There’s a big difference between coming upon a beautiful animal in the field and understanding how to capture a spectacular shot of your imposing subject. This tutorial with expert Kevin Hatley reveals what he says are “five essential skills for success in wildlife photography.”

Hatley is an accomplished British pro with an insightful YouTube channel devoted to photographing living subjects in the field—everything from birds and mammals to butterflies, reptiles, and insects. The handful of tips you’ll learn in this comprehensive episode is applicable when photographing the aforementioned subjects and others.

This genre of photography not only demands technical proficiency with camera equipment, but also a deep understanding of animal behavior and environmental awareness, Hatley puts it like this: “For aspiring wildlife photographers, developing a core set of essential skills is paramount to capturing stunning and impactful images.”

Hatley says a big challenge with wildlife photography is that we’re not in control because the subjects themselves determine how we proceed. In the next 19 minutes he explores recommended equipment, animal behavior, fieldcraft, subject knowledge, and a fifth skill he considers to be the most important.

Developing this handful of skills takes time, practice, and a willingness to learn. But Hatley insists that by focusing on these key considerations “you can build a strong foundation for capturing the beauty and wonder of the natural world.” Be sure to watch until the end where he reveals his top tip of the day.

Then head over to Hatley’s instructional YouTube channel and explore his many how-to videos that will prepare you for creating some wildlife magic of your own.

And don’t miss a related tutorial we featured earlier with another experienced wildlife photographer who demonstrates how to choose between Shutter Priority and Manual exposure modes when photographing animals in motion and other fast-action subjects.

Everyone loves sunny, cloudless days with bright blue skies when travelling or spending a day at the beach. But when it comes to creating compelling landscape photographs, well, not so much.

This tutorial from photographer Andrew Banner explains four super simple tips for making stunning landscape photos when the blue sky you confront is plain and featureless with nary a cloud in sight.

Banner is a passionate British pro who shares behind-the-scenes lessons after exploring the hills and dales near his home in the picturesque Norfolk Broads and further afield. He introduces today’s eight-minute episode like this: “Blue skies are rarely a photographer’s dream because they’re so stark, and you often get unpleasing direct sunlight that doesn’t make for great images.”

One easy way to handle this challenge is to “consider shooting for black-and-white processing because there’s an awful lot more you can do with it in black and white” And the simpler the sky the better your results will be when taking this approach.

Banner illustrates his second tip with an attractive shot of a yacht under sail with dark blue water in the foreground and a vivid blue sky overhead. In this case the shot looks pretty great as is because of Banner’s thoughtful composition skills.

As he explains, “It works quite well because we’re effectively joining the lower area of the water with the middle area of the waves, the sky itself, and the white sail and mast in the middle of the frame.” In essence, the shot is captivating because you’re respecting and accentuating the boundaries of these key elements to create a compelling graphic look.

At this point we’ve reached the midpoint of Banner’ interesting tutorial, with two more tipis on the docket that are just as simple and effective as those mentioned above. So watch until the end and then sail over to Banner’s instructional YouTube channel where there’s much more to learn.

And on a similar note, don’t miss the recent tutorial we featured with one of our favorite post-processing instructors who demonstrates how to rehabilitate drab, boring landscape photographs by adding natural-looking lights rays in Lightroom.