Shooting animals is one of the most difficult things that a videographer or photographer can do. Animals can be unpredictable, and obviously don’t cooperate with you at all. Wildlife can be counterproductive with you unless you know how to work with wildlife, There are a lot of things that you can do in order to help you successfully work with wildlife.
For starters, whenever you’re planning to shoot animals, pack a lunch. You will likely be filming for a very long time since the perfect moment only comes along every once in a while. Plan to be at your filming location for a while, as animals ultimately will not entirely cooperate with you, and you will likely end up being there for a while.
If you are having trouble finding animals to film, a simple thing that you can do is bring them to you! For example, if you want to film deer, bring some food for the deer to eat. Place the food in the spot you want to film at, and the animals will likely come to you. Finding the animals can be difficult, so by attracting them to you, you can eliminate this issue.
One of the most difficult things to do when filming wildlife is getting them to look good in your shots. Finding the right place on the animal to focus that makes the animal look natural is important when filming. Focusing on the eyes of animals is a good rule of thumb when filming, and will help your subjects seem more natural and look better.
When filming wildlife, it’s important to always be ready. Even if you take a 5-minute lunch break you could miss a once in a lifetime shot. A simple yet effective trick while filming is to always keep the camera running. You never know when a deer might run out of the bushes and do something crazy on film. Always keep your camera running while filming wildlife since they are unpredictable!
What is your favorite animal to film and why?