articles/Nature/getdownwithwildlife-page1

Get Down With Wildlife - part 1 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

by Andy Astbury Published 01/10/2008

Let's face it, as 'homo sapiens' we do tend to view everything in the world from our somewhat elevated point of view. When we shoot a wedding or other social event, we do so standing up because we photograph our clients from 'eye level' - after all, we don't want to be taking shots up the bride's nose do we? Similarly, when our clients are sitting for a photograph we either kneel for the shot or use a waist-level viewfinder in order to obtain that eye-level Point of View (PoV).

I had a bit of a wry smile the other day when I popped into a friend's studio - he was 'jacking up' a light table with Peli cases because he was photographing some jewellery for a catalogue, and he was dammed if he was going to bend his back to do it!

But when it comes to photographing wildlife, one of the commonest faults I see in images is that they are taken 'looking down' on the subject - why do photographers do this when they know 'the rules'? Well it might be because getting down for an eye-level PoV on wildlife usually involves getting dirty, or wet, or bitten by bugs, or scratched and stung by brambles and nettles - or any combination of the above, or sometimes even all of them!

But if you want to shoot seriously creative images of wildlife this is something that you are going to have to accept, as the eye-level rule always applies and most wildlife has eyes somewhat closer to the ground than ours!

There's one other great advantage to getting a low PoV on wildlife - the background usually becomes a bit more manageable. Visually it will be somewhat easier to isolate your subject from the background with creative use of depth of field - another key to a successful image.

• Get Down With Wildlife page 1
  
• Get Down With Wildlife page 2
  
• Get Down With Wildlife page 3
  
• Get Down With Wildlife page 4
  
• Get Down With Wildlife page 5
  
• Get Down With Wildlife page 6
  

There are 0 days to get ready for The Society of Photographers Convention and Trade Show at The Novotel London West, Hammersmith ...
which starts on Wednesday 14th January 2026