To make this a successful shoot for you, I have a few suggestions from past experience—

Keep everything handy. Photo vests are great for this. You can carry extra lenses, flash cards, film, batteries, etc. within easy reach. You will be able to bring your camera bags and backpacks virtually everywhere we go, but it’s often a pain to get things when you need them. Also, for safety reasons, you may not be able to bend down to rummage through your bag. (You’ll hear more on this from Jay Deist)

By far, the most common problem I’ve seen is dead batteries. Or not having enough back up batteries. Make sure all your batteries are charged. I’d also recommend getting at least one or two spare batteries. Sometimes we’ll be able to help each other out with spare batteries, but don’t count on it. Be sure to bring your battery charges too. I’ll have an inverter in my car for those needing to charge batteries while we’re in the field.

Another common problem is running out of memory. If this is your first trip to Triple “D”, don’t underestimate the number of shots you’ll take. If you have a portable device for downloading images, be sure to have that in your photo vest as well. With today’s higher resolution digital cameras it can be easy to fill an eight gigabyte card in just one shooting session. CF and SD cards are getting more and more affordable so you might as well stock up on high capacity cards. I have no specific recommendations, but I’ve had luck with Lexar, Sandisk, and Kingston memory. Be sure to test for compatibility with your camera before leaving on your trip.

The worse thing that can happen is equipment failure. This usually seems to be auto focus or other lens related issues. The most likely culprit is dirty contacts on the lens, teleconverter, or camera body. Some people use pencil erasers to clean contacts on the lens. I prefer using isopropyl alcohol and a Q-Tip. You need to be careful that no fibers get left behind. In the field, just wiping the contacts with your shirt will often work just fine.

On occasion, a camera body will die or a lens will fail (or get dropped….). I highly recommend bringing a backup camera body. Having backup lenses is a bit more of a problem. Between all of the participants there may be backups available, but again, don’t count on it.

Speaking of lenses, zooms in the 70-200 mm, 80-400 mm range seem to work the best. Occasionally a longer lens is useful. And don’t forget to stick a wider lens in your vest as well for those “animal in the environment” shots. 1.4x teleconverters are also handy to have.

Be sure to have your camera’s manual with you and try to be familiar with the various auto focus modes/settings/patterns that your camera is capable of.

Speaking of auto focus, the best way to get in-focus, sharp images of the animals is to watch what they do and anticipate their actions. Animals will often come to a stop in a certain spot, waiting for their reward. They’ll often stay there long enough for you to get a bunch of shots. So don’t worry about needing to focus follow the animals all over creation.

By far, I get my best images while my camera is securely mounted to a tripod. That being said, at Triple “D” handholding the camera is sometimes the best option. By handholding you’ll have a lot more flexibility in moving around and changing perspective; it’s much faster to simply drop to your knee rather than needing to adjust your tripod legs. The situation, the animal, and your personal preferences will dictate your choice. Vibration Reduction or Image Stabilization lenses will be an advantage if handholding. But be sure to bring your tripod no matter what.

Although this is a wildlife photography workshop, I will be more than happy to talk about other aspects of nature photography such as landscape and close up. I’ll also be sharing whatever Lightroom and Photoshop tips I’m able to. So if you have any questions in those areas, I’ll do my best to answer them.

If this will be your first time at Triple “D” you’ll be pretty excited being so close to a wild animal. Chances are you’ll just point your camera, bull’s-eye the composition, and blast away. That’s fine. You’ll need to get that out of your system, I know I did. But after the initial excitement wears off (well, tones down at any rate), you can start thinking of composition and avoiding things like amputating feet and tails. But not to worry, I’ll be there to remind you (harangue you?) about those niggling little details.