What PROS Don't Tell You About WILDLIFE Photography!!!

This is such a reassuring video! Here's one of my many fails. I was half way up a mountain, when I went to take a photo and realised that whilst I have the lenses, I've left my camera on the roof of my car, some hours back down the trail!

Making sure I had all my lenses. my stool, my lunch, my drink, all my batteries, tripod etc., driving 50 miles before dawn, finding the site, and starting to get set up in perfect early light, .... and then realising I'd left the camera body on my desk at home as I did a last minute clean of it!

Was photographing ospreys behind a large shopping centre with an 800mm f/5.6 Nikkor on a Gitzo 410 with a Wimberley gimbal mount. Dismounted the lens and carried it to my vehicle . . . and drove home. Not until the next morning did I miss the Gitzo and Wimberley, about $1000 worth of gear. Drove back, about 30 miles. Tripod and gimbal were still out in the field where I'd left them.

Honesty from a YouTube photographer? Amazing. Great video mate. As they say, all is not what it seems when it comes to most photography. Your honesty and Aussie humility is refreshing. 👍

I'm not even a wildlife photographer but still enjoy watching your videos since hearing you talk and seeing your beautiful pics is just so relaxing. Also sometimes I pick up some tips for photography in general. Keep up the good work!

One of my fails...not looking at the ground while walking around with the camera. Didn't see the rock...I fell, but wanted to protect my gear and kept my arms in the air, so I didn't land very softly as I couldn't use my arms to break the fall...got quite severe shoulder problems after that (I'm fine now) but the gear was ok 🤣

Biggest Fail: I saw my first wild peregrine falcon. It was on the ground in the bottom of a dry sedimentation pond, which meant I could get nowhere near it. I did manage to get a shot at about 200 meter with my 150-600 and R6 but the light was low so I bumped my shutter speed way down. Bird was small in the frame and I knew I would have to crop it. I started to walk away so as not to scare it but I guess I spooked it anyway. I figured what the heck and Held down the shutter button with the falcon perfectly centered in my frame for about 250 shots. The falcon circled around within probably 25 yards of me, filling the frame. I was super excited until it flew of and I started reviewing and realised that all the shots were at about 1/100th of a second. Out of all of those shots I managed to salvage one. Not a good one, just the least bad one... And yes I posted it proudly on my local birding facebook group. Blurry wings and all.

I think that my most common fail is forgetting to turn on my DSLR. I feel so stupid looking through the viewfinder and pressing the shutter, wondering why nothing is happening 🤣 I really like your honesty with your failures. As a total beginner it's really good to know that even really skilled people get it wrong from time to time!

Your honest and authentic attitude is so sympathic and keeps me comic back to view your clips! Thanks so much - that is so motivating to keep improving myself !

I've done most of the things you mentioned as failures. Another way to "stuff things up" is to forget that you have certain features enabled on your camera for a previous shot and then have forgotten to turn off. This is particularly true of exposure compensation or bracketing. Before a day's shooting, it's always good to make sure you have your "standard" wildlife settings as you leave the car. What a bummer it is to shoot a whole morning's images at +2 EV unintentionally! This is significantly less problematic with mirrorless, but with DSLR, it has left me crying in my beer at least a couple of times. Great video, Duade. I always enjoy your informal, down to earth approach and spontaneous style.

What a great video: terrific attitude, enthusiasm and humour. It makes you want to get out there and take photos rather than depress you with lots of perfect shots because you can’t see how you could ever take anything nearly as good. Subbed.

Hey Duade, I simply love your presentation. Your simplicity and the honesty is amazing. Well here's one of my favourite fails. I got ready a night before, 1. Camera batteries charged 2. Lenses cleaned and packed 3. Tripod ready and packed 4. All packed neatly in the camera bag Reached the location with my friend. Opened the bag and realized that the camera was still at home merrily getting charged! 😂 Ended up gladly being the spotter and guide to my friend.

Duade, I just found your channel. As a long time nature photographer, I love your work and also the way you deliver the information. It's so true we always show are greatest work but never the failures. You so right. Looking forward to seeing more of your post. Cheers.

This was such a fun one to watch Duade, very relatable unfortunately :) But I always use those experiences of messing up in the field to learn I guess, and implement precautionary measures into my workflow as to minimize chances of it happening again. Thank you for putting such a great content out, it's very refreshing seeing someone with so much integrity, transparency, and a good sense of humor.

A nice and honest video on photography fails Duade! Some great advice and reality checks too! Quite often we get too hung up on trying to capture "the shot" that we overlook the other things such as the sensory stimulus of fresh air, the sounds, the feel of the sun, dirt, water etc against our skin, the smells of nature and our surroundings to name a few. As you rightly pointed out......our experience and success rate generally improves relative to the proportion of effort and time invested. Just get out there and immerse yourself in nature!! Love your passion and work Duade.......keep it up!!

Thank you once again Duade....not only informative and interesting, but your honesty and being relatable is awesome to see...by far the best channel on YouTube...you are fantastic...thanks again 👍👍👍💯💯💯

Thankyou Duade. I've been binging your videos for a few days now. You're like the Bob Ross of Wildlife photography. Appreciate the time and effort you put in all of your videos!

Forth rightness and honesty overwhelms me... You put this remarkable hobby into perspective and completely brings things into focus. I think I will enjoy my time behind the camera and out into the field just that much more. Thank you, Duane, keep up the wonderful work and telling it like it is. A fan for all time here!

I always enjoy your episodes and appreciate the time and effort that you dedicate to improving this hobby for everyone. I could certainly relate to a good many of the fails that you listed. A battery fail caught me early on and it certainly was a painful, teachable moment. I always have at least one fully charged backup battery in my pocket at all times when I am out now.

Duade you're such a great encouragement and inspiration. After 10 years of covering various other types of photography, I've just been getting into birds and wildlife and you've been so helpful in this new journey of discovery. I started off with some ropey, noisy shots but they've been steadily getting better through your tips and I cannot quantify the uplift in wellbeing through the whole process of being out there spending time with and snapping these wonderful little friends. Thanks so much for being a great mentor on this journey 🙏🏻