Photography Tip: With Wildlife Always Aim for the Eye

This is a screenshot of a RAW photo taken Jun 6, 2012.

Normally, I wouldn't enlarge a photo file 200% but, this is to show you my focus point.

The cross-hairs are something I see in my editing program, not, in the camera viewfinder.

In wildlife photography, the eye is the most important part of the subject to capture.

Aim for, spot-meter and focus on the eye and you may have an award winning photo.

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Wildlife Photography: Tip #4

Aim for the eye:


Most of the time, the wildlife shots I take, are with the camera handheld. This is not the ideal way to shoot if you’re setting out to win a photography contest. A sturdy tripod and cable release would be the way to do that. But, I prefer to travel light and move fast so, the best thing I can do is work with the higher shutter speeds. At least 1/100 for every 100mm of length on the lens is what’s required to do handheld shooting. I like to use spot metering and move my focus point, aim and when I see the sun light up the bird's eye, shoot.

A Black Pacific Reef Egret taken 28APR2009 7:56AM f/8 1/800 ISO 200 Pentax K10D Sigma 50-500@500mm.