The best LBL photography tip I have is simple: always make sure to have your camera with you! That is the best tip I can offer for wildlife photographers in the Land Between the Lakes area. It may sound simple, and it is, but this is the most important part of photography period. It also is the best way to get great wildlife shots.
There are photography opportunities all around you in LBL and the Land Between the Lakes area. However, if you don’t have your camera with you or if it is not ready to function, then the photo ops will be lost! Some of my very best photos are ones I got almost accidentally. I just happened to have my camera with me!
I always have a camera with me in one form or another. Usually I have my trusty Nikon secret weapon camera with me. This camera is the most versatile and useful camera I have in my photo arsenal.
The camera with me is always fairly close by, even if a passenger is riding in the auto with me. If I am by myself, which I usually am, I have the camera right beside me. The camera also needs to be ready to use. That means it doesn’t need to be too securely strapped into its bag.
I guarantee if you do not have your camera ready to go, the photo will get away from you almost every time. I cannot number the amount of great shots I’ve missed because I just did not have the camera ready to roll.
You also need to make sure the battery is charged up in your camera. This takes a bit of preparation and planning, but if pays off. If your battery is about to go, it will no doubt take the most inopportune time at all to go out.
Make sure you have space on your SD card. I always make sure I have an extra or two in my bag. I like to have spare SD cards and extra batteries. I am not always that prepared, but if I am going out on a very special shoot, I always make sure all batteries are charged and I have space on the SD cards and/or extra cards.
Another of my wildlife photography tips is to take lots of shots. If you do take lots of shots, you are bound to get some good ones. That is my main photography theory. In this day of digital images, taking lots of photos is a lot easier and less expensive than it was in the film and processing days.
These tips are not just for shooting wildlife. They are practical for almost every photography scenario.
I started out with a Pentax 35 millimeter camera. Fortunately for me as a young reporter/editor, I had a job where I got paid to take photographs. My camera and film and processing were paid for by my employer, the Leaf Chronicle company.
So take lots of shots. Be prepared to take shots. Have your camera ready to go. When you go on a planned shoot, all of this should be second nature.
However, what I am talking about mostly in this post is the random, everyday shots that come your way just out of the blue. Take for example this little, young fox in this photo. The best shots come at you unexpectedly. If you are not ready to shoot. The shot is gone!
I was driving through the Bear Spring community of Stewart County, Tennessee and this little fox ran across the road. Of course I grabbed for my camera, and I fully expected the little fox to be gone by the time I got around the bend and stopped long enough to look in the direction of where it went.
To my surprise, the little fox had crossed the road into a yard, close to woods near the Bear Spring Iron Furnace. The little fox was just sitting there striking a pose as if to say, “You want a shot? Here it is!”
I was able to get the Nikon out and focused and I got a few shots. Most of the ones I got are unusable because of focus issues, but this one is not bad. I also had to watch for cars coming and going as I was parked right in the middle of Highway 49 at Bear Spring. But to my good fortune, there were no cars and I got to shoot several pictures of this little fox before she got away.
I think this young fox is a female, based on the coloring; but I am not a wildlife expert, so I don’t know. I do know this. I was prepared with my camera. I was able to get to just the right spot. And since the fox obliged and waited a bit before hitting the woods, I got some good, solid fox shots.
I think wildlife hunting via photography is the best way of all to hunt in the Land Between the Lakes area.
https://www.canva.com/learn/hunting-camera-12-tips-take-wildlife-photography-next-level/
