While depth of field and angle of view are ways in which wildlife photographers can impact their compositions in any situation, to progress as visual artists we must begin to understand what the rest of the visual art world considers to be the foundation of everything: the Elements of Design.

At the heart of it all, good art, whether that’s wildlife photography or music, is an extension of psychology. Understanding why art makes us feel something, anything, is the first step in learning how to go beyond creating snapshots as a wildlife photographer.

The angle of view we chose to compose with has a dramatic impact upon the way people perceive our subjects. Psychological studies on camera angles reveal that we, as artists, manipulate the viewers emotional response to our photographs with subtle changes in the height of our camera angle. This may very well be one of the most important and powerful choices we have has wildlife photographers.

Getting eye level with our subjects has the power to do far more for our photographs than just create a connection with our viewers. From this angle of view, it allows us to simplify the composition, work with distant and out-of-focus backgrounds, and subtly brings in foregrounds to the equation.

How we position our camera in relation to our subjects has a tremendous impact on the way that viewers experience those subjects. While we are always cautious to suggest that any sort of "rules" apply to art and compositions, there is a default position we should always start with for photographing wildlife for one very important reason: its ability to create a connection with the viewer.

From the beginning of this series on the Art of Composition, we got bogged down in discussion about depth of field. This isn’t a topic that is typically brought into the conversations about composition. Yet, I have a difficult time thinking of a better place to begin. The ability to understand how we emphasize or deemphasize all the stuff in our composition means everything. And from the previous articles, you should understand that there is so much more that goes into depth of field, and bokeh, than just f/stops.

But now it’s time to move on. 

Large apertures and a shallow depth of field does more than just help us emphasize or deemphasize certain parts of the composition; in wildlife photography it emulates the way in which we respond to the very same situation in real life. Extremely shallow depths of field mirror both the physiological and psychological responses that humans have evolved for survival. Understanding this can revolutionize our photography.

Should I stick a teleconverter on my lens or just crop in Lightroom? This is a question we all face in the field at some time or another. Both are potential solutions for “getting closer.” Both come with their drawbacks. However, only one will improve your composition by creating additional bokeh and shallower depths of field.

When it comes to the sensors in our cameras, size matters. Full frame versus APS-C versus micro four thirds, each of these sensors have their benefits for different types of photography. But each also have an impact on depth of field and bokeh in our composition.

While depth of field is primarily a function of distance, the focal length of your lens also has a large impact on this as well. A 600mm f/4 lens has a shallower depth of field than a 400mm f/2.8, for instance. Depth of field, and thus the quality of bokeh, in our photographs is the accumulation of a variety of factors that have nothing to do with apertures and f/stops.

Above all else, distance is plays the biggest role in determining depth of field. Distance from your lens to the subject and distance from your subject to the background. Understanding this will allow you to create compositions with subjects that seem to leap right out of the photograph with any lens regardless of maximum aperture.

To create art, we must be able to control in order to express our creativity. With wildlife photography, however, there is very little we have control over. Unlike a studio photographer, we don't manipulate the light, backgrounds, subjects, or any other component accept for our compositions. It's for this reason that composition is of the upmost importance in wildlife photography because it is here where we have the ability to make magic happen.

There are basically two ways to find and photography wildlife: you can either travel to parks where animals are habituated and standing off the side of the road, or you can learn the art of getting close to truly wild animals in nature. When it comes to working with non-habituated wildlife, it's important to understand what we are communicating with them.

When it comes to finding and approaching wildlife, sound plays a very important role. From the sounds we make as we move through nature to the sounds that animals make as well, any self respecting wildlife photographer holds themselves back if they aren't considering the soundscape around them and how they are influencing.

Humans evolved to see patterns in the environment and more importantly, interruptions in those patterns. Learning to find wildlife requires learning how to find the breaks in patterns. Horizontal lines are often mammals, and off colored masses that fill in light gaps or break up patterns of often birds such as owls. When we begin seeing in terms of patterns and start looking for breaks in the visual flow of the environment is when we open up a who new world of opportunities for ourselves.

There is no silver bullet when it comes to finding and approaching wildlife. It requires a synthesis of different techniques and observations, what the late Harvard biologist, E.O. Wilson, referred to as a consilience of knowledge. We don't so much "look" for wildlife as we listen, smell, look, and intone where wildlife are.

Rarely do we create our best work on the first shot. Instead, it takes time and consideration to produce the iconic photographs in our portfolios. That's because the creative process is just that, a process. The more time and intention we put behind creating unique photographs, the greater our success in creating something memorable.

Visual art is the physical expression of an artists creativity. Knowing all the technical stuff that goes into creating a photograph only allows us to step up to the starting line. What happens afterword is what culminates into something beautiful. Once we break through this glass ceiling in terms of understanding, we find that we are limited only be the depths of our own creativity.

Of the many different skillsets involved in wildlife photography, flash is the one that creates the most confusion and frustration for photographers. But it doesn't have to be this way. A single flash, used off-camera, can create magic. And for those who have an interest in conservation photography, flash is an important tool that this series will help you come to understand.

When using flash, it's important to remember that you are working with two exposures at the same time. There is the ambient light that we set our camera's exposure for, and the subject itself which we set the flash to illuminate. By understanding how these two exposures work together, a whole new world of photographic opportunities and creative compositions are opened up to us as wildlife photographers.