Wildlife Photography: 17 Tips That Actually Work

Camera Settings for Wildlife Photography

The camera settings you use naturally depend on your subject. That said, here’s a breakdown of the settings that work best for wildlife photography.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is what lets you freeze an animal’s movement — it’s the single most important setting for getting sharp shots.

Set your shutter speed to at least 1/250 of a second. Check your photos right at the start of your shoot and adjust if the images still look slightly blurry.

If you’re photographing very calm animals, a longer shutter speed is totally fine.

Aperture

Aperture controls depth of field and how much light reaches your camera sensor.

With telephoto lenses, set the smallest aperture number available — usually f/5.6. This lets in as much light as possible and keeps your shutter speed nice and short.

If you’re using a prime lens, you can go even wider. This is great for a fast shutter speed and makes it easy to blur the background while keeping your subject sharp.

ISO

With telephoto lenses in particular, the risk of camera shake goes up. Even tiny movements on your part translate into a noticeable shift in the frame.

To avoid blurry photos, a fast shutter speed is your best friend. But to keep your image from coming out too dark, you’ll need to raise your ISO.

A higher ISO makes your image brighter — so dial it up until your photo is properly exposed despite the fast shutter speed. Just try to stay below ISO 6400 to keep noise under control.

Burst Mode

For animals in motion, burst mode is seriously worth using. Your camera fires off multiple shots in a row as long as you hold down the shutter button.

Most cameras today can shoot ten frames per second. Just keep in mind that you’ll have a lot more images to sort through afterward — and you’ll need more storage space.

Autofocus

Many newer mirrorless cameras have dedicated autofocus modes for detecting animals.

Enable this if your camera supports it. If it doesn’t yet have an animal autofocus mode, use AF-C mode instead. In this mode, your camera continuously adjusts focus — which is super handy when the animals won’t stay still.

Flash

Flash is not suitable for wildlife photography. Wild animals are usually too far away for it to make any difference anyway, and in zoos or animal parks, flash can easily disturb or startle the animals.

Pets don’t always respond well to flash either. If you notice your animal is uncomfortable, turn it off.

A good alternative to flash is continuous lighting. There are now plenty of LED lights available that provide constant illumination so you can shoot even in low-light conditions.

These usually only work at close range, which makes them unsuitable for wildlife photography — but they’re ideal for pet photos.

Composition in Wildlife Photography

The Rule of Thirds

We’re always so caught up in the excitement of spotting an animal that we have to remind ourselves not to just point and shoot.

Deliberate composition is really worth the effort in wildlife photography. And there’s a simple tool built right into your camera.

Your camera display can show a grid overlay — usually two horizontal and two vertical lines that divide your frame into thirds.

Place your subject at the intersection points and your photo will instantly look more balanced and interesting.

Note: You’ll find more animal photography tips on this in our article on composition.

Pay Attention to Foreground and Background

To make your animal shots even more impactful, deliberately include a foreground and background. A foreground element in particular adds depth to your image and makes it feel more alive.

In animal parks especially, you’ll often have the chance to include a bush or some leaves in the foreground.

The background, on the other hand, is a great way to add context and story to your shot. Show the viewer where the animal actually is.

Pay Attention to Lighting for Emotional Animal Photos

Play with light. Try to position yourself so that the light falls from the side or from behind the animal. This gives your photo more dimension and makes it far more interesting. Side lighting also enhances the texture of fur or skin beautifully.

Evening or morning light is best for this. The low sun creates warm, golden colors and gives you the chance for stunning backlit shots.

Focus on the Animals' Eyes

Just like in portrait photography, sharp eyes are essential in animal photos. We instinctively look straight at the eyes — whether they belong to a person or an animal.

Out-of-focus eyes are immediately jarring. Some cameras even have a dedicated animal eye autofocus mode — enable it if yours supports it.

Otherwise, use the joystick or touchscreen to move the autofocus point directly onto the animal’s eyes.

Get Closer!

The closer you get to the animal, the more detail you’ll capture — and the more compelling the photo becomes.

Push your telephoto lens to its limit and go for a tight crop of just part of the animal. This invites the viewer to use their imagination to fill in the rest.

Just make sure you’re not disturbing the animal or getting dangerously close. A long telephoto lens is perfect for capturing detailed shots from a safe distance — one of the key wildlife photography techniques to master early on.

Patience in Wildlife Photography

Patience isn’t exactly our strong suit. But for wildlife photography, it’s absolutely non-negotiable.

Animals move around constantly, and catching the pose you’re after can be tricky. Wait for the perfect moment — don’t just fire away and hope for the best.

A folding chair and an audiobook are genuinely great companions for long waits in the field.

Animal Photos Without Long-Distance Travel

Not everyone can just hop on a plane to Africa or Asia to photograph animals in the wild. Here are some wildlife photography tips for great shots closer to home.

Animal Photos at the Zoo

Shooting animals at the zoo comes with two classic obstacles: glass panels and fences. The good news is there’s a fix for both.

You can make fences disappear by stepping right up close and setting your aperture as wide as possible (lowest f-number). Focus on the animal and the fence will blur right out of the frame. This works best with widely spaced fencing.

With glass panels, getting as close to the glass as possible helps eliminate smudges and reflections.

Sometimes the autofocus goes haywire here — it keeps trying to grab the glass instead of the animal. Switch to manual focus if that happens.

For stubborn reflections, a polarizing filter is the right solution. Check the inside of your lens cap for a number — that’s the filter diameter you need.

Note: Learn more in our article on lens filters.

Animal Photos at Wildlife Parks

Find a spot with a clear sightline to a clearing where animals pass through regularly. Ideally, you want to be out of sight so you don’t spook them.

Stay quiet and unobtrusive. Leave the brightly colored sweaters at home — muted earth tones are a much better call.

Do your research beforehand about which animals you want to photograph and where to find them. This saves real time and frustration on the day.

Wildlife park websites are a goldmine for this. Feeding times are often published, along with info on when certain animals are most active — plan your visit around this.

Some parks even provide food you can use to feed the animals yourself. That’s a guaranteed way to get a great close-up.

Animal Photos at Home

At home, you can really let loose — you can shoot whenever an opportunity presents itself.

Try setting up a small feeding station in your garden. A tall wooden post works perfectly for laying out seeds and nuts. Especially in winter, this can result in stunning shots of birds and maybe even squirrels.

Your pet offers even more predictability. For your furry friend, a prime lens is the way to go — it delivers excellent image quality. A wide aperture of up to f/2.8 creates a beautiful bokeh effect.

Window light isn’t just flattering for portraits of people — it works beautifully for pets too.

When shooting by window light, turn off all other artificial light sources in the room. Otherwise you’ll end up with mixed lighting — different color temperatures that are really hard to fix, even in photo editing.

Camera Gear for Wildlife Photography

Camera for Wildlife Photography

Here’s some good news: the camera isn’t the deciding factor in wildlife photography.

That said, you’ll want a camera that lets you swap lenses. That makes mirrorless or DSLR cameras the ideal choice.

One major advantage of mirrorless cameras is their fast autofocus. Our Sony Alpha 7 IV even has a dedicated autofocus function that recognizes animals and reliably keeps them sharp.

Being able to adjust your settings manually is also a huge plus — another reason mirrorless or DSLR cameras are the go-to for how to photograph animals well.

The Best Lens for Photographing Animals

This is where things get interesting. Animals in zoos, wildlife parks, or out in the wild are usually far away.

A telephoto lens easily bridges that gap. These typically cover a focal length range of 70–200 mm or 70–300 mm.

That’s a solid starting point — and there’s really no upper limit from there. The longer the focal length, the better you can photograph even very distant animals.

For pets, distance isn’t an issue. Here we’d recommend a fast prime lens — 50 mm or 85 mm. The wide maximum aperture makes it easy to play with focus and create that beautiful background blur.

For small animals, a macro lens is also worth considering. It lets you make tiny subjects fill the entire frame.

Tip: A telephoto lens and camera body together are heavy, especially on a long day out. A tripod gives your arms a break and is really practical for wildlife photography.