Wildlife Photographer Winners 2009

Wildlife photography is the act of taking photographs of wildlife.
Wildlife photography is regarded as being one of the more challenging forms of photography. As well as needing sound technical skills, such as being able to expose correctly, wildlife photographers generally need good field craft skills. For example, some animals are difficult to approach and thus a knowledge of the animal's behaviour is needed in order to be able to predict their actions. Photographing some species may require stalking skills or the use of a hide/blind for concealment.
While wildlife photographs can be taken using basic equipment, successful photography of some types of wildlife requires specialist equipment, such as macro lenses for insects, long focal length lenses for birds and underwater cameras for marine life. However, since the advent of digital cameras, greater adventure travel and automated cameras, a great wildlife photograph can also be the result of being in the right place at the right time.