I enjoy both nature/landscape photography and wildlife photography. I was thinking about this recently and it occurred to me that these can be quite different from an equipment, skills, and approach perspective.
Landscape: Lake Jesup flood waters after Tropical Storm Fay
Birding: Great Blue Heron profile
Here are some of the things I think are different about the two:
| Landscapes | Birding / Wildlife |
|---|---|
| The quality of light is important (e.g. “Golden hour”). The amount of light isn’t too important: You can make long exposures from your tripod. | The amount of light is important. You need lots of light to get your shutter speed up. |
| You need to know the location, and figure out sun timing and position. May still be hit or miss depending on the weather. | You need to know about the animal and its habits, and where you might find them. May still be hit or miss depending on the animals (and maybe the weather). |
| 1. Composition, 2. Exposure, 3. Focus | 1. Focus, 2. Exposure, 3. Composition |
| Probably better by yourself: Your location, your vision. | Can be better in groups. Many eyes can help spot things one person will miss. |
| Good tripod with good ball head. Wide angle lens, small aperture for greater depth of field, long exposure. Frame rate not too important. | Very long lens, large aperture for a fast shutter speed. High frame rate body. Maybe a tripod with a gimbal head. |
| Not as expensive | Can be very expensive |
| HDR | no HDR |
Have I missed anything? What else is different about these two types of photography?
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go make some photos!
©2011, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved