Once you have decided on a subject, it is important to establish early on what your theme will be. Determining this makes it a lot easier to decide what and how to shoot. In my case, the subject was a particular desert state park, and the theme was the seasons. You might decide to concentrate on animal behavior, or conservation, or research, or just the beauty of a place. Ask yourself, "How does this landscape, this flower, this animal or this person fit into my theme?" Keep your theme in mind, and the finished film will be more cohesive; all the pieces will fit together better.

Now comes the hard part, but also the fun part: gathering the footage. Not everyone is going to enjoy making a nature film. It is not usually something you can do in an afternoon. It took me two years to make my desert film, and that was just the filming. The editing took another six months. That was extreme, but I took my time, since I had to go through a whole year of seasons. Then I tacked on another year for good measure. In reality, I spent a lot of time that first year getting to know the place. If you are already familiar with an area, a species or a conservation issue, this could be a good starting point for choosing your subject.

Patience: Patience is the Number One rule in filming animals. That solution I mentioned earlier for getting good shots of animals: patience. The more you chase after an animal, the less likely you are to get a shot of it. I was hiking up and down a trail trying to spot Bighorn Sheep. Whenever I saw them, they saw me and bolted. I got lots of shots of Bighorn rear ends running away. I finally figured out that they came to a small watering hole several times per day. I set up so I could see the water, and I waited. Eventually they came, saw me and ran away. But I stayed. The next time they came, they didn't run away. After I went back for several days and sat there all day, the sheep got so used to me that they approached me to see what I was doing. At one point, I was surrounded by sheep. I didn't even know which way to turn the camera.

Shoot It Now: Filming wildlife and nature is an opportunistic endeavor. You don't always know what you are going to see when you go out, so be flexible. Nature rarely cooperates. One of my rules in shooting is "shoot it now." If you see something good, don't think you'll be able to come back to it later - 99% of the time it will be gone when you get back, especially if it is an animal.

Create Sequences: Resist the temptation to just shoot the same shot of an animal for as long as it is visible. If it is walking, pan your camera ahead of it, and let it walk into frame. Pan with it for a while, and then let it leave the frame. Get wide shots of the animal as well, so you can see it in its environment; don't shoot only closeups. You need to create a sequence that has a beginning, a middle and an end, all made up of wide, medium and closeup shots.

Follow Through: This ties in with the previous point about sequences. If you are in the middle of shooting one animal and see another, don't abandon the first in favor of the new one until you've completed the shot (or even the sequence). This temptation is difficult to resist, but it's better to end up with one good shot rather than two mediocre ones. This also ties back to the first rule of Patience.

Shoot the Landscape: Good wildlife films include lots of landscape shots. You need to tell the story not only of an animal but also of its environment. Bring those landscapes to life. I use time-lapse shots to show passage of time or seasons, often showing clouds moving, shadows going across the landscape or the sun rising or setting. These make great dramatic transitions between scenes. Shoot in the morning and late afternoon for the best light. Middle-of-the-day light is flat and boring (unless there is a storm or lots of puffy clouds). Make bad weather part of the film. Show the harshness of the land. I shot time-lapse shots of rainstorms moving across the desert, and they are some of the film's most dramatic scenes.

And about the spider? After two years in the desert, I finally got that elusive tarantula shot. Shooting in the wild is extremely rewarding. It taught me to sit still and observe. I started noticing that small things can be just as amazing as big, exciting things. I also learned about making do with very little. I didn't have a lot of money or equipment, but I still managed to make a professional-looking film. I built equipment I couldn't afford to buy, I bartered for a place to stay and I borrowed the State Park airplane to shoot aerial shots. But, like the spider, that is another story...

Chris Pyle is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker who is currently director of photography for Apples & Oranges Productions.