r/photography • u/itsprobab • 12d ago
Technique Advice on how to handle composition while wildlife is fleeing and you're zoomed in?
Do you stay zoomed out more and crop once editing?
I am still at the phase where I'm doing my best to have my photos stay sharp, and noticed my composition has become non-existent as a result.
I keep shooting different subjects one after the other that require different settings because different animals appear at different times.
What settings do you like to use for various distances and scenes?
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u/GenericRedditor0405 12d ago
I tend to rely on at least a little bit of cropping to get a composition I prefer over what I got in the moment. I don't usually crop that much, but I definitely make adjustments. I do set my autofocus to be where I want my subject to be framed though, so that's part of how I compose shots. Caveat: I do concert photography, not wildlife, but the subjects are usually moving around a lot so maybe it applies haha
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u/mjm8218 12d ago
As others have said, crop final composition in post. Unless I have time and space to work on composition (ie the subject is very cooperative) I place the subject on or inside the outer thirds rectangle (depending on surroundings) and shoot. Final cropping in post.
Here’s an example; this guy was actively building/repairing its web. I put the focus spot in the dead center and worked and the spider moved all over the perimeter of its orb web. Exposure was Av at 1/100, f/13 & ISO3200.
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u/99ducks 12d ago
A lot of wildlife photography, and what I love about it, is learning about animals' habits and behaviors. Doing that allows you to preplan a composition.
For birds, they often take off into the wind. They often poop right before they take flight.
For your settings, use the user-defined modes on your camera so you can quickly switch between modes. I have one dialed in for general walking around bird photography and one for hummingbirds.
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u/jarlrmai2 https://flickr.com/aveslux 10d ago
Any animal fleeing is not going to be a compelling photo.
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u/cannavacciuolo420 12d ago
Do you stay zoomed out more and crop once editing?
i do this with hockey, not sure if it's doable for wildlife
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u/Daeurth 12d ago
Do you stay zoomed out more and crop once editing?
Whenever possible I give myself a little extra breathing room around my subject in case I need to straighten or use perspective correction etc, and then fine tune composition by cropping in post. This goes about triple for wildlife. You can (and should) get a general feel for how different animals will act with enough experience and that can help inform what sort of extra room you give when framing.
What settings do you like to use for various distances and scenes?
This is such a broad question that it's not really possible to give you a concrete answer because it depends on a ton of different factors. Even with that information any settings someone might offer would be a baseline to work off of at best, not a definitive answer.
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u/Cairn_CQC 12d ago
Shoot with both eyes open — seriously, it's the single biggest cheat for this. One eye in the viewfinder, one eye watching the animal, so you see it start to move before it leaves your frame. And stop trying to nail composition in the moment: frame loose with room in front of the animal's direction, keep the shutter fast, and crop later. A slightly loose sharp shot beats a perfectly composed blurry one every single time. The composition happens in Lightroom; the sharpness has to happen in the field.
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u/Linghauler 12d ago
Just build a beautiful collection of images highlighting the bums of wildlife. My bird bum collection is vast lol
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u/Only_Foods 12d ago
Zoom out a little and leave room in the direction the animal is moving — you can always crop tighter in post, but you can't add back a clipped wing or tail. I run manual with Auto ISO for wildlife (min shutter speed 1/1000, faster for birds) and put the subject on a thirds intersection with space ahead of it. Prioritize sharpness first; composition can be fixed in the edit, a missed moment can't.