9 Wildlife Photography Composition Tips and Tricks

Composition has always been one of the most important aspects of any image, and always will be.

For those new to the photography term, composition is defined as the arrangement of the elements in your photo.

The importance of composition is magnified with wildlife photography. Framing your image thoughtfully allows you to tell the viewer about the animal’s environment and support their expressions.

I’ve drawn these tips from my own experience in photography along with what I have picked up from others in the past. These definitely should not be considered rules. The internet is full of photography “rules” which makes photography seem somewhat constrained when it really shouldn’t be. Just like any art form, everyone has their own ‘eye’ for creativity and what makes a photograph special to them.

Wildlife Composition Tip Header

These are more guidelines for those feeling stuck and unable to capture the wildlife photos they really want. If you’re not exactly sure where to go next with wildlife composition, this is for you!

Some of these rules can be used both independently and used in conjunction. Some will be impossible to use together. Just keep in mind that various combinations work, and some will conflict.  Another disclaimer, some of these composition tips here are very well known. They are here because they’re important and definitely worth repeating. Photographers talking about composition are broken records for good reason!

1 – Symmetry

Symmetry has always been a popular composition method and the results can be very satisfying. Symmetry in photographs illustrate a balance in the elements of the photo. It can be achieved in a number of ways, such as a reflection of an animal in a body of water, or capturing them head on.

The photo below is from Panguitch, Utah. We stumbled upon these three deer while searching for pronghorn antelope (side note, we found them, see image on tip #6!). I’m used a couple of the tips listed here in conjunction. The main source of symmetry is the deer in the center, almost perfectly head on with the camera. This deer also has a friend mirrored on either side, giving us adding more balance to the image.

Wildlife Composition Tip 1

2 – Leave Space Ahead of the Wildlife

Whenever taking photos of an animal, try to leave space ahead of them. Leaving space shows where the animal is looking or heading and gives us more context. Is the animal hunting? Just staring into empty space? You don’t necessarily have to capture what the wildlife is looking at.

This is an image of a small bird in my neighborhood park. I’ve isolated this little guy from all background elements and have left him space in the direction of his view. You can see he is looking towards the sun with the light on his body and the reflection of the sun in his eye!

Wildlife Composition Tip 2

Just for the sake of argument I can crop this photo to not leave space ahead. Instead I will leave space behind him. Which image do you find more satisfying?

3 – Rule of Thirds

If you haven’t heard of the rule of thirds by now, I am excited to be the first one to tell you! I find myself using this rule for almost all of my shots. It has become a common characteristic of my photos and other photographers as well.

Rule of thirds is a classic technique that puts the image subject or references in the 1/3rd regions of an image. Imagine drawing two equally spaced lines in either direction of your image. This separates your image into 3 sections, hence ‘thirds’. The “Rule” here is to land your subject or horizon on these two lines. Most digital cameras offer an LCD “Live View” with a 3×3 grid overlay. This makes it very easy to utilize the rule of thirds!  See the example below.

Here is another image in my neighborhood park, but this time of a hawk. You can see I have the hawk and the tree he is perched on approximately 1/3rd from the right side of the frame.

Wildlife Composition Tip 3.1

In the next photo of all these seagulls, I have the horizon approximately 1/3rd from the top of the frame.

Wildlife Composition Tip Header

4 – Zoom Out for Surroundings

When I first started taking photos of wildlife I was obsessed with getting VERY close up shots of animals. Capturing the details of animal’s faces and their expressions was rewarding and not something I was used to seeing. The details you can capture of feathers or fur can be pretty mesmerizing. These details kept my telephoto lens at the maximum focal length at all times. Being so zoomed in, subject isolation was increased, as the backgrounds blurred away.

After a while I noticed that capturing the animal’s surroundings as well could tell the viewer even more about the animal. I just needed to step back or zoom out a bit to capture more information.

Not only is the viewer able to learn about the animals environment, but they can more easily immerse themselves in the photo. Take a look at the images below and you can get an idea of how much more information there is for us by zooming out.

The first image shows the huge mountain backdrop seen by these pelicans off the coast Goleta, CA.

Wildlife Composition Tip 4

The next two images of marine life have a backdrop of Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Islands. These images give the viewers a taste of the marine life right off these islands.

Side note: check out our interview with freediving photographer Marco Mazza to see what the Santa Barbara Channel looks like under the surface.

Wildlife Composition Tip 4.1

5 – Zoom In and Isolate

Though tip #4 talks about how I learned to step back and zoom out more often, I still take those close ups as well. We never really get a chance to see wildlife up close, and observe all the natural details. All animals have their own unique imperfections and expressions, especially wildlife.

Below are two examples of getting really close with my zoom lens. These photos are all about details. (Even though the Herron in the second photo is ever so slightly out of focus ): ).

Wildlife Composition Tip 5 (2)

Wildlife Composition Tip 5

6 – Tilt up/down to see more background

This one is similar to #4, where we want to see more of the environment. However, the method changes. Instead of zooming out, the technique is to tilt you camera. Using a telephoto lens means that any tilting or panning can drastically change what is in your image. Tilting up or down can reveal more background or foreground of the animal’s environment.

Below are the pronghorns we eventually found in Utah. You can see that I have kept the animals in the lower 3rd of the frame (tip #3) by tilting my camera upwards. I also reveal the icy Panguitch Mountains in the background that would not have been there otherwise. There is now more depth to the photo along with more information of these pronghorns’ environment.

Wildlife Composition Tip 6

7 – Fill the Frame

Filling the frame can help show scale of animals, while also revealing details that we discussed in #5.

Below is a photo of an elephant I took in Yala National Park, Sri Lanka. The elephant is taking up the entire frame. This helps convey its massive size. It also provides as much detail on the animal as possible while keeping the entire elephant’s body in frame.

8 – Isolating animals

Isolating small groups of animals helps the viewer focus and take in expressions of few animals instead of a whole herd. I try to stick to 1, 2, and 3 animals. Anything more and the simplicity of absorbing the photo’s content fades. A single subject helps us focus on just one animal’s expression alone. Two subjects can often resemble a pair or trust between animals. Three plays into the rule of odds where aesthetics are superior in odd numbers than even.

Wildlife Composition Tip 8.1

9 – Crop

This last one is a post process cheat that we should always take advantage of now that we are in the digital age. Cropping won’t help us use all the tips above, but it can help us use some of them after we have taken a photo. Just like in tip #2 where we forcibly cropped the photo to have a poor composition, we can crop to improve composition.

Below I took an image of a snowy plover and placed this guy in the center of my image. This was likely because after I gained focus with my center focus point, I immediately captured. Two things here: 1 – next time I’m out in the field, I can be more aware of my composition to reduce the post processing needs. And 2 – I don’t have to beat myself up on not getting the best composition after the damage is done, because we can crop! I can crop this image using tip#3 (rule of thirds) as a guideline and remove some of the plainness of the original image.

I made this rule last because we remove some resolution of the image with lots of cropping. Also, if you don’t have an especially sharp lens, the softness will become more apparent after a large crop. Fortunately most cameras have pretty high resolution sensors these days so it’s not a huge issue.

That’s it!

I hope these tips gave you new ideas to try out on all the wildlife out there. Remember these are more like guidelines than rules, don’t feel restrained here! There are infinite ways to compose wildlife images and these highlight a few of the main methods that have worked for me to capture great images.

I would highly recommend that you also take a look at your favorite wildlife photos. Whether it be yours or someone else’s. See if you can notice any of the tips mentioned above being used. Photography is all about learning, so see what you can learn from your favorite photos. Comment below if you would like to share your own composition tips!

More Resources

Check out more of our most popular Wildlife Photography Articles, enjoy!

Choosing the Best Gear for Wildlife Photography

The 7 Best Camera Bags for Wildlife Photographers

The Only Wildlife Photography Tips You Need

1 thought on “9 Wildlife Photography Composition Tips and Tricks”

Comments are closed.