How do you approach a small animal, like this little toad?
Approaching a small, skittish animal requires patience. I start photographing further away just to assure I get a shot. And don’t forget creating wide angle images of wildlife in the landscape can be just as appealing as close-up portraits. But today we’re talking about trying to get closer for that nice portrait shot.
First you have to assess whether it’s even safe to consider moving closer. You don’t want to risk the welfare of either the wildlife or yourself. In the example today, of this small toad, there weren’t any major concerns.
Approaching wildlife is most often a very slow process.
Small subjects can easily be frightened by us as we’re so much larger than they. So it can sometimes help to get as close to eye-level with them as possible. Granted, you’ll never be able to be at the same level as this little toad, but you can get down on the ground, lying flat if you can, to lessen your profile and appear smaller than you are.
It’s often recommended you don’t make eye contact with wildlife as that can spook them or cause them to become aggressive, seeing it as a challenge. I don’t know if that applies to small amphibians. 😃
Make small moves and move slowly and quietly.
The key to getting close is to move slowly and quietly. The hope is the animal will almost get used to us, seeing us as just another part of the background, not a threat. You can see in the sequence of images of the toad I very slowly moved closer, and each time I repositioned I created an image. I was using a fixed focal length lens (105mm) so there was no zooming with the lens. If I wanted a closer portrait I needed to get physically closer to the toad.
Pause every so often to help let the creature get used to you.
And you will discover there’s always a hidden line the subject will consider too close. If you cross that line the subject will move away (or worse if it’s a predator, which I wouldn’t recommend approaching anyway). Where that line is will vary from species to species and even animal to animal. I try very hard not to cross that line as that most often means the end of my opportunity to photograph that subject. But in the case of this little toad I knew it was very likely at some point it would begin hopping away. So until then I did the best I could to capture closeups.
With a little luck, patience and practice you’ll get close enough for a nice close-up portrait.
Eventually, the toad had enough of me and began hopping away. I was able to capture one more image of it after the first hop. I liked how it had landed with its rear leg and foot raised just a bit sitting on a leaf. After creating this image I slowly backed off and left the little toad in peace.
One final view of the toad before leaving it in peace.
Just a quick technical note, for those interested. This was early enough in the morning and under enough tree cover to be fairly dark. I was hand holding the camera, helping me stay nimble and presenting less visible bulk in view of the toad. To get a shutter speed fast enough to avoid most blur I had to boost the ISO to 4000. This means there is some level of noise in these photos, especially in the darker portions. But I thought getting the shots was worth the potential noise, and it was also a fun exercise in approaching a small animal.
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