Wildlife photography hacks

[@Clayton_White]

Instead of flour, I recommend collecting some milkweed or a similar native seed pod that actually works better than flour for several reasons. It's free, natural, and the pods float in the wind longer than flour, giving you a better idea of wind direction.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Cheers. I'll look into it. Though flour is just ground wheat - nothing added, so it doesn't harm anything. But I like the idea of the pods floating for longer. Thanks for sharing and for watching.

[@gman5375]

Fabric camo tape is handy for lenses, pretty cheap, no shine off it and offers some scuff protection too

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Good tip. Thanks for watching.

[@cerealkiller4248]

The shot of you photographing Red Kites was almost 100% exact what I was wearing when I was after a Kingfisher down my local river. As I sat still learning against a tree a Grey Squirrel caught my eye from 8m ( 25’ ) away. I froze apart from my eyes, and watched it forage until it came right up to me, then it ran up my body and onto the tree without realising what I was. No ghille suit, just camo trousers ( woodland camo style ) an olive green fleece, olive cap and a camo neck gator.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Brilliant, they're the kind of experiences you don't forget. Thanks for watching.

[@TheSmartWoodshop]

A disposable lighter is a common way to see wind direction. My settings for birds have gotten very simple over the years. Manual, wide open, auto ISO. The end result is that I only adjust the shutter speed. This is made possible by the current camera bodies that have good ISO performance and software that removes noise without reducing detail such as Topaz Photo AI. I am very comfortable with 10,000 iso on the Sony A1.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Hi Ron. Yes, lighters are a good way to do it if you carry one. On your second point, I agree that it is an easy way to do it. The problem for me is that I like to be in control and I deliberately under or over expose very often, depending on the effect I'm going for. Could always use some exposure compensation, but I might as well just manually set this ISO if I'm going to do that. But I agree, your method will work for a lot of people. Thanks for the comment and for watching.

[@TheSmartWoodshop]

​@@WalksOnTheWildSide "I dial in -2/3 stop for 70% of my shots, unless I am shooting darkly feathered birds. Additionally, the A1 has at least 2 stops of exposure adjustment, as I am sure Canon and Nikon cameras offer as well. After shooting birds for four decades, including film and manual focus, all I can say is that the technical side is easy. Now, I spend most of my energy on composition and immediately deleting 700 tack sharp photos when I get home." 😎

[@a.beckwith4576]

Thanks Scott for all the tips, great video

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Hi. Thanks for watching another video.

[@hjs1966]

Your videos are the best way for me to combine two things ... how to train my english skills and look some things about my hobby photographing. Many thanks to your side.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Hi Hermann. That's great to hear and I'm glad you're enjoying the videos. Thank you for watching.

[@hjs1966]

@@WalksOnTheWildSide i'm back to look more of your videos.

[@littleoneadventures]

You are so creative and fun. Lots of great tips, I understand the part about being pale. Even in summer I look like a ghost,

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Me too. Except for the few days a year that we get really bright sunshine, and then I turn red like a lobster. Thanks for watching.

[@AndiusTeijgeler]

Nice video! Good hacks. For the foreground blur you can also use a perch with leaves or even a panty, with which you cover the lower part of the lens.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Great point - thanks for sharing it. And thanks for watching.

[@RobinGlaze]

Excellent use for the SmallRig clamps! Thank you.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Hi Robin. I'm glad you found it useful, thanks for watching.

[@ganainm2025]

Great video. I'm definitely going to implement some of these hacks in to my photography.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Happy to help. Thanks for watching.

[@gracehalliday7613]

Love these tips, thank you!

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Thanks for watching.

[@ggwildlife]

excellent video as always thanks for sharing.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

I'm pleased you like it. Thanks for watching.

[@raymondpenalver7095]

Thanks for all the great tips Scott, loved the video 👍

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Thanks Raymond. Much appreciated as always.

[@brianbull6339]

Some great tips never knew of Small Rig Clamp will be checking that one out straight away👍

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Thanks for watching Brian.

[@paulus0109]

Very good and useful tips. Thnx.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching.

[@johnlocke7097]

Some of the best hacks ever

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Thank you very much John - I appreciate it.

[@PeteLoughlin]

How about checking out the weather forecast?

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Hi Pete. Absolutely - good point. Thanks for watching.

[@davidcannon2464]

One tip for the flour put ot in puffer bottle then when you squeeze it the flour comes out much finer. Great tips thank you

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Great idea, I like it. Thanks for watching.

[@MajorApparent]

The "lick" finger method works but you don't lick it. You get the whole finger wet. The part that gets cold first is the side the wind is blowing on. Not as precise as baby powder but it works.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Hi Jacob. Makes sense, thanks for letting me know. Thanks for watching.

[@AnandaGarden]

Enjoyable. On camo for lenses, I've amused myself observing various leg warmers and thinking, "That would make a nice cover for a Canon white elephant lens." Instead, actually I just bought a 30-year-old black 80-200 2.8L.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

🤣🤣 Thanks for watching.

[@craigsteele5661]

Hi nice video ,just to let you know that licking your finger make it wet ,thus you feel the wind on the colder part of your finger thus giving you the wind direction. Thanks

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Thanks Craig. I always wondered about that.

[@tarjei99]

Cover light hands and face with dark fabric, not light fabric. Light fabric makes movements visible.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Great point. Thanks for watching.

[@davedewdney]

What a great video buddy I’ve also have a wildlife channel and hopefully grow my channel thanks for sharing

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Cheers Dave. I'll check it out some time. Thanks for watching.

[@davedewdney]

Thank you 🙏

[@GrantSR]

1:26 - You don't just lick one side of your finger and stick your finger in the air at any angle. You stick your whole finger in your mouth, get your entire finger wet, hold your finger well above your head so that your body isn't causing any turbulence, and then the side of your finger that gets cold first Is this side where the wind is coming from. Of course, I would not recommend this in Antarctica. Personally, I would never carry a bag of dust anywhere near my camera gear.

[@GrantSR]

5:46 - I just finished watching your video about the ethics of photo editing. To my mind, holding up something (that wasn't actually already in place in the environment) to provide foreground blur, is exactly the same as adding a layer in post was far as ethics goes. Therefore, A) One should declare the modification, and B) You might as well do it in post, because you are far less likely to ruin the shot. If you go holding up stuff while you are taking the shot, you might scare the animal. Or, it may just take you too long, and you could miss the right shot. Or, trying to handle two things at once may make it more difficult to focus on getting the right shot. Finally, I just don't like doing anything in the camera or in front of the lens that actually takes information away from my image. Putting something in front of the lens to blur some of the subject takes information about that subject away from my image. I could take that information away, non-destructively, later, in post.

[@gman5375]

🦵🏼🔚

[@glennalexon1530]

The problem with making a perch for a bird is that you can't call it a "wildlife" photo. Staged photos aren't interesting, because any dummy can take one. Actual wildlife photos require skill, patience, and luck; that's what makes them cool in the first place.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

I partly agree with you and partly disagree. Firstly, these ARE wildlife. Setting a perch out and allowing a wild subject to position itself on it is wild. It's not taking a photo in a zoo or something and trying to pass it off as wild. But yes, I agree. It takes a lot of skill to do wildlife photography in many ways - check out my other videos and you'll see what I'm all about. But this particular video was about hacks - things people can do to make their photography lives easier.

[@GiuseppeGessa]

Great video, as always Scott, full of really good tips! Thanks for sharing.

[@WalksOnTheWildSide]

Hey Giuseppe. I hope all's well with you. Thanks for watching.

[@GiuseppeGessa]

@@WalksOnTheWildSide Not bad, thanks!