Learning to shoot wildlife with a camera

When I was in Thailand recently, my friend, Larry, suggested we go to visit Michel in Kanchanaburi. Michel and his wife, Nong, take fantastic photos of wildlife which they put on flickr. They invited us to come and stay in their house for a few days. Here they are with Nong's grandson.


When we arrived we went to see the Bridge over the River Kwai which was famous in World War II. There was a movie made about it.


The next day we went off into the bush to take photos of wildlife.


Michel is going to give us some tips on taking great wildlife pictures.

After a while, he stopped the Land Cruiser and said 'See, there.'

'What?'

'In the bamboo. Squirrels.'

'Squirrels? I don't see any squirrels. All I see is lots of bamboo.'


Michel pointed and I saw it. Can you see it in the photo above?

Later I got this close-up shot.


I learned the first lesson of shooting wildlife (with a camera). Keep your eyes open and look carefully.

A little further along the track we stopped again beside another clump of bamboo. 'See the bird?'


It took me a while. But I could see it. It's tiny. How did he see it while he was driving?

I got this shot.


And I've learned the second important lesson of shooting wildlife. It's the same as the first. Keep your eyes open and look carefully.

Later we got out of the car and took a walk in the bush. I got this shot all by myself.


OK, so it's only a chicken. But it was free in the bush and it was hard to see against the colour of the straw. Can you see the baby chicken?

What is this?

Hello, could you see the frogs in the leaf picture?

Here is another one for you to look at. What do you see? Look very carefully and you might be able to tell.











Is it a leaf or is it something else?

Here is another picture of it.












Now can you see that it is a butterfly?

When it opens its wings it has beautiful colours. When it thinks a bird might want to eat it, it closes its wings and looks like a leaf. It is called an Indian Leaf Butterfly.

What are these?

If you were walking through the forest and saw this, what would you think it was? Look closely and tell your Mum or Dad what you think it is.

Did you say a pile of old leaves? That's what I thought it was. But look closely. Can you see eyes, maybe legs and bodies? Now what do you think it is?

Do you know the word camouflage? It means a disguise. Some animals have natural disguises so that the animals that might eat them won't see them. These are frogs. (It's true. No story.) If an animal that eats frogs comes along and sees them it thinks, 'No frogs here, just leaves.' And the animal doesn't eat them. Smart frogs, hey.