If I don’t have telephoto lens!

& He said; Wow! What a lens? Look at the zoom; if I have such a set of glasses, I can create wonders out of it.

But believe me friends; Wild-life & Nature Photography is not just about getting animals in closest figures. Even many times people expose their thoughts in a way; ‘I don’t have telephoto lens, thus I can’t get into Wildlife & Nature Photography.’ I always reply, you don’t need it, do you? & they respond with a polite & strange question-mark on their face. So here I would like to extend my opinion about making a picture without approaching animals very closely with long telephoto lenses.

adequate knowledge of Composition; When you don’t want to bother your shoulders with heavy & long telephoto lenses; An adequate knowledge of Composition, will play a vital role in making good pictures, Just place the subject or point of interest in correct place, which is now-a-days, called ‘sweet-point’ or ‘golden-point’, with equally balancing background. Although the subject is very small in the frame, image will be a treat to your eyes. 

                                                                                                                                                                     

Rule of One-Third; While selecting your ‘sweet-point’ or ‘golden-point’, the basic rule of One-third works most of the time.

Selection of Background; Symmetrical & Clean background or rendered with some patterns, both cases are useful, perhaps the color combination must be selected very carefully to complement the main subject. The overall contrast between background & subject have to be little bit more then it is required, to fetch the subject separate in the frame.

Use of Negative Space; The overall impact of your image depends on how do we keep the balanced between positive & negative space in our frame. Apart from rule of one-third, negative space in the frame should not over-rule your vision from the subject. Sometimes it is very difficult to explain in terms of words, & even difficult while you are executing the image.

Use of Balancing Element in the frame; In case when you find lot of empty space in your frame, just try to find some element in background or foreground which can be smartly incorporated along with your subject, at the same time it does not over-rule the main subject. If possible try to incorporate the element, which can co-relate the theme & the subject. If you can purposefully add an element in such a way that it can convey the habitat in its crucial situation, nothing can be better than that.

Selection of Location; Selection of places has to be made very carefully, to avoid unwanted elements in your frame, because in such type of images, sometimes background & foreground become more important than the subject. Background & foreground give the actual feel of that particular terrain & you can get connected to the mood of that place. 

 

Selection Shooting Angle; Shooting angle is any way important in any type of image you are making, but here eye-level does not work all the time, rather inclined from the top is most useful. If possible you can try every possible angle in case situation allows you to do so. 

Include or Exclude Horizon; It is quite obvious that inclusion of horizon will create the limit to your vision & restrict your mind, and exclusion of horizon will provide your image with infinite background area & your image will look limitless.

 

Orientation of Subject; The orientation of the subject plays very important roll to figure out the basic composition & leads you to beauty of background colors or elements you have included. Space towards the orientation of animal or bird should be more than the space in either direction. This is applicable to most images in my opinion.