As wildlife photographers, we are not just there to create beautiful photos. We are ambassadors between wildlife and people. Increasingly, it has become clear, as wildlife photography becomes more and more popular as a hobby, that a code of ethical behavior is needed to eliminate the questions that many photographers may encounter while shooting in the field. Because sometimes, the answer to an ethical question may not be so obvious. But, hopefully, having a guide such as this might help to illuminate your own impact on the environment in which you’re shooting and how to avoid doing any harm to it. There are several models to choose from, and the following is a conglomeration of ethical guidelines from National Geographic, The National Audubon Society, and others.

1. Do no harm

This is obviously a very general guideline, but it is the first question you should ask yourself when considering an approach to photograph a wild animal, “Does what I’m doing cause any harm to the animal, the environment, or other animals or plants?”  A great way of determining the potential for harm in any photographic situation is to adopt an empathetic approach. Put yourself in the shoes of your subject and consider how your presence, proximity, and equipment might impact the animal. Remember, nature always comes first and your photography second.

2. Minimize Disturbances

As wildlife photographers, we aim to document natural behavior.  So, if your presence is causing the animal to change its behavior in any way, then what you’re shooting is inherently unnatural. We should always aim to impact animal behavior as little as possible. If using a flash or artificial light, keep it as far from your subject as possible, especially small animals and nocturnal animals.  

3. Respect your subject

Never seek or photograph an animal if doing so might expose it to predation, poaching, anxiety, or might affect its natural life processes.

4. Hands-off

Never handle or move wildlife for the purpose of a photograph. If absolutely necessary, employ an experienced professional to do so.  

5. Do your research

The wildlife photographer should be knowledgable about the animal being photographed and its environment.  Going out shooting without a basic understanding of the animals and their environment can be dangerous to both the photographer and the animals.

6. Conservation comes first

As wildlife photographers, we are ambassadors for the natural world.  So, our photography must always strive to show animals faithfully in their natural environments, leaving their routines and space undisturbed and never manipulating the natural environment to get that perfect shot. This is also a major point of concern for the publishing side of things.  We will touch on this later.

7. Treat all wildlife with equal respect

Whether common or rare, large or small, all animals and plants have equal rights.  It is not acceptable to disturb the common species to get a shot of a rare species.  This guideline also pertains to the use of bait. There are some situations where using is bait is considered acceptable, but it is never acceptable to use live bait, such as using live rodents to attract birds of prey.

8. Follow the rules

As wildlife photographers, it is our responsibility to know the rules, laws, and regulations regarding wildlife of the country they are in before going out into the field.  In the U.S., remember some states may have different laws than others, and that national and state parks also have all their own regulations as well. Whenever you are preparing to shoot in a certain location, do your research to see if special permission is required from the relevant authorities. This would especially be true if you were wanting to shoot on private property.

9. Respect other professionals in the field

Before going out into the field, do some research to find out if wildlife research or conservation work is being done in that area so that you can avoid disturbing their work.

Now, to move over to the bigger nut to crack; the issues of ethics in the publishing and posting of wildlife photography. Wildlife photography has an indelible connection to technology. As photographic technology has progressed over the last century and a half, so has the nature and scale of wildlife photography. And, the biggest change to come along maybe in terms of ethical concerns is digital editing.

As a photographer with extensive experience in photoshop, I have sometimes grappled with decisions over how much editing is too much. Should I remove that twig? Should I replace the sky with one that is more dramatic? But, there are easy ways to decipher these questions. All you have to do is ask yourself is, “What is the purpose of this photograph?”

If your primary goal is to create a beautiful piece of art to hang on your wall, then the world is your oyster! Do whatever you’d like to do in terms of post-processing or editing.

But, what if you intend to post a photo on social media, your website, or other mediums for self-publishing? This is when things get a bit more serious, because suddenly we have an audience out there, interpreting your work with only the context you provided when publishing the photo. And their interpretation of your photo is as much about context as it is about the photo itself. For instance, say you were on an African safari and shot a landscape with zebras silhouetted in the setting sun. Would it be ethical to add more zebras to the shot as part of your post-processing? The answer is, it could be! If you were clear on your creative process and included information explaining that more animals were composited into the photo, then suddenly your photo takes on a new form. It would no longer be interpreted as an example of documentary wildlife photography but as a piece of digital art. But, flip that coin over and imagine if you were to post the same edited photo without any information explaining that the number of zebras had been enhanced using digital composting. And then, imagine that someone viewing your photo was able to tell that there had been tampering with the image. If you had represented the image as wildlife photography, true in its depiction of what actually was taking place in that habitat, how do you think that viewer would feel about the image? If you guessed deceived, you’d probably be right.

And this is the essence of what ethical publishing is all about. Ask yourself what you want your audience to feel when they see your image, putting yourself in their shoes. I for one am always quite putout by people publishing landscape or wildlife photography that has been heavily composited without providing a statement explaining that it has been.

And the same principle comes into play when photographing captive wildlife. There is nothing wrong with photographing and publishing images of captive animals. But, again, imagine how you would feel if you saw an image claiming to be of a wild animal (or making no claim as to the wildness of the animal at all) and then found out that it had actually been captive or tame. You would feel deceived, as would most viewers, representing a major breach of their trust. And once that trust is lost, it can never be regained.

Breaches of this sacred trust, between photographer and audiences, happen all the time though, even amongst professionals. Photographer Jose Luis Rodriguez was stripped of his Natural History Museum Photographer of the Year Award (£10,000) for passing off a likely tame wolf as a wild one.