If you are looking for a shallow depth of field that will isolate your subject nicely, make sure that the background is far away and use the smallest aperture available on your lens (f2,8 or f4 if you are lucky – otherwise f5.6). Nikon D3X and 200 - 400mm f4 Lens. 1/60sec at f4. ISO 400.

A low point of view often works well with animals, a high view point rarely so. Nikon D3x and 600mm f4 Lens. 1/125 sec at f4. ISO 800.

When shooting a series of images to stitch into a panorama, it’s important to have the same focus, exposure and white balance settings for each image – a case for shooting in manual. 6 image panorama. Nikon D800 and 80 - 400mm lens. 1/200 sec at F11. ISO 200.

As light begins to fade, keep an eye on the shutter speeds to make sure that they don’t drop too low, otherwise you’ll get blur due to camera shake or subject movement. Open the aperture and/or increase ISO as necessary. Nikon D800 and 80 - 400mm lens. 1/100 sec @f5,6. ISO 400.

Getting down low and opening the aperture as wide as it will go (a side-effect of falling light levels) often results in some pretty dramatic images. Nikon D800 and 80 - 400mm lens. 1/125 at f5,6. ISO400.

Shooting a series of photos to stitch into a panorama can work with wildlife too, but you do need to have a static or slow moving subject, or you’ll get ghosting and cut off animals. Nikon D800 and 80 - 400mm lens. 1/640 sec at f8. ISO 200.

Program or Aperture Priority work well in the changing lighting conditions found in the bush when there is often no time to set exposure manually. Panasonic GH4 and Leica 100 - 400mm f6,3 lens. 1/125 sec f5,4. ISO 400.

When working in Program or Aperture Priority, if you need to change the shutter speed, simply change the aperture until you achieve the shutter speed you want. You’ll obviously be limited in what you can do by lighting conditions at the time. Panasonic GH5 and 12 - 35mm f2.8 lens. 5 sec at f8. ISO 100.