My Top 10 Blog Posts
It’s a bit self-indulgent, I know…!
My website runs on the Squarespace platform, which conveniently provides me with an Analytics page that tells me all my traffic stats. If you’re interested in reading about photography but don’t fancy trawling through every single one of my blog posts, here’s a list of my most popular articles…
My Top 10 Birds
Little Brown Job
I’ve taken pictures of well over 200 birds around the world, so it’s been very tricky narrowing down the list to just ten.
In the end, I had to cheat by broadening the definition of ‘bird’ from species to something like ‘genus’ or ‘family’. All in all, the only criterion I’ve used to come up with the list is the excitement I felt when seeing each bird, but that in turn is obviously some combination of its beauty, rarity and power. I hope that makes sense…! more
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How I Photograph Birds
"Ah, grasshopper..."
When people ask me if I take pictures of birds, I say, “Yes, I do – if there aren’t any animals around…!” I’m only joking (mostly!), but it’s true that there are a lot of birders out there, and getting good shots of birds – particularly birds in flight (BIF) – is not that easy. So where should you begin?
Well, a lesson or course might help. I give photography lessons (both online and in person), and on the last Saturday of every month, I host wildlife photography workshops at the London Wetland Centre, which is a great venue for birding in south-west London. You can book your place for the next event on my Workshops page. If you don’t live nearby, you can probably find something similar closer to home.
In the meantime, let me tell you about my own approach to bird photography. more
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Camera Set-up for Nikon Z8 and Z9
If you read my Mix and Match article, you’ll know that I recently traded in one of my ⍺1 camera bodies and a few Sony lenses for a new Nikon Z8 with a NIKKOR Z 600mm f/4 TC VR S lens. The main reasons were to benefit from Pre-Release Capture and a built-in 1.4x teleconverter.
After wrestling with all the options (at home and abroad!), here’s a list of all my current settings for the Z8. They should be roughly the same for the Z9—but with a few exceptions.
Note that this is only a starting point, so feel free to experiment yourself and see what works for your style of photography. more
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Brown Bear Facts
Bear Gills
Watching brown bears fish for salmon on Brooks Falls is one of the all-time highlights of the natural world, and it’s a must for any wildlife photographer.
I went there in July 2015 during the annual salmon run, and I took probably my best ever photograph while I was there (see above).
This is a bit of an hommage to Thomas D Mangelsen’s famous ‘Catch of the Day’ image from the 1980s, but it was very difficult to capture.
I wanted the bear’s mouth to be open and the fish to be in mid-air, but I only managed two such shots in a week!
If you want to go there yourself, you’ll have to be prepared for booking a year in advance, spending thousands of pounds and having to put up with a door-to-door journey of around 37 hours!
…But it’s worth it.
If you want a few tips on how to shoot a brown bear, just take a look at my blog post. more
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What Camera do you Need for Wildlife Photography?
You can never have too many cameras…
“Hello, my name’s Nick, and I’m a cameraholic.”
There’s something very addictive about buying a new camera. You get obsessed with the idea of owning something that has the latest features, and you simply have to have it…!
Let’s just assume, then, that you want the very best camera on the market, but what do you actually need as a wildlife photographer?
For me, it all comes down to having the best camera you can afford, and that means a mirrorless model. Customisation is important, and things like pre-release capture, lens choice (see article) and a built-in Neutral Density (ND) filter are great. However, the most important features are sensor size, frame rate and the autofocus system, including eye detection and tracking.
Let’s have a look at each of these. more
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Cheetah Facts
Cheetahs Never Win
The cheetah is my favourite animal. It may not be the prettiest - most people prefer the leopard - but there’s nothing to beat the sight of a cheetah running at full speed. It never fails to make me smile…
And if you’re lucky enough to see a cheetah kill, that’s one of the most exciting moments you can ever get on safari!
If you want a few tips on how to shoot a tiger, just take a look at my blog post. more
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How to Photograph in the Rain
It’s Raining, it’s Pouring
Not many people like being out in the rain, and I’ve even been on a game drive with a guide who immediately turned round and went back to camp as soon as it started raining—even though we were only 20 yards down the road!
However, bad weather makes good photographs. That’s why you need a set of good waterproofs (for yourself and your cameras!) and make the most of it. Here are a few tips I picked up on my recent visit to the Masai Mara, where it rained every single day…! more
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Wildlife Photography with an iPhone
Portrait of my friend Chris, taken and edited with my iPhone 15 Pro Max in an Apple Store
Wildlife photographers are often seen as ‘big men with big guns’—ie expensive cameras with long lenses. And I’m probably one of them! When guests on safari see my 600mm lens, they often come over to talk to me about it before admitting they ‘only’ have an iPhone—sometimes blushing in embarrassment!
However, with advances in technology, smartphones—and particularly iPhones—have become great tools for capturing wildlife images and video. In fact, I read somewhere that 92.5% of all photos taken in 2023 were taken with a smartphone!
That should be no surprise to those of you who happen to own an iPhone 15 Pro or later versions, which have very flexible and powerful tools for capturing and editing images using Apple Intelligence.
Yesterday, I went with a friend to the Apple Store on Brompton Road. We chatted to a very helpful woman called Marina and then went to a live seminar on iPhone photography, run by a Creative Pro called Kabz.
This blog post will summarise a few things I learned and guide you through the essential tips and techniques for taking and editing pictures with an iPhone.
Before we start, though, I suggest you check the model of your iPhone and make sure your iOS is up-to-date. To be able to use Apple Intelligence (ie Apple’s generative modelling using Artificial Intelligence), you need an iPhone 15 Pro (Max) or later model running on at least iOS 18.1 (and preferably 18.2).
I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max that I bought in October 2023, and I had to update my software using the Wi-Fi in the Apple Store. It took around five minutes to download, and then I had to go into my Settings, select Apple Intelligence and wait for that to download in the background, which took another few minutes.
If you’re lucky enough to have an iPhone 16 Pro Max, you’ll have an additional Camera Control button that gives haptic feedback, which means you can slide your finger over it to adjust any sliders in the camera app. more
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My Top 10 Animals
"Behind you!"
The hippo is not one of my favourite animals. I just want to get that out of the way right at the start.
They spend most of their time submerged up to their snouts in water, and it’s very difficult to get a decent picture of any of them.
The animals that do make it on to my list are the ones are rare and beautiful and have given me the best photographic experiences.
As you’ll discover, this list is heavily weighted towards Africa, but that’s just because I’ve spent so much time over there.
I’ve actually taken pictures in 26 countries on all seven continents, so there are a few contenders from South America and the polar regions that have made the shortlist.
Here we go… more
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The Future of Photo Editing: How AI Transforms Post-Processing
"Tiger, tiger, burning bright…"
Photography has always been about more than pressing the shutter. From the darkroom practices of the early 20th century to the digital workflows of today, post-processing has defined how images are refined, perfected, and shared. Now, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) advancing at a remarkable speed, photo editing is entering a new era. AI promises not only to automate technical corrections but also to fundamentally reshape creativity, accessibility, and authenticity in photography. more
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If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.
If you’d like to book a lesson or order an online photography course, please visit my Lessons and Courses pages.
