Hints and Tips

1. For wildlife get to know your subject, the more you watch and learn about your subjects behavior the better chance you have of getting worthwhile pictures.

2.To capture the best light and to stand a better chance of finding wildlife get out early in the morning and later in the evening. This is often the best time to take landscapes in a more dramatic golden light at each end of the day, and if near loch's etc more chance of getting calm conditions suited for reflections on the water.

3.Be familiar with the working of your camera, with wildlife you have little time to be fiddling about with buttons etc.

4. For landscapes use a tripod , it helps keep camera steady and allows you to compose the picture better. Same with using longer lenses for wildlife, essential to keep camera & lens supported with tripod or if shooting from a vehicle use a beanbag positioned on door with window down.

5. In some cases in wildlife photography it is not always necessary to get so close to the subject, particularly with larger animals like Red Deer, try including them as part of the landscape, a combination of wildlife and landscape in a picture can have dramatic results.

6. It may sound obvious but if photographing plants and flowers best to do it on a calm day with little or no wind and with the light overcast, in this type of light you will get far more detail in the picture than on a bright sunny day.

7. Finally and most important try your utmost to keep any disturbance to wildlife to a minimum. Respect the landscape and it's flora and fauna and in return you will be rewarded with more satisfying encounters with it.