Wildlife

I know someone who calls these photographs my Alfred Hitchcock Project. You know, The Birds through a Rear Window. Nice touch, but the truth is the Master of Suspense was not in my thoughts when I began to shoot.

If you photograph wildlife with a Nikon DSLR, the tutorial below is really a must-see. In just three minutes, Danish pro Morten Hilmer reveals what he says are “the three best custom settings” for capturing stunning images of animals in the field.

Anyone who has looked through the viewfinder at a spectacular landscape knows it’s pretty difficult to not get a decent shot. But when “good” simply isn’t enough, it’s time to employ some skillful editing to make your images as great as the scene you remember.

When photographer/naturalist Phil Torres set up a camera trap in the Amazon rainforest, he hoped to capture dramatic nighttime images of jaguars and other nocturnal animals near Peru’s Tambopata Research Center. What he discovered when he returned to the trap in the morning was something else: Leafcutter ants had eaten or damaged his gear.

The National Wildlife Federation recently announced the winners of their 44^th annual National Wildlife photo contest. Operated by National Wildlife Federation's award-winning magazine National Wildlife, the contest celebrates the beauty of nature while raising funds to help the organization protect wildlife and wild places.

Selected from more than 29,000 entries, this year’s winners include a grand prize recipient who spent years perfecting a photographic technique that resulted in a one-of-a-kind image of grey herons and another winner who was able to grab his camera just in time to capture a rare image of praying mantis nymphs hatching on his backyard deck. 

Bouncing along in a jeep or seated high upon an elephant’s back, John Isaac is ever alert to his surroundings. “Though I am particularly looking for a tiger, everything in nature is important,”he says, “even an uninhabited, beautiful landscape.”

Today, Isaac is excited. He has spotted a spectacular, endangered black buck...