[citation needed] A largely self-taught wildlife photographer, Tipling came under the watchful eye of Roy Coles, the then warden of nearby Bough Beech Reservoir, a nature reserve in Kent.

[6] Tipling learned his craft largely by 'trial and error' and by training his eye, studying the work of various artist's who gave him his distinctive 'artistic' sense of composition.

[7] Tipling's photography is influenced by the Swedish painter Bruno Liljefors[6], whose often brooding depictions of predator-prey action – such as the hunts engaged between sea eagle and eider, goshawk and black grouse – help to create their darkly primitive atmosphere[citation needed].

Tipling's latest project with author and naturalist Mark Cocker and natural history researcher Jonathan Elphick, is Birds and People.

Sir David Bellamy described Tipling's photographs in The National Parks and other Wild Places of Britain and Ireland as "windows of wonder".