Photographing wildlife needs the photographer to approach the subject stealthily. One needs immense patience & good presence of mind to get good photographs of wildlife. Often the birds, animals don’t entertain humans & at times they may even get on defense & counter-attack. Happened to me once. I was in a balcony shooting a small bird perched on a nearby power line. To get closer, I went into the balcony, crouched & just held my hand up. As I fired a shot, another shot the bird got furious & decided to attack the camera however it missed. As I got up to go inside, it again flew furiously just across my face. A split second delay in my reaction would have got me injured near or on my eye. Thankfully I was safe. So the point of telling you this short tale is that one needs to approach the wildlife in a way that it is unaware of you. When you are successful in doing so, you will get good shots as the wildlife won’t be scared or put on a defensive mode.

One of the ways of doing so is by using ‘Camouflaging’. This technique is not old but often ignored by photographers. One can often get away wearing green-muddy coloured clothing but at times its better you stay hidden all-together. This way the wildlife gets no clue however that there is a human in vicinity. Here professionals use a tent & other hi-fi expensive stuff to camouflage themselves. However one can accomplish the same with a affordable setups too.

Recently one of my friend Hayath, got into a drape net & lay flat on the ground to get close to a bird(Red Rumped Swallows). He draped it across himself & stayed closed to a water puddle where he forecast the bird to come for a drink.

I bet, you could not spot him had I not told!

Off-course it did & he got some wonderful shots. This would not have been possible had he approached the bird in a army coloured clothing. Hiding in the bushes behind would have been uncomfortable & even dangerous due to snakes or any other insects. Here is a tip, you can implement if you’re a wildlife shooter. Be prepared to get some curious glances by onlookers but that’s okay as you will be looking weird. For birds however, you’re just a bag who cannot lend them any harm. Here are the wonderful photos which Hayath managed due to the drape(& dedication to photography). Enjoy. 🙂