Last week, Juan Pons gave some great wildlife photography tips on the Outdoor Photo Gear blog.  If you’re just getting started in wildlife photography, these tips will be invaluable to you.

However, as I was reminded the other night, even if you’ve been doing this a while, these tips will be invaluable to you!

As I last blogged about, there are some fantastic nighttime wildlife photography opportunities out there, if you know where to look.  However, because you’re fumbling around in the dark, its important to keep tabs on your gear.  When we were shooting kangaroo rats the other night, I found that I could use a little more light:

While this image is pretty good, I wanted a little more light on the scene.  So, I set my flash to give just a little more “oomph”.  Despite my adjustments, my next shot looked like this:

Wait…what?!?  I set my flash to give 2/3 stop MORE light–not less!  What happened?  Well, after I made my adjustment, I was futzing with the spotlight and other things, and I accidentally twisted my thumb wheel, inadvertently changing my aperture from f/8 to f/16!!

While my mistake wasn’t disastrous to the whole evening, something tiny like this could easily ruin a once-in-a-lifetime shot.  So, Juan’s advice is sound: check your camera’s settings often.  It just might make the difference between an awesome shot, and one you will eternally kick yourself for.

After resetting my aperture to f/8, my adjustments seem to have worked:

Sweet!  Much better.  Thanks for the gentle reminder, Juan.

I would also add a 6th point to Juan’s list: try new things.  If you have the opportunity, try shooting your subject at more than one aperture or exposure–you might be glad to have the options back home at your computer!