(click on the image to see larger version)

Want to take better wildlife pictures?  Get down on your knees.  Better yet, drop to your belly.  Day after day, we watch the world pass by from somewhere between five and six feet off the ground.  It is easy to take pictures from here, unfortunately, it is also boring because it is what we see every day.  If you want your shots to stand out, get down to your subject’s level.  If you are photographing a giant tortoise, you should be on your belly.  Who cares if the ground is wet, learn to love the mud.  We’re wildlife photographers!  Dirt is part of the image.  Get down and dirty and get the shot that everyone else passed up.

Shooting from the subject’s eye level creates an intimate connection between us and the subject.  One of the goals wildlife photographers aim for is to get viewers to stop thinking about the physical photograph and move themselves into the picture.  Share my vision, share my experience with this animal.  Meeting a wildlife animal at eye level is a new experience for most people and can result in a shift, making them feel like part of the pack (or the creep in the case of a group of giant tortoises).  So, stop standing around and get down in the mud.  Your viewers will thank you.

The image of the Lucas and Philip photographing the Galapagos Tortoise was taken in the highlands of Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos, Ecuador during one of my Galapagos photo tours.  Despite the fence seen in the background, the tortoise was a free ranging, wild tortoise.  The image was created using a Canon 1Ds mark 3, 17-35mm lens, at 400 ISO.  The camera was mounted on a Gitzo tripod using a ballhead.