Having done some wildlife shooting in the past I have found the key to getting good shots is preparation.
Before You Leave the House
You want to be comfortable with your camera. You should be able to easily make changes to your cameras settings. You should know what effect different metering and focus settings would have on a shot. You should be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the lenses you will be using when you get in the field. You should also know your own limitations especially when shooting handheld. If you can handhold your camera and 300mm lens steady for one out of four tries at a shutter speed 1/500 of a second then you would want to snap off 5-6 shots when shooting handheld at that setting. One of the six shots should be acceptable.
What Lenses Do I Need?
Reach is the key to wildlife shooting and you want the most that you can afford. The perfect lens for any wildlife shot is usually 100mm more than the lens you have on the camera when you are taking the shot. I would say that the minimum length would be 300mm. It is not necessary to spend thousands of dollars to reach 300mm. Its great to have a 500mm F/4 or a 400mm 2/8 lens from Nikon or Canon but it isnt necessary. One can find reasonably priced lens from Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina that will get you fine shots. I got some excellent results from the Tamron 28-300mm and the Tokina 80-400 when I was starting out.
Yes, Yes, Yes. I know its a hassle to carry a tripod and to set it up in the field. I also know that you are very steady when you shoot and can get a sharp shot at 1/15 of a second at 800mm but you still need a tripod or at the very least a monopod. When you are shooting wildlife you will usually be shooting at the furthest reach of your lens and you will get a higher keeper rate and sharper shots if you use a tripod. You should go for the best tripod you can afford. Its easier to go cheap on the glass than it is for a tripod and head. Y0u can get good shots with cheap glass on a good tripod easier than you could with good glass on a cheap tripod.
Before You Shoot
The most important equipment you have is your vision. Before you pick up the camera And start snapping off shots .. Look, Observe, Plan. You want to look at the light. This will give you the necessary information to determine your exposure and white balance settings. I know that there are many who say you can fix that stuff in Photoshop but your shots will have higher image quality and the time you spend post processing your shots will be greatly reduced if you get the right exposure and white balance from the start.
You also want to have some knowledge of your subjects. Its kind of like poker where your opponents have tells that indicate the strength of their hand, In wildlife shooting your subjects also have tells. Many birds while hunting will momentarily tense up right before they strike. Thats an indicator for you to start taking a series of shots and to fill your buffer. When the action starts it may be late for you to get the shot because it starts in a flash and it ends just as quickly. A good example of this is the Reznick Flip where a bird will flip its catch between its bills right before it swallows the catch. I have caught this flip quite a few times but I have never actually seen it. It just happens too fast. Unless one starts taking a sequence of shots before the moment you cant catch that moment. With birds, if you want to catch a flight shot you should look at their flight paths, observe what the subject does before it takes off, how fast it moves, how it lands, etc.
The most interesting wildlife shots are the ones that show some kind of action by your subject. There are many fine wildlife shots of the subject standing still. I call them the birds like statues type of shot. While these shots are fine a whole gallery of such shots would quickly lose a viewers interest. The shots I find most interesting are the ones that capture a subjects actions. To get these shots require preparation and some knowledge of your subjects behavior.
If you want to capture wall hangers you have to use light effectively. When you go out to a location you should have some knowledge of its lighting before you get there. Some locations have better lighting in the morning and some are better for afternoon shooting. It can be frustrating to get to a spot and find all your subjects severely backlit. The best hours, with the most dramatic lighting, are the golden hours the two hours right after sunrise and right before sunset. When shooting in the golden light you need to be very careful about selecting your white balance. You should avoid a WB setting that will too greatly enhance the colors in those hours. The lighting is dramatic as is and if enhanced too greatly you will end up with very unrealistic colors.
