[markyg]

None of the shots were planned the swans just came right up to me as I was taking photos of a loch near Oban. Any advice on taking wildlife photos appreciated as this is my first attempt!!

[Steve]

As this is your first attempt at wildlife I hope these pointers will help..

With wildlife you have a few basic rules that you can use as a guide. They can and do get broken as your experience, confidence and skill develop but generally are followed for the most part.

First off get down to the same level as the subject matter, shooting from above and below breaks the contact and isolates the viewer instead of drawing them in.

Either get the whole of the subject in or do a tight crop on the head, a badly framed subject tends to look awkward and again distances the viewer from the subject.

If possible try to catch highlights in the eye or eyes of your subject.

Lastly, try to isolate the subject from the background either by using a shallow depth of field (small F stop) or having a plain background like the loch, grass etc.

If possible use as many of these as possible and the results will be great, obviously its far easier for me to type them out here than it is to apply them and wildlife being what it is, never behaves as we wish. The key is patience and practice and perseverance. Don’t expect great results from every try.

Hopefully some of that will help.

[Matty]

there isnt anything i can add to that mark, except keep shooting! just keep clicking away!