Heather Angel
Wildlife Photography
- Regular price
- £125.00
- Sale price
- £125.00
- Regular price
-
Tax included.
Professional photographer Heather Angel will teach you how to take photos of animals and birds in the wild.
This course is ideal for anyone who loves animals. Whether you want to photograph them in your back garden or local countryside, a Zoo, Wildlife Park or Nature Reserve or maybe you are planning that once in a life time holiday. This course will give you professional insights on taking photos of wildlife.
Photographing the natural world can be both frustrating and immensely rewarding. Becoming an observant field naturalist will ensure you gain a closer approach to wildlife before they take evasive action.
Whether in your own garden or in more remote locations, learn how to make the most of available light for taking wildlife portraits. Heather will also cover how to meter for high key and low key subjects, and how and when to use flash and how useful fill-flash can be for animals of any size. Learn when and how to get dramatic action shots of animal behaviour using fast shutter speeds and slow ones by panning the camera. Invest time working with baby animals, because although a challenge, it will be very rewarding.
Learn how to use a house as a hide and about hide etiquette in public hides. Tips and hints for getting in close to minibeasts and also for photographing life in aquaria are included - but for the specifics of macro photography join my Macro photography course.
Having found your target species, thought needs to go into how best to compose the shot and to select the most appropriate shutter speed and aperture. Discover how to get dramatic silhouettes at dusk and dawn and how to plan a photo story.
Finally, learn how to edit images and to retrieve them at a later date.
You'll learn:
- how to approach wild animals in their natural environment, whether at home or abroad
- camera settings to achieve correctly exposed images
- photography skills to create eye-catching portraits and arresting action shots – from beetles to large mammals
- taking action shots and using hides
Requirements:
- Camera with a zoom lens, so you can stand back to take wildlife shots. A DSLR is not essential, but it will be easier for action shots because the focusing is faster.
- For macro shots
- Some means of getting in close – either with a macro setting on a zoom lens or a true macro lens for a DSLR camera.
- A flash - either in-camera or a separate flash
- Camera support - a tripod or monopod is not essential but could be useful if needed to set up the camera and wait for wildlife to arrive/ behave.
This course is suitable for photographers wanting to learn to take photographs of nature and wildlife, through to professionals who want to develop their wildlife photography skills with Heather Angel.
Time to complete this wildlife photography course:
Every student is different, but in general we think the whole course will take around 13 hours 45 minutes to complete including:
- Video lessons: 1 hour 45 minutes in total
- Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
- Assignment: at least 2 hours per lesson
- Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
- tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson
The course includes:
- On-demand video lessons - presented by Heather Angel
- lifetime access to the video, notes and interactive class
- flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
- downloadable lesson notes
- practical (optional) wildlife or nature photography assignments
- access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
- small interactive online classroom chat online to students from around the world
Ready to get started?
Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Heather on your photos.
Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the green speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.
Lessons
What You’ll Learn
Explore the lessons and topics covered across the course.
This lesson covers how to approach wild animals using the equipment which is best suited for getting photographs of birds and mammals as well as macro shots of insects. There is also guidance on metering – including tricky subjects such as white birds in the snow as well as shots with large shadow areas. Examples of different types of lighting – front, side and back, including silhouettes – are all illustrated and explained. Finally, there are examples of how to best to frame different subjects so as to achieve a striking composition.
Taking frame-filling animal portraits, whether large or small animals, requires care and thought about the lighting and composition We will look at ways to light animal portraits, including using fill-flash to in-fill shadows and gain a catchlight in a black eye surrounded by black fur or feathers. Your own garden can be a rich resource of wildlife subjects especially if a bird bath and a bird feeder are provided. If the feeder can be positioned near a window in the house, this makes a handy hide – especially on wet days! Finally, guidance is also given on how to photograph mini-beasts, including insects, frogs and toads.
Taking action shots of birds and mammals – including baby animals – is more difficult than static portraits, but great fun when they work. Baby animals are particularly rewarding – whether playing on their own or with their parents or siblings. Action can be frozen by using a fast shutter speeed and in poor light it may be necessary to increase the ISO. Moving animals can also be captured in creative ways including panning the camera in the same direction as the animal is moving and by using a slow shutter speed.
This final week looks at taking wildlife in cities, collections and zoos as well as in wilderness areas. The pros and cons of taking captive versus wild animals is also covered. Advice is given for photographing animals in aquaria, how to compose images of wildlife in the habitat and points to look for when selecting a wildlife photo tour. Finally, ideas are given for shooting photo stories as well as keeping an open eye for a humorous wildlife shot.
Learning options
Choose How You Want to Learn
Recommended
Expert
£125.00
A guided learning experience with expert support, feedback and recognised outcomes.
Peer
£45.00
Learn alongside others with a collaborative, flexible learning experience.
COURSE TUTOR
Heather Angel
SUCCESS
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Common Questions
Answers to the most common questions about learning with us.
Our online classroom is designed to help you learn from experts in a collaborative, social environment alongside a small group of learners.
Each lesson combines expert-led videos with optional assignments, giving you the opportunity to apply what you’ve learned and share your work with others. You can take part in ongoing discussions, ask questions, exchange feedback, and learn from a community of like-minded people from around the world.
By learning together in a small, supportive group, you benefit not only from expert guidance but also from shared ideas, perspectives, and experiences—helping you stay engaged and retain what you learn.
You can start your course at any time within 12 months of purchase. Once you begin, you’ll have lifetime access, so you can revisit lesson videos and notes whenever you like.
Courses are designed to fit around your schedule, allowing you to learn at your own pace. Each lesson video is typically 30–40 minutes, and we recommend around an hour for each assignment.
Both Peer and Expert options give you full access to the course content, including lesson videos, downloadable notes, assignments, and a collaborative online classroom with up to 20 learners. You’ll also have lifetime access to revisit the material at any time.
The Expert option includes everything in Peer, plus personalised assignment feedback, direct messaging with your expert tutor, and a certificate of completion.
With the Expert option, you can interact directly with your tutor throughout the course. You’ll typically have one week per lesson to ask questions and receive feedback on your assignments, with as much interaction as you need during that time.
Your tutor access begins when you enter the classroom and follows the course schedule (for example, a four-lesson course usually runs over four weeks). If you need more time or support, our team is here to help.