Digital SLR Photography - UK (2019-12)

KAREL

BARTI

K /SHU

TTERSTOC

K

P

HOTOGRAPHINGWILDLIFEFOLLOWSsimilarprinciplestoportraits

bycallingona broadmixofaperturesettingsandfocallengths.For

animalsbigorsmall,professionalwildlifephotographerstendtouse

large,fastprimesin theregionof400mmto600mmtoputampledistance

betweenthemandthesubjecttoallowfornaturalbehaviourtooccur.For

thosewhocan’taffordsuchhigh-endglass,a 70-300mmtelezoomis

adequateonanAPS-Csensor,givingyouaneffectivemaximumreachof

around450mm.Theselongerfocallengthswithwideaperturesareidealfor

photographingbehaviourandstaticportraits;whilewide-anglesorthe

wide-endofa zoomis moresuitabletoenvironmentalportraitsthatneed

moredepthtoincludetheirsurroundings.Oftenwhenphotographing

action,too,you’llneedtoemploya narrowaperturetoallowformore

marginin errorwhenworkingwitha movingsubject.Forinstance,if you’re

shootingremotelyandunabletofocusthelensbetweenshots,you’llneed

plentyofdepth-of-field,sousinga wide-anglelensat aroundf/8-f/11will

helpensurea sharpshot.Therearemanybenefitstoshootingwildlifewith

wideapertures,whichis whyf/4is sucha popularchoice.Beautifuldiffused

backgrounds,a fastshutterspeed,betterperformancein lowlightandnice

subject-to-backgroundseparationarea fewofthebenefits.Suchshallow

depth-of-fieldthoughoftenmeanspartsoftheanimalcaneasilyfalloutof

focus,whichemphasisestheneedforprecisefocusingtechniquesand

carefulreviewofimagesbetweenframes.

APERTURES FOR WILDLIFE

December 2019 Digital SLR Photography 57