5 Elements of Wildlife Photography Process

5 E lements of
WILDLIFE
PHOTOGRAPHY
Ö
by
Tin Man L ee
“The world doesn’t need another pretty picture.
People only want to see what moves them.”
– David DuChemin, Within the Frame
When I first started wildlife photography, I would

check out the online galleries at nature photography
sites such as naturescapes.net, birdphotographers.net,
naturephotographers.net, Fred Miranda forum, and
Flickr.
“Dang. Those pics are so perfect,” I said to myself.
I felt envious and depressed.
I would never take pics as good as those, I thought.
Then I spent a long time studying those photos and
memorizing the camera settings, and went to places
where I could photograph the same species the way
those photographers shot them. But even when I was
eventually able to take a pic similar to theirs, it was just
that—I took a similar pic. I did not have my own voice.
People would just say, “Oh, your pic looks just like so
and so’s.”
Being a copycat is no fun. I wanted to have my own
voice. I wanted to tell stories that move people.
But how could I have my own voice? How could I tell
stories?
First I needed to understand what “story” means.
In his book Story (a MUST read), Robert McKee said,
Mood + Emotion = Story
Oh man, so now it was even more complicated! I had
to know how to capture mood first, and then search
for emotion.
But how does one create mood and emotion in a
photo?
I read through a lot of books searching for the answer.
And guess what? I finally found it.
It was in a book about landscape photography
recommended to me by my good friend Carl. With
some modifications, the ideas could be applied to
wildlife photography as well. The book is called
Landscape Beyond: A Journey into Photography by David
Ward. You are missing out if you haven’t read it.
In the book, Ward mentioned three elements that he
felt a landscape photo must include. Through a lot of
soul searching, I added two more that are specific to
wildlife photography, making a total of five elements.
Here you go
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Simplicity .............................................................................. 1
Mystery ................................................................................. 8
Beauty ................................................................................. 16
Truthfulness ....................................................................... 25
Connection......................................................................... 38
About the author............................................................... 48
5 Elements of Wildlife Photography
SIMPLICITY
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

– Leonardo da Vinci
T he term “photography” originated from Greek

and means “to paint with light.” But in reality, it
is the complete opposite to painting.
Think about it: When I want to paint something, I grab
a blank paper and start to draw on it, one stroke at a
time. So it starts with an empty canvas.
But when I am taking wildlife photos, I am presented
with an animal or animals in a cluttered world of
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nature: forest, sand, mud, twigs, shadows and
highlights. My task is to use my camera and lens
effectively to first find the animal and then declutter
the setting—to isolate only what is essential (the lines,
the forms, the shapes), to express what I really want the
audience to see. And I don’t mean using Photoshop to
get rid of things. I mean combining my vision and skills
IN CAMERA.
A distracting background can ruin a photo. I just can’t
stand it.
If you want to tell a story, you have to simplify the
scene and break it down to the essentials. Our task is to
turn chaos into order; turning something immeasurable
(nature) into something measurable (a 2D image). Isn’t
it cool to be a wildlife photographer?!
So how do we declutter with the camera and lens?
“A good photograph is to know where to stand.”

– Ansel Adams
Knowing where to stand is important because it

changes both the relative natural light direction and the
perspective of the scene. Indeed, I never stop moving
around. I keep busy with my footwork, getting up and
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down, left and right, to find the vintage point for the
optimal simplification of the scene.
Making use of the focal length (wide angle to
emphasize the foreground, telephoto to blur the
background), depth of field, bokeh, light and shadow,
shutter speed to freeze or slow blur, and camera pan
are a few ideas of how to isolate. Backlighting and
silhouette are powerful tools as well.
When you master the properties of light, its quality and
quantity, and its effect on the shadows and highlights
of what’s in front of you, you become the creator of
your own natural world. You let the light and the scene
simplify and harmonize in front of you.
It’s time consuming and frustrating to eliminate clutter
from a scene in camera, because you cannot actively
remove things unless you are ONE with your camera
and the light.
“Look through the viewfinder—at the frame
itself—with careful scrutiny and you’ll begin to see
distractions at the corner of the frame, or lines that
are not as parallel as your mind led you to
believe… Do what you have to in order to become
aware of the frame and the way the elements
within it interact.”
– David DuChemin Within the Frame
—3—
Less is more. A simple photo can be so much more
powerful. So remember: isolate, declutter, and make it
simple. Don’t forget the KISS principle.
One great example of using extreme simplicity to create
a powerful image is a BBC photographer of the year
award photo by photographer Miguel Lasa titled “Polar
Sunrise.” Just a few strokes of light, and you know
that’s a polar bear in sunrise.
Taking a photo full of clutters and distracting
background is easy. But you are just documenting the
scene if you do that. Simplifying a scene down to the
essentials is an art. It’s oh so difficult, as you need to
simplify the scene in real time when an opportunity
presents itself, and you usually only have one chance.
But that’s where the challenge and fun lie for a wildlife
photographer.
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter

letter.”
– Blaise Pascal
—4—
So what can you do now?
• Look for non-distracting background.

• Exclude as much as you can from a frame unless it
is useful to tell the story. Try to move your
viewpoint, use a different focal length, use f-stop
effectively, and shoot in different lighting
conditions by coming to the same location again
and again.
• Try to make the animal small in the frame to show
more habitat (if it is non-distracting). If not, try to
zoom all the way in to simplify the background.
• Long exposure could blur distracting moving
parts.
http://tinmanphotoblog.com/falkland/
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MYSTERY
What is the most famous painting in the world?
H int: Every year, millions of people line up at the

Louvre Museum in Paris hoping to have a
glimpse of it.
It’s “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo da Vinci.
One of the key reasons why the painting is so famous,
according to David Ward’s Landscape Beyond, is
because of its enigma.
When I was a kid, I had already heard tales about the
“Mona Lisa.” Wherever you stood relative to the
painting, the lady would be looking right at you. There
are all sorts of controversies in addition to that, such as
whether the lady was a real person or the painter simply
painted a self-portrait, and whether there were “codes”
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hidden in the painting that would lead to a treasure
underground. People dreamed of seeing the painting
with their own eyes, to try to solve the mystery of this
estimated $800 million work of art.
But first, let me tell you something really crazy. You
will never guess what I saw today at around 5pm on a
hiking trail.
Do I have your attention? We humans always want to
hear other people’s secrets.
Now, imagine I am on a first date with a beautiful girl
(which happens quite a lot). I start the conversation:
“Hi, I’m Tin Man. I woke up at noon today. Then I
went to Home Depot across the street to search for
some paint for my garage door. Later, I went to Bed,
Bath and Beyond to look for a trash can, as the one at
home was broken. I drove by McDonald’s to get some
fries and a strawberry sundae on my way here.”
Is it likely that I will ever have a second date with her?
No, because every word I said spelled “boring.” The
girl would have figured me out within a few seconds.
There’s no mystery.
Maybe that’s why I fail all the time. I swear I didn’t
really order the fries and sundae though.
When I was in college, I audited a neuroscience class by
a really famous professor. I heard that more than half
—9—
of the students failed this class, so I was smart enough
not to take it for credit.
In the first lecture, the professor talked about the
earliest life forms on earth. He said that whenever that
life form moved and encountered another life form on
its path, it would always ask three questions:
• Will it eat me?

• Can I eat it?
• Can I reproduce with it?
(I guess we haven’t really evolved much after all these
years, have we?)
The first question is always about survival. Whenever
we encounter anything, in the deepest reaches of our
minds, even after years of evolution, we still
subconsciously want to make sure something won’t kill
us.
When we see something a bit fuzzy, dark, and blurry,
we get paranoid. It’s in our genes. It triggers our
curiosity and alertness. And we start to imagine things.
In Made to Stick: Why some ideas survive and others
die, the authors looked through history to understand
why some stories last and spread all over the world,
such as the story of the guy in Las Vegas waking up in
a bathtub full of ice, with his kidney removed. The
authors also described five techniques to make an idea
— 10 —
stick. The one technique that caught my attention was
“unexpectedness.”
Mystery is full of unexpectedness. Without
unexpectedness, there is no tension. Without tension,
there is no drama, and thus no story.
We have seen a lot of these online. Birds perched on
beautiful branches with creamy background. Animals in
sharp focus with a perfect pose in a clean habitat.
Landscapes with flowering foregrounds, some rocks
creating leading lines to the tip of a mountain with
amazing colorful clouds. They are all beautiful photos.
I usually utter a loud “Wow” when I saw them. Then,
after a few minutes, I have completely forgotten the
pics. Why? Because they lack mystery. They don’t
trigger my imagination. They are just soulless beauties.
Without imagination, I can’t remember the photo. So
next time I see the photo again, I can’t tell who took it
because they all look the same. No one wants to take a
photo that’s easily forgotten. A successful photo is one
that makes people want to come back to look at it again
and again for years.
Instead of trying to show as much detail as possible in a
photo, it’s interesting how powerful it becomes when
you take away some details and provide space to let the
viewers imagine.
— 11 —
“There is nothing more magical than suggestion.
When you reveal everything, you kill imagination.
I live in a world of imagination. And that’s where I
want to stay.’’
– Vincent Munier
Photographer Vincent Munier is the ultimate master of

mystery. He’s always waiting for a storm, wind,
blinding snow, extreme cold—the conditions where
everything becomes dreamy. His photos bring viewers
to a world of fantasy. Here’s his recent video, which
really showcases mystery.
I don’t know about you, but that video brings tears to
my eyes.
David Ward described several great techniques for
conveying mystery in his book, such as using scales,
spatial ambiguity, and lighting.
For wildlife photography, a good starting point is to
study Vincent Munier’s work.
A few ideas to create mystery are to make good use of
fog, backlight, occlusion, foreground blur, spotlight
(natural), shadows, and silhouette.
Here are my attempts at being a mysterious man. And
by the way, I really didn’t order the fries and the
sundae.
— 12 —
• Look for fog, backlight, waves, snow storms, sand

storms, and rain.
• Look for front and back elements and understand
how the blurring will look (e.g., a front element
such as a rock very close to the photographer
relative to the subject would always look blurry, as
if it is foggy).
• Think of composition. Sometimes cropping part
of the animal will allow for more imagination.
• Again, study Vincent Munier.
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BEAUTY
“Why nature photography?”
M any would answer, “To capture the beauty of

nature.”
Five years ago (when I was not as obsessed
with wildlife photography as now), I took a one-day
portrait photography class by a rather successful
Hollywood photographer in downtown Los Angeles.
He said he once had an assignment to photograph
Janet Jackson. Starting early in the morning, he spent
hours at the studio photographing her from all sorts of
angles, but was not happy with any of the shots. He
talked to her, joked with her, tried to help her relax, yet
— 16 —
he just couldn’t get the shot he wanted. As the day
went on, he thought it was going to be his biggest
failure, because an opportunity to photograph Janet
Jackson was very rare.
But just in between this and the last set, when no one
was paying attention, he looked at Janet Jackson and
suddenly saw a moment. He clicked the shutter, and it
was his favorite shot of the whole day.
When I photographed someone in a studio for several
hours and took thousands of photos, one of those
thousands always stood out, as if the real person’s real
personality came out in that picture. It’s usually a subtle
eye contact, a certain angle, a perspective, a
combination of light and shadow. I don’t know. It’s so
similar to all of the other shots, yet so different—
something very hard to explain with science. Even if
you know which angle and what kind of lighting is best
for that person, you just have to keep waiting and
waiting, and let that moment reveal itself.
The other day, I was talking to my good friend. She
said there was one particular photo of her that her dad
always held dear for many years, and she didn’t
understand why.
Now it gets more interesting.
If you close your eyes and think of the faces of your
loved ones, the images in your mind are usually the
most beautiful smiles from those people. Our brains
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seem to pick out the best angles of our loved ones
without us realizing it.
In my experience, it’s the same in wildlife photography.
I take thousands of images of an animal during a trip,
but in the end, there is, if I am lucky, one that looks
very different than the others—even if it’s on the same
day and in the same habitat, holding the same pose. It’s
always a split-second thing. I really don’t know how to
describe it, except that it’s as if the animal lets you have
a glimpse into its soul. Maybe I will call it the “spirit”
moment. That moment of spirit is what I’ve been
trying to chase in wildlife photography. I’m probably
crazy to say that.
“Well, I never lose my patience with the

animals. When they do present themselves for their
portraits, as it were, I am sort of being graced by
that.”
– Nick Brandt
How do we capture the moment of beauty? The

“spirit” moment? I have no idea.
Michael “Nick” Nichols said “The real art and
authorship is in the choice of the shot that transcends.”
— 18 —
He continued, “You have to have a complete mastery
of the technique so you can move beyond automatic
mediocrity. Take chances. Take pictures all the time,
rain or shine. You have your bag of tools. So try them.
You want to keep trying different combinations
because then you will find that surprise. The pictures I
care about most are the real moments, not cropped,
not set up, the ones with a kind of surreal energy.”
So, what is beauty? Some say beauty is happiness. Some
say beauty is universal. Some say beauty is truth.
But what is truth?
Truth and fact are different, according to Robert
Mckee’s book Story. Truth is what we choose to believe
in. A photograph is the truth in the world of the
photographer.
In the end, I think it all comes down to taste. I have
written a blog post about taste.
David Ward explained beauty by quoting American
photographer Robert Adams. Adams suggested that we
judge art:
“... by whether it reveals to us important Form that we
ourselves have experienced but to which we have not
paid adequate attention. Successful art rediscovers
Beauty for us.
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“...the Beauty that concerns me is that of Form. Beauty
is, in my view, a synonym for the coherence and
structure underlying life... Why is Form beautiful?
Because, I think, it helps us meet our worst fear, the
suspicion that life may be chaos and that therefore our
suffering is without meaning.”
We all want to have a feeling that we are not living in
this world in vain. We all want to have a meaning to go
on. But what is the meaning of meaning? Maybe we are
all living in the “truth” of how we see things to make
ourselves feel better about our existence. Or is it all just
a dream?
It’s very hard to develop your own palette. David Ward
has a quote in his book that says “beauty pains, and
when it pains most, I shoot.” I don’t know what that
means. Maybe one has to be heartbroken to know what
true beauty is.
Hey I didn’t promise that I could give good advice on
each category!
One thing I need to emphasize is that I got annoyed
when I see photographers who try to make their
photos simple, mysterious and beautiful just for the
sake of it. What I mean is that they always follow a
fixed formula, and you can see their portfolio filled
with the same technique no matter what animals they
photograph. Now that most of us are done with
— 20 —
school, if I ask you to do homework, how do you feel?
Boring is what comes to mind. But a lot of
photographers go to the field and try to do
“homework.” They think that, in order to get approval
or praise from others, they must go out and follow
rules (e.g., always get to eye level, get a critically sharp
picture of an animal with the feet not overlapping, with
good head angle, and with a pleasing background in
good light). So after each trip, they come home with a
list of these pictures, with different animal species all in
the same style. They feel accomplished because that’s
the homework they thought they were assigned to do. I
am not joking—I have seen photographers with their
portfolios full of all types of water fowl in the same
kinds of poses, water color, and light. They are all
perfectly executed photos, but that makes me want to
vomit.
There are also some photographers who always use
strange composition as their so-called “self
expression.” The shots look so weird that there is no
beauty in them, at least for me. Or they crop parts of
the animals in a strange way because that’s what certain
prestigious photo contests seems to favor. But they
would have never have taken photos like that if they
didn’t know how the photo contest chose award
winners. This is what Robert McKee talked about in his
book Story. It’s like those movies that, in order to scare
the audience, have a killer jumping out from behind the
door. Those are cheap shots. No matter how good
Jurassic Park was, the ending, when the T-Rex hops in
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just in time to devour the velocirators, is a cheap shot.
This kind of photo may wow viewers once, but it will
soon be forgotten.
“Deus ex machine not only erases all meaning and
emotion, it’s an insult to the audience. Each of us
knows we must choose and act, for better or worse,
to determine the meaning of our lives.”
– Robert McKee
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TRUTHFULNESS
A few years ago, I met a girl. She was so beautiful

it was suffocating. And she had a nice personality
too. What more could I ask for?
“It’s your lucky break,” I said to myself.
After a few dates, we started a relationship, and I
poured my heart into it. But things took a quick turn. I
found out we had completely opposite beliefs and
values when it came to most of the more serious
matters. I tried to adjust, but I also knew that I could
never change myself, and I should not try to change
her—especially when it came to core values. We tried
to make it work, but it didn’t. It was devastating as I
— 25 —
watched the future crumbling in front of me, a good
dream being crushed. It was like a little dagger piercing
my heart, day after day. We broke up after a few
months.
That little dagger piercing feeling reminded me of my
wildlife photography experience when I first started.
I started wildlife photography six years ago as a
passionate hobby, while still keeping my full-time job.
As a newbie, I was so amazed and intrigued by the
beauty of the wildlife photos when I browsed through
magazines, books, and the Internet. I would look at
each of those pics in awe, wondering how long it took
to capture them, and how much the photographers
endured, hiding and waiting in the harsh and extreme
wilderness for that special moment when the animals
showed their most beautiful natural behaviors.
I wanted to witness the wonder of nature, to see this
wildlife in its natural habitat. I told myself that if I
could take a picture 10% as good as the ones I was
looking at, I would be so happy.
I particularly remember a few of those amazing photos
that got me into wildlife photography.
1. Great gray owl mousing: One was a great gray
owl flying towards the camera with both talons
out. I didn’t even know what a great gray owl was
before that, but I was instantly mesmerized by
their beauty, their powerful glance, and their huge
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and fluffy talons. I would look at these photos
constantly in pure admiration, hoping I would get
to see an owl one day. You can easily Google
“great gray owl mousing” to see this image.
2. Snowy owl hunting: Another one was a snowy
owl taking off from the snow. Who wouldn’t love
the majestic snowy owl? You can Google “snowy
owl hunting” and click on images.
3. Osprey pouncing: I also saw a shot with an
osprey flying out from the water, grabbing a fish
in its talon, and flying towards the camera with
water splashed all over the place on a perfect
green background. So powerful! Google “osprey
Finland.”
4. Puma jumping: And I also saw a place where
people could have snow leopards, pumas and
tigers running towards their cameras and jump,
and it only cost $300/hour. That’s still a lot of
money, but to be able to see these animals I
dreamed of my whole life…how crazy cool was
that?! Just Google “puma Montana.”
5. Golden eagle vs red fox: Then there was this
stunner, a golden eagle, my favorite bird
throughout my childhood, maneuvering in mid-air
with talons out, trying to grab a red fox in the
snow. The red fox, helplessly running away,
turned his head with mouth wide open, as if
— 27 —
making one last attempt to fight off the eagle. The
whole scene was in falling snow. I had never seen
a golden eagle in my life, nor a red fox. I gave
utmost respect to the photographer, guessing that
he must have waited for that shot his whole life.
Google “golden eagle red fox” and you will be
stunned too.
As a beginner, I was ecstatic, knowing that I might
have a chance to really see these wild animals if I took
wildlife photography seriously—and if I was patient.
Again, I see a future so beautiful. But after doing a lot
of research on the topics (and naively joining some
photography workshops), I was disappointed. As it
turned out, many top photographers were using
methods that I felt were dishonest, and even unethical.
For those photos of great gray owl mousing and snowy
owl hunting, the photographers actually went to a pet
store to buy mice, and tossed them near where the owls
were perched, so that they would fly there and grab
them. They just focused their cameras right on the mice
to capture the shots when the owls flew in.
And for some other owls such as the barred owls,
photographers just played bird calls in their speakers to
make the owls think there was an intruder in their area,
so they would fly out into the open to check. Then they
would take pics while the owls were flying.
As for the pumas, tigers, and snow leopards, I did more
research there as well, and I found out that there is this
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whole new market called “game farms” and “captive
animals.” Just imagine if you were captured and put
into a cage, then starved so that you would follow
orders. Then you were brought out to run and jump so
you could be be awarded some meat, while the person
who had caught you was paid a lot of money. I
wouldn’t want to be that animal, so I have no interest
in photographing them in such circumstances.
Legendary photographer Mr. Tom Mangelsen wrote an
article about his viewpoints on game farm animals. I
advise everyone to take a look HERE. Mr. Mangelsen
said in the article:
“Any layperson on the street would likely agree that
forcing animals to perform for several hours per day
while ‘wandering around freely’ in so-called natural
settings and then putting them back into chain linked
cages is cruel and inhumane.”
But what about the golden eagle and red fox? I found
out that the photographers actually put red fox
carcasses in an area that golden eagles frequented.
Many said that the red foxes were road kill, but I guess
the photo that I saw must have been an accident where
the red fox somehow survived a road kill. There are
workshops where people can pay and go hide in a
blind, with a red fox carcass placed somewhere with a
nice background, and then they wait for the golden
eagles to come and they capture a “once-a-lifetime
shot.”
— 29 —
The same thing was true of the osprey shot. They built
a hide near where ospreys frequented, and once the
workshop participants were ready, the leader threw fish
at a spot with nice background. As the osprey pounced
on the fish, the photographers took their pictures.
Anyone can pay and rent a blind there.
How ironic is that? Almost all of the photos that
amazed me in the beginning and got me into wildlife
photography were taken in such ways.
Then I dug a little deeper:
My dad told me a lot of stories about kingfishers when
I was a kid, and I have always loved them. So I
Googled “kingfisher splash”. Turns out people put a
small bucket with fish in the water near the kingfisher
habitat to get those.
When I told my non-photographer friends how much I
dreamed to photograph wolverines, they all asked me
the same question: “You mean you want to photograph
Hugh Jackman?” Apparently not many people knew
that wolverines were indeed an actual animal. They
were at the top of the list of any wildlife photographer
because the chance of seeing them in the wild is only
slightly better than seeing a unicorn. I was told that the
only place to photograph wolverine was in Finland, so I
was almost ready to sign up for those workshops, no
matter what the cost was. Then I found out the
wolverines there were also being baited. People said,
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“Well, if you want to see a wolverine, that’s the only
way.” I don’t know…it just felt very different. And I
lost my interest in going.
I Googled a park where I saw stunning photos of
foxes, pine martens and other rare animals, and I found
from a blog post that people put peanut butter on tree
branches! The claimed that the peanut butter was used
to feed small birds, but somehow these other animals
showed up.
Many of the eagle shots were taken when people fed
them with fish. Some even put Styrofoam inside the
fish so they floated, so they would be easier for the
eagle to grab. But Styrofoam is poisonous.
Photographers caught filling fish with Styrofoam to
bait endangered eagle.
Many of the song bird photos were taken with fake
printed paper backgrounds and fake perches.
If you see insects or reptiles, such as a praying mantis
or a frog or a snake doing cool poses against perfect
background, a lot of the times those animals were pre-
refrigerated! Take a look at an article shared on
Facebook recently by Outdoor Photographer Magazine
columnist, esteemed photographer, and my friend
Melissa Groo on this topic:
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Why bug photography ethics bug me.
Melissa wrote another wonderful article on ethics in
Outdoor Photographer Magazine:
Finding the right track
Audubon also published an ethics guideline recently:
Ethical Bird Photography
A week ago, I was reading a book called Mastering
Wildlife Photography by Richard Garvey-Williams. He
touched on the topics of ethics, and said he once heard
that some photographers would drive their Jeeps to
chase hyenas in Africa. They intentionally drove the
hyenas to exhaustion, not letting them rest, until they
finally broke down, stopped, and turned their heads
towards the Jeep, saliva dripping due to fatigue. And
those photographers would get their prized shots.
My heart bleeds reading about this.
When I started as a wildlife photographer, I thought all
the photos were captured in a way where the animals
were showing their natural behaviors in their natural
habitats.
Now, I cannot even look at those pictures anymore,
especially the ones of great gray owls and snowy owls.
There’s nothing natural. It’s not real. It’s just cheating
to me. I lost interest and never looked at those
workshops again. It was like a childhood dream being
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crushed. These pictures don’t bring me any joy or
wonder. They are fake to me.
There are numerous heated discussions about whether
these practices harm the animals or not. Some
photographers claim that they are baited in a safe way.
Some say the feeding is for conservation of certain
species. Many choose not to disclose. I don’t even want
to go there. I just think that if a kid comes to you one
day, full of excitement, and asks how you took that
picture, you won’t be proud to say that you got the
picture because you lured the wild animals using food.
You are basically exploiting the need, purity, and trust
of a wild animal that can’t speak for itself—all for a
photo.
But I don’t know. Even prestigious photo contests like
BBC allow (non-live) baiting, and many winning shots
are taken using bait. Was I being too much of a purist?
Do I take the red pill and face the painful truth of
reality, or take the blue pill and continue to live in this
illusion? Where should I draw the line? Because I was
really lost as a wildlife photographer.
I remember reading a quote in one of Michio
Hoshino’s books. It said, “Those people who
manipulate the behaviors of a wild animal just for the
sake of a photo do not deserve to be called wildlife
photographers, because what they do lowers the value
of a wildlife photo.”
— 33 —
I also remember George Lepp said in his book Wildlife
Photography: Stories from the field that “a fed coyote is a
dead coyote.” He sadly photographed a coyote
approaching him near a parking lot, and the coyote had
obviously been fed by other people before and started
to rely on humans.
A few days ago, I saw a quote by photographer Kevin
Schafer in his book Penguin Planet. (I was doing research
while writing my book on the Falkland Islands, and
realized that the book name I wanted to use—
”Penguin Planet”—was taken by him long ago). He
said:
“In my view, the ‘wow’ factor of photography—its
power to delight and even astonish—is directly tied to
its being perceived as an honest record of a real event.
Without that, a picture is just an illustration, and truth
is irrelevant.”
Again, ask yourself if you would be proud to tell a kid
that you lured an animal with bait for a shot, or that the
animal was locked in a cage when you were not taking
its photo. See if you feel ashamed.
Remember that baiting and game farm animal
photography is an insult to the viewers because it’s a
lie.
— 34 —
All of the following photos were taken without baiting
or bird calls, and the animals or birds were not captive.
— 35 —
— 36 —
— 37 —
CONNECTION
In part 1, I mentioned Robert McKee’s quote:

Mood + Emotion = Story
I f you read carefully, you will have seen that what

I’ve talked about so far—simplicity, mystery, and
beauty—all contribute to create mood. Mood is very
important to McKee. He talks about the movie The Ten
Commandments. He said that when God passed the Ten
Commandments to Moses, it was on top of the
mountain. Great things have to happen in a great
setting. The Ten Commandments weren’t handed to
Moses in a kitchen in a house. We always have to set
— 38 —
the mood of any photos first before we can proceed to
the next step.
Now let me ask you a question. What are the two most
famous wildlife photos in 2015?
They may not have won the most prestigious photo
contests, but they both went viral, and the whole world
knows about them.
They are the photo of a weasel hugging a woodpecker
by photographer Martin Le-May, and the photo of a
raven riding a bald eagle by photographer Phoo Chan.
One of the main reasons is that we connect to these

photos. Who doesn’t want to fly on a woodpecker’s
back like the weasel, or ride on the back of a bald
eagle?
— 39 —
In the book Road Less Traveled, the author begins by
saying “Life is difficult.”
Life is indeed difficult, and we have all experienced it.
Most of us have experienced different kinds of
setbacks, yet we chose to continue to fight. We
developed empathy through our decisions in life. If a
photo can invoke such empathy, it is a success.
Some may say, “I take pics to please myself. I don’t
care what others think.”
That’s totally okay. But I am more intrigued by what
triggers an audience. If my photo can move a person,
that’s much more meaningful than a pretty picture that
only pleases me.
“The quality of your life is the quality of your

communications with yourself, and with others.”
– Antony Robbins
“No film (or any kind of art) can be made to work

without an understanding of the reactions and
anticipations of the audience. You must shape
your story in a way that both expresses your vision
and satisfies the audience’s desires. The audience
is a force as determining of story design as any
— 40 —
other element. For without it, the creative act is
pointless.”
– Robert McKee
So what is the audience looking for exactly when they

view a photo?
Robert McKee in Story put it this way. He said we
viewers crave “the discovery of a world we do not
know. Once inside this alien world, we find ourselves.
Deep within these characters and their conflicts we
discover our own humanity…to inhabit vicariously
another (living) being who at first seems so unlike us
and yet at heart is like us. We do not wish to escape life
but to find life, to use our minds in fresh, experimental
ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add
depth to our days.”
Such beautiful words.
Living on this lonely planet, we all yearn to find
something we can relate to, someone who is similar to
us. We read books and magazines, watch TV and
newsfeeds, hoping to find something we can resonate
with, someone who is just like us.
In late June 2014, I went to the Hallo Bay camp at
Katmai National Park to photograph coastal brown
bear cubs. Inside the main cabin, I saw a little photo
— 41 —
book recording Dr. Jane Goodall’s visit to the camp
the previous year. I was flipping through the book and
saw a quote:
“The least I can do is speak out for those who

cannot speak for themselves.”
– Jane Goodall
We might not realize that when we take pictures of wild

animals, we have, without knowing, become a speaker
for them.
One thing unique about wildlife photography is that we
can capture real love and struggle in the animal world.
We want our photos to create meaning in our viewers’
lives.
Nick Nichols once used his images to successfully
persuaded a country to create 13 national parks.
“Images of nature can do more than entertain—

they can help save a whole ecosystem.”
– Nick Nichols
— 42 —
Evoke emotions. Some animals are just universally
loved, such as the fox, owl, and bear.
If a picture can scare and shock an audience, such as a
bear running towards the camera, it can evoke emotion.
A mother’s love of her babies also touches people’s
hearts. Unlikely friendships, such as the woodpecker
and weasel or a raven and a bald eagle, help us to
remember that all living things are our friends. And
pictures of animals doing things that remind of human,
such as bears standing up on their hind legs or and owl
yawning, help us to get back in touch with our
humanity.
— 43 —
— 44 —
— 45 —
— 46 —
— 47 —
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
T in Man Lee has a deep love of nature and wildlife

since childhood. He is the 2013 Grand Prize
winner of the Nature’s Best Photography Windland
Smith Rice International. His works have been
displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of
Natural History. Most recently, he had an invited solo
exhibit at the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology from 2015-2016. You can order his ebooks
and work at www.tinmanphotoblog.com/ebook
— 48 —
eBooks and Digital Workflow video currently on sale
Video Download: Digital workflow to Win Photo
Contests and Post Social Media Web Presentations
(to be released May 10, 2016)
For the first time ever, I’ll reveal my Adobe Lightroom
and Photoshop techniques and complete workflows
which enabled me to win photo contests such as the
grand prize of the prestigious Nature’s Best
Photography Windland Smith Rice International in
2013, and NBP highly honored awards in 2012, 2014
and 2015, and the 2013 NANPA Showcase Top 10 and
NANPA Expressions magazine cover.
I’ll admit that I’m lazy. Many of the books on Adobe
Lightroom and Photoshop are far too complicated and
take too long to read. I believe in the 80-20 rule, where,
with a few easy steps, laymen can achieve good image
quality and win photo contests. In this video, I will go
through my step-by-step process of editing photos,
from initial edits all the way through to submitting to
photo contests or posting on social media. I will talk
about the story behind the photo, why I chose such a
composition, the critical mistakes one makes when they
submit to photo contests, and how I deal with color,
ultimate sharpening, and noise removal.
— 49 —
— 50 —
20 Mistakes You Should Avoid When
Photographing the Falkland Islands (to be
released May 10, 2016)
Before you spend thousands of dollars on your once-
in-a-lifetime trip to the Falkland Islands, you might
want to take note of a few important mistakes to avoid.
Despite a series of mishaps during his two-week trip to
the Falkland Islands with his parents, Tin Man still
managed to capture a portfolio of his favorite photos
ever, including three that were selected for the second
round of the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the
Year Competition organized by BBC and the Natural
History Museum of London (two penguin photos and
one albatross photo).
In this guide, Tin Man will go over the mistakes he had
made during his trip, and describe what he will do if he
ever goes to the Falklands again. This guide may save
you a lot of headache and a lot of money in bad
planning, and give you great ideas for capturing world-
class photos in a short period of time. Some of the
topics he covers include:
• Pros and cons of joining a photography workshop

and going on your own.
• Pros and cons of land-based tours and cruises.
• What are the must see spots, and why? Saunders
Island? Carcass Island?
• What is the biggest secret of SNVP?
— 51 —
• What are the most important things to pay

attention to when flying to Chile and the Falkland
Islands, in terms of visas?
• What is the best camera gear?
• Is a family trip a good idea?
• Is going there for just one week enough to create a
stunning shot?
The Quest for Penguins: How a Trip in the
Falkland Islands Transformed Me (to be released
May 10, 2016)
— 52 —
On Christmas Eve of 2015, a 30-something Chinese
guy called Tin Man ventured to the remote Falkland
Islands, accompanied by parents, both in their late 60s.
All he was looking for was a relaxed vacation, a break
from his hectic life. Instead, the group was hit with a
series of mishaps, including fever, flu, knee and back
injuries, cancelled flights, near-death experiences in the
rough terrain under harsh weather, and a number of
close calls with wild animals. Through sheer
perseverance and a relentless obsession with capturing
the best photos possible, he confronted one obstacle
after another. In the end, the trip would forever change
his perspective on wildlife photography, and transform
him and his parents, helping them to understand the
most important things in life.
— 53 —
— 54 —

5 Elements of Wildlife Photography Process

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5 Elements of Wildlife Photography Process

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5 E lements of

When I first started wildlife photography, I would

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

T he term “photography” originated from Greek

“A good photograph is to know where to stand.”

Knowing where to stand is important because it

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter

• Look for non-distracting background.

What is the most famous painting in the world?

H int: Every year, millions of people line up at the

• Will it eat me?

Photographer Vincent Munier is the ultimate master of

• Look for fog, backlight, waves, snow storms, sand

“Why nature photography?”

M any would answer, “To capture the beauty of

“Well, I never lose my patience with the

How do we capture the moment of beauty? The

A few years ago, I met a girl. She was so beautiful

In part 1, I mentioned Robert McKee’s quote:

I f you read carefully, you will have seen that what

One of the main reasons is that we connect to these

“The quality of your life is the quality of your

“No film (or any kind of art) can be made to work

So what is the audience looking for exactly when they

“The least I can do is speak out for those who

We might not realize that when we take pictures of wild

“Images of nature can do more than entertain—

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T in Man Lee has a deep love of nature and wildlife

• Pros and cons of joining a photography workshop

• What are the most important things to pay

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