Out Come the Wolves

My dad’s a big nature and photography buff so for Father’s Day I took him to the Lakota Wolf Preseve in Columbia, NJ. The preserve is home to Tundra, Arctic and Timber wolves, as well as bobcats and foxes.  The preserve offers special photo sessions, which allow serious photographers unobstructed views of the wolves, but at $300 per person we decided to stick with the normal tour ($15). And the best news? Even though the wolves are behind fences we still had plenty of great photo opportunities. I shot with a fixed 300mm lens and was amazed at how clear the pictures came out.

In addition to getting some cool photos we learned interesting wolf facts:

• Wolves will eat every bone of their prey except the jaw bone.
• A dog can exert up to 700 lbs. of jaw pressure. A wolf exerts 1700 lbs.
• Wolves are running machines, capable of sustaining a 35 mph run for up to 12 miles or a trot of 12 mph for 8 to 10 hours.
• The pitch of a wolf’s howl changes up and down, making it sound like the pack is larger than it really is and intimidating potential invaders. Each wolf has distinctive voice, and pack members can recognize each other.

The two tour guides, Dan and his wife Pam, were extremely knowledgeable about the animals and both were excellent speakers. It was really cool to see the bond between the humans and the wolves, especially when Pam let out a howl that riled up the whole pack.

The wolf preserve was a great introduction to wildlife photography and we learned a ton. Some takeaway knowledge:

A lot of nature photography is shot at preserves because you would never be able to get close enough to the animals in their natural setting.

• Using a good telephoto lens is a must. The lens played a huge part in throwing the fence out of focus, without which we would have had to pay $300 for a photography session. A note of caution when using such a narrow lens – You will have a very shallow depth of field so be sure to focus on your image’s main point of interest; most often being the eyes.
• You have to work for your shot. We were in a crowd with 50 other people so it’s not like we could stroll right up to the front. In fact we were pushed to the side and suck behind fidgety children a lot of the time. But if you are polite and plan out your shots you can get some great results.
• Be ready and take a lot of pictures. Especially if you are shooting digital you really should take every opportunity possible because you never predict animal behavior. I am kicking myself I missed the picture of three wolves challenging each other.
• Compensate for conditions. The forest environment was a mix of dark shadows and bright sun spots, which meant high contrast. You might have to stop up or stop down depending on the color and position of the subject.

Here are two examples of my dad’s high contrast shots:

I should probably include a picture of the photographer (aka my father) as well. May I present world renowned nature photographer Mike Rosania -

One last tip: Once you have a bunch of photographs that you like consider putting together a book. It’s pretty affordable (~$20) and you will have a portable portfolio piece that you can bring anywhere and show anyone. They also make great coffee table books. My dad recently made a book through Mpix and was pretty happy with the results.