand out, to be impactful. Often, we achieve this by shooting the scene from a different angle. Is that possible with animal photography too?

          Yes! But just like in landscape photography it is not easy. We have to find the different vantage point. We have to get there and make things works. In the last two blogs I photographed a Prairie Dog colony. I am already shooting from flat on the ground. What other, more unique perspective can I possibly find? I can't go below ground, can I?

Perhaps not. But we can create the illusion that we are shooting from below ground. I noticed that the area in which the colony was, was generally flat. There was a gentle slope, but it was flat-ish. Yet, where they dug their tunnels were little mounds from the excavated sand and mud.  That little elevation helped me to create the illusion that I am shooting from below ground. I lay flat on the ground and watched an active mound. Since the mound was higher than what I was, I am shooting slightly upward here. Because I am shooting with a long lens it appears as if I am shooting from within one of their tunnels, or at least from the entrance of a tunnel. I am further away than it appears but telephoto lenses compress things and make it look as if I am right there. By implication, the viewer of this image experiences this images from that same vantage point and therefore also feels as if he or she is right there looking at the Prairie Dog from below.

          We have to think creatively and work to get a different more unique perspective. We have too make our images stand out. They have to be different, better different. So ask yourself, how can I achieve that?