There’s something both empowering, and humbling about documenting animals in their natural habitat. As a wildlife photographer, you might take a multi-day trip and lay in wait for hours to get a photo of a rare, elusive species. You’re dedicated to your craft and to documenting the natural world. As a wildlife photographer make sure you’re also putting effort into how your images can be found by using the right wildlife photography hashtags that can give your images more reach.
Hashtags are an essential part of brand and individual content strategies around the world. An easy way for your audience to find your wildlife photography content, hashtags are clickable links that group your content with other similar content and help increase your social reach to make your content more discoverable to a wider audience.
Hashtags are a part of everyday life, but here are a few tips to get the most out of how you’re using them:
- Check hashtags used in the Instagram Explore page: Using the explore page will give you an idea of what hashtags are trending generally and for specific niches. If your content can get onto the Explore page you will be sure to reach a much wider audience.
- Use the hashtag autocomplete feature: With Instagram, you can search for accounts, places, hashtags, audio, and top-performing content. When you start typing to find a tag, the Instagram search engine will populate similar terms that you can use to broaden the reach of your wildlife content.
- Follow relevant hashtags: Yep! You can follow hashtags too, not just accounts. Check out the other hashtags being used on the content you follow for inspo.
- Use a social listening tool: Social listening tools are powerful and give you insights into more than just the best hashtags, like campaign hashtags, popular keywords, industry keywords, and so much more.
Wildlife Hashtags Table of Contents
- Top General Wildlife Photography Hashtags in 2022
- Best Instagram Wildlife Photography Hashtags
If you love being outdoors and you love photography, getting into wildlife photography is a no-brainer. You can combine two of your passions while capturing images that would be impossible to get in any other context. Unlike many other types of photography, recreating wildlife photos in a controlled studio environment is not easily done. You really just have to get out into the wild and start shooting. These are the best wildlife photo hashtags to get those images noticed:
#wildlifephotography #wildlife #wildlifephotographer #animalphotographer #wildlifepictures #wildlifelovers
Birdwatcher, birder, twitcher, whatever you call yourself, you love seeking out birds to observe and photograph. Bird photography is one of the most popular types of wildlife photography, with a large and engaged community. If you want to get your images noticed, tag your bird photos with a combination of general wildlife photography hashtags and more specific bird photography hashtags. Here are some of the best ones that can help improve the reach of your photos:
#birdofinstagram #birdwatching #birdlovers #bestbirdshots #birding #wildlifephotographybird
One of the messages conveyed by wildlife photography is the importance of caring for our planet and its diverse species. Some wildlife photographers shoot with this message in mind and create images that not only capture wildlife but also tell a story about the surrounding environment that the wildlife lives in. These environmental wildlife photo hashtags can help you reach an earth-conscious audience, and hopefully, those who may also need some convincing about environmental conservation:
#natureperfection #natureisbeautiful #natureinspired #ourplanet #wildlifeperfection #wildlife_conservation
If you’re lucky enough to be able to travel and capture wildlife images from around the world, or if you live somewhere with interesting wildlife that an international audience will find interesting, you’ll want to use hashtags that can help get your images in front of an audience of people who are interested in the nature and wildlife of different parts of the world. We’ve done the legwork for you:
#(region)wildlife #travelwildlife #biodiversity #wildlifeonearth #wildlifeplanet #animalsof(region)
Documentary magazines and nature documentaries and videos were hugely influential in popularizing wildlife photography. From National Geographic magazines to the beloved documentaries of David Attenborough, the storytelling aspect of wildlife photography has always been an important part of this niche. These hashtags tap into a community of documentary wildlife enthusiasts:
#natgeowild #natgeoyourshot #bbcearth #canonwildlifephotography #natgeowildlife #wildplanetphotomag
Night wildlife photography is a completely different challenge than daytime wildlife photography. You typically need specialized equipment and a lot of patience, but the wildlife you can capture makes it worth the effort since you’ll see creatures that don’t come out during the day. Tag your night time photography of wildlife with these popular hashtags:
#nightwildlife #nocturnalanimals #nightphotography #batsofinstagram #nightphotoearth #nightcreature
While the colors of the natural world are incredible, sometimes black and white wildlife photography can stand out and make us look at the contents of the image with fresh eyes. Black and white wildlife photography can be particularly well suited to art photos and prints since it’s easier to use in home decor than bright colors that may not match. If you shoot black and white wildlife images, make sure to use these tags:
#blackandwhitewildlife #blackandwhitenaturephotography #bnwnature #bnwanimals #bnwlife #wildlifeart
Instagram has become an indispensable marketing tool for any photographer, and it remains one of the best places to get your work discovered and to raise your profile in your industry. These are some of the best wildlife photography hashtags for 2021, 2022, and beyond. Mix them with other, more image-specific hashtags to increase your chances of landing on Instagram’s explore page.
#wildlife_perfection #wildlife_seekers #wildlifeofinstagram #exclusive_wildlife #wildlifeaddicts #live_love_wildlife
If you haven’t looked up from scrolling through a few cute animal photos and videos only to discover that hours have passed, have you even been online? The internet absolutely loves cute animal content, and the great outdoors is full of adorable animals for you to capture on camera. If you have images of things like baby animals, animals snuggling together, or just any animal doing something funny or cute, you’ll definitely want to have your photos picked up by the cute animals part of the Instagram algorithm.
#cuteanimals #babyanimals #funnyanimals #cutewildlife #cutewildanimals #animalsofinstagram
Part of the fun of wildlife photography is that your subject is always changing. The wildlife available to capture changes with the seasons, as does the landscape in which you’re shooting them. Using some seasonally appropriate hashtags can help you benefit from reliable seasonal trends, and also gives your audience fresh types of content every few months. Here are some popular seasonal wildlife photography hashtags:
#springwildlife #springwatch #winterwildlife #bbcwinterwatch #backyardwildlife #summerwatch
Within the broad umbrella of wildlife photography are countless communities focused on specific animals or types of animals. Birds is a huge one, but even within the category of birds, there are passionate communities for specific species. While it’s good to use general wildlife hashtags, you should also incorporate specific ones for the animal in your photo. Here are some examples that you can substitute with the animal of your choice:
#owlphotography #squirrelsofinstagram #bigcatswildlife #brownbear #insectsofinstagram #instaotter
There’s nothing like that golden hour light, no matter what you’re shooting. That just-before-sunset light is flattering for humans and wildlife alike, and if you head out to shoot wildlife around this time of day, your photos will be infused with that unmistakable golden glow that is very difficult to reproduce in post production. Use these tags on your sunset photos:
#sunsetnature #sunsetlover #naturesunsets #sunsetlandscapes #goldenhour#goldenhourlight
If you’re lucky enough to live by an ocean, there’s a whole unique ecosystem available to you to capture. Whether you hang around the shore to photograph animals like otters and storks, or you take the plunge and explore underwater photography while snorkeling, aquatic wildlife photography is a popular niche that can definitely keep you busy as a photographer. Try these hashtags on your ocean wildlife shots:
#oceanwildlife #underwaterpics #underwaterphotography #scubadiving #underwaterwildlife #coastalwildlife
Hiking is another popular niche on Instagram, and it can overlap with wildlife photography since nature trails are often where photographers encounter the wild animals they capture. Hiking lovers are also likely to be to animal lovers by virtue of their appreciation for nature, so this is a good niche in which to build your audience. Use some of these hiking related hashtags to help get your wildlife photos noticed:
#naturetrails #(name-of-specific-trail)wildlife #hikingtrailsof(your-country) #wildlife_shots #natureperfection #animalelite
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