Wildlife Wall Art

Wildlife Wall Art: The Palette It Brings

Animal photography brings a narrow and predictable range of colour with it: browns, ochres, greys, black, cream, and whatever the habitat supplies behind them — savanna gold, forest green, arctic white, ocean blue. Very little of it is bright, and that is the category's quiet advantage. A wildlife print will sit beside oak, leather, wool and stone without any negotiation, which is why these end up in rooms with a lot of natural material in them.

The exceptions are worth knowing. Tropical birds, butterflies and reef fish carry saturated reds, blues and greens that behave nothing like the rest of the category, and they need treating as colour pieces rather than nature pieces. If your scheme is built on greys and you want a wildlife subject, a macaw is not a safe substitute for a stag.

Backgrounds decide how much a piece dominates. A studio-style shot on plain black or white is graphic and calm, and hangs like a portrait. The same animal in full habitat brings all of that habitat's colour into the room, and a green jungle background is effectively a green print with an animal in it. Look at the whole rectangle, not the creature.

Grouping across species works when the light matches, not when the animals do. Three African species shot in the same dusty afternoon light hold together; a polar bear, a tiger and an owl do not, however well each one is photographed. Consistency of tone is what makes a wall of animals look deliberate rather than accumulated.

One placement note people tend to learn the hard way: an animal looking directly out of the frame is a strong, faintly confrontational thing to have facing your seat. An animal in profile, or looking out of the picture, is far more restful over a long evening. Check which way the eyes go before you decide where it hangs.