Photo Safaris - Shooting Wildlife Models



				Ultimate Antarctica January 5–February 1, 2008

Some of the most popular and rewarding wildlife shoots available are those involving wildlife modelstame and captive or controlled mammals or birds photographed in natural or wild settings. I placed quotations around wildlife and wild because the animals used are not truly wild in nature, but in characterization. Cows and dogs and cats and goats are domestic animals, while deer and puma and coyote and bobcat are thought of as wild animals or, collectively, as wildlife.

The wildlife used in captive animal shoots is not wild born. In virtually every case, the animals are born in captivity and are bottle-fed as infants to imprint them upon their human handlers. In this way, a handler can playfully wrestle with a six-hundred-pound grizzly that could tear his head off, or work with tigers, snow leopards or cougars without risk of getting hurt, or of stressing a wild or fearful animal.

For many years the existence of game farms and handlers that worked captive and tame cougars and bobcats and lynx and most other elusive North American predators was a close kept secret. In fact, some operators were sworn to secrecy to maintain the mystique of big name photographers and deny the opportunity to photograph these animals to a wider public. I remember seeing calendar photographs and books featuring spectacular North American predator images and wondering how in the world they got that shot. I was puzzled: What were they doing that I was not? Id never even seen a cougar and this guy had shots of one feeding on a deer or nursing kittens! I didnt know, then, that the animals were captive and the photographic situations were setups.

Before we go any further, let me state that Mary and I do photograph captive predators or wildlife models. Some professional photographers do not, and some are adamantly opposed to doing so on ethical grounds. The preceding two paragraphs were meant to provide a little history, not to bias an argument either way or to promote a condemnation of the practice. Indeed, when the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA) was formed, one of the driving issues and continued controversies was the captive animal issue. Mary and I became involved in NANPA partly to help insure that an association did not become a governing or regulatory body, dictating what is politically correct or acceptable to a select group of policy makers. To NANPAs credit, this was never done and the captive models issue has been left to a photographers personal sense of values.

Although we do utilize captive or wildlife models on occasion, if we had our choice or had a realistic opportunity to film wild subjects, we would certainly elect to do so. Recently I returned from a wildlife model shoot and showed a photographer friend some of the images. His commentthat one could spend the rest of ones life in cougar country and never photograph that scenewas not an indictment that the images were untrue, but simply an assessment that the opportunity for capturing such scenes would be infinitesimally small. Cougars do dwell in the country we used for our sets, or in habitat thats virtually identical, but were unlikely to ever get a lens on one of these elusive cats, let alone get a great image of one.

Its a sad fact that an American or Canadian photographer has a far better chance of photographing a wild tiger or elusive leopard in a third world country than he or she has of even seeing a wild cat (bobcat, lynx or cougar) in North America. Our native predators are typically quite shy, attributable in part to being hunted or trapped, and also in part because of the land these predators inhabit and how a photographer travels through this land. The road system of North American national parks is limited. This is a good thing, considering the huge number of people who travel these roads each year, but it certainly lessens the chance that a predator will become accustomed to seeing vehicles approach closely. In Africa or India a photographer has the ability to drive a network of roads or tracksand in some parks even off-roadthrough prime game country. Over time, predators have lost their fear of vehicles, but not necessarily their fear of people on foot. Step out of a Land Rover and a predator is likely to run off or, if its your bad day, charge. Stay inside, and it is often possible to drive within yards of predators that seem completely oblivious to your presence.

All this being said, it is pretty clear that unless you have incredible luck and an almost unlimited amount of time to devote to chasing extremely elusive game, if you want to photograph American predators youll probably end up using captives. There are several facilities throughout North America offering opportunities of various potential. Some locations restrict photographers to shooting outside the large natural enclosures where the animals live. Typically, the model is lured close to the shooting areas by food offerings. At other facilities the model and the subject are enclosed in a temporarily erected fenced enclosure, while at others the animals may be so tame and imprinted that they stay close to the handler without the need of fences.

The term wildlife model can be extremely deceptive, implying that the animals strut down a runway or pose patiently for hours while lazy photographers snap photographs. If youve ever tried photographing your pets, especially rambunctious kittens or frisky puppies, you know how difficult it can be to get a nice shot of a very tame animal! Wildlife models are tame in the sense that theyre not unduly wary or frightened of people, but they still have their instincts and their natural speed. A gray fox might be lured into an ideal shooting site by a wad of ground meat, but it may have its head down as it approaches the food, before gobbling it up and darting off. There might be a few seconds somewhere along the foxs route where the animal looks up or adopts a striking pose, but if youre not focused and ready, youll miss the shot.

Most animals have a patience limit, if you will, where they readily work with the trainers or handlers before seeming to lose interest. In some cases the model will retreat back to its kennel (if its available) or will just start to wander off. This limit varies with the personality of the animal, the temperature or weather conditions, and the species. The most frequent comment made after a model shoot is how difficult the photography actually was and, because of this, how challenging and fun it was to shoot dynamic, active subjects. Mary and I have had sessions where we were lucky to get five good images out of several rolls of film, as our subject continually moved too fast, or presented fleeting opportunities that resulted, ultimately, in our discarding the shots. Conversely, weve had sessions where weve had an 80% keeper rate.

If youve never done a wildlife model shoot, you might be so enamored with your subject and excited by being so close to a puma or bobcat or wolf that you forget everything you know about making a good composition. Frequently, first timers shoot close-ups, headshots, or frame-fillers that concentrate solely on the animal. While tight shots and frame-fillers have their place and can be extremely compelling at times, dont forget the habitat! If all that you take back from a wildlife shoot are headshots, you may have been able to accomplish the same results just visiting a zoo. Handlers, trainers and, hopefully, your photo tour leader have invested much thought and effort into placing your subject in appropriate and attractive habitats. Youll find your overall portfolio will benefit from including some of this landscape in your scenes.

For equipment, Mary and I find telephoto zoom lenses work best, giving us the freedom of getting close-ups at the higher focal lengths and overall animals in habitat images when were zoomed to the lower focal lengths. Working distances generally are not a problem, so a 70-200mm or 80-200mm lens, matched with a 1.4X teleconverter when necessary, is all we usually need. For smaller subjects, especially if theyre flighty and shooting opportunities are fleeting, we may use our longer telephotos, occasionally adding a 1.4X teleconverter if required.

Be careful, however, if you do use shorter focal lengths. Shorter focal lengths provide a broader angle of viewwhich can be useful, of course, if youre trying to incorporate interesting habitat. In our minds eye, and certainly with most wildlife images we see, there is a certain look that may be derived from the focal lengths we normally use. While a wide-angle look may work, wed caution you to consider such compositions very carefully; otherwise the exaggerated perspective and often-distorted image will look contrived or fake.

Longer focal lengths (from 100mm and beyond) also provide some working distance that not only gives your wildlife subject some breathing room, but also will help to accommodate the compositional needs of several photographers if you are shooting in a group. Its easier for everyone to be in position if they are several yards away shooting with a 300mm, than if the working distance is measured in feet and folks are shooting with 28-135s.

With the popularity of image-stabilization lenses, weve seen a greater tendency among photographers to handhold their cameras and lenses, rather than to use their tripods. While this might seem sensible when shooting wildlife models that may require you actively following them about, we do not recommend it. Unless you are extremely steady, image stabilization can only do so much, and when Mary and I critically loupe our images at high magnification, IS just doesnt do our images justice. Its also much easier to sweep the edgeslooking along the edge of your frame for unwanted itemswhen your camera is supported on a tripod, than it is when youre trying to support a heavy lens. We use tripods about 95% of the time. I only handhold when Im using a wide-angle or similar short focal length lens and using a tripod is impractical.

We would recommend having a TTL flash unit handy for the times when additional light might be required. On our most recent model shoot I used full TTL a couple of times when I was filming animals that had retreated into deep shade, but I frequently used fill flash, generally at -1.7 compensation, when my subjects were side-lighted, when the sun was high, or when the animal was in partial shadeall situations where there was too much contrast in the scene. The fill flash brought up the exposure in the shaded or darker areas, reducing the contrast to make a much more natural and appealing image.

Youll find it helpful to have a flash mounting system that allows you to attach a flash quickly, when it is needed. Really Right Stuff and Wimberley make two excellent flash arms for mounting an off-camera flash over the lens, and not on the cameras hotshoe. By doing so, your lighting will appear more natural, especially if you rotate the camera to a vertical position. The center of gravity will be over the lens and tripod, so youll find your entire rig better balanced, which can be helpful when your tripod head is loose and not clamped down. Eliminating red-eye, or unnatural eye-shine, is easier, too, since the arms hold the flash farther away from the lens axis than a hotshoe-mounted flash.

For my latest wildlife model shoot I used a Wimberley gimbal-style tripod head for my shooting, with the Wimberley flash bracket that mounts directly onto the Wimberley head. I absolutely loved it, finding this system the fastest Ive used for mounting a flash. Mary used a different Wimberley flash bracket, which allowed her to mount the bracket directly on to her lens long quick release plate. Both Really Right Stuff and Wimberley offer flash extension arms that will mount to their respective flash arms to place a flash even further off-axis to help prevent red-eye. You still might record red-eye, or green-eye as it often appears, if your subject is some distance away, especially if the light is dim and the subjects pupils are fully dilated. For distant subjects, youll have your best chance of not recording unnatural-looking eye shine if the subject is not looking directly into the lens.

When composing your images, remember to shoot a variety of image sizes, from trophy headshots to animals in habitat. Vary your perspective if you can by shifting left or right, perhaps trading places with someone else in the group, and by dropping lower to the subjects level if that is permitted. Probably the biggest compositional error we see in most wildlife shooting is a photographers shortsightedness, looking only as far as the subject and not what is beyond. If there is a great landscape in the background, consider stopping down to a small aperture for better depth of field. Dont expect the background to be razor sharp if you are using a longer lens (135mm or greater) if your subject isnt close to the infinity mark. It will be what I call apparently sharpgiving some detail and relief, enough that youll be able to tell that it is a mountain background, not a blurred gray-blue haze. Some wildlife models hold a pose for several seconds when their attention is riveted upon their handler, making exposures of 1/30^th second possible. Alternatively, you can sometimes imply wildness and intimacy by shooting wide-open through vegetation to frame your subject in out-of-focus vegetation for a selective focus effect.

Wildlife model shooting isnt easy, but it is fun and it is rewarding. While one could debate the captive animal issue for hours (and I have!), on a wildlife model shoot youll get some great images of animals youll rarely, if ever, get in the wild. We always identify our wildlife model subjects as captives or controlled, and I think that truth in labeling may forestall some of the complaints about the use of wildlife models. Personally, I get tremendous satisfaction when I see one of my models in print, especially when the image reveals behavior or personality that the publics prejudice might normally dismiss. With predators not infrequently in the newsfrom the wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone to the rare hysterical headline of a cougar attacking or killing a personpositive imagery of these wonderful animals is a necessity. While Id love to film all of my wildlife subjects in the wild, I cant. Shooting models is the next best thing.



	Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc. P.O. Box 655, Vashon Island, Washington USA 98070 Phone: (206) 463-5383 Fax: (206) 463-5484 Email: info@photosafaris.com Copyright © 2008, Joseph Van Os Photo Safaris, Inc.