Birding photography tips
10 Tips for Photographing Birds
I love to photograph birds. The variety of shapes, sizes, and colors—and what this diversity reveals about species' adaptations to diverse habitats—makes them fascinating subjects. Yet their lively, often secretive natures make them challenging to shoot. Here are a few pointers to consider when you set out to photograph these endlessly interesting animals.
Identify your subject and isolate it
Birds are often found in the most cluttered of settings: Branches or grasses intersect at various angles and distract from the central subject, or other birds distract the eye. That said, elements of habitat and even the entire landscape are often part of the message and artistry of the image, and you want to include them to some degree. The trick is to decide what is absolutely necessary for the most beautiful or compelling image. Use your f-stop, your angle of shooting, or your proximity to the subject to eliminate all but the essential elements of your desired photo.
Make an original photo
Lots of people take inspiring images, and it's natural to want to try to replicate them. Unfortunately, that wastes lots of time and is rarely productive, as the power of an image comes partly from its originality—a redo of a great image rarely evokes that same awe. Aim for different angles, new subjects, and unusual behaviors to create photos that are entirely new.
Anticipate behavior
Birds move. They fly, scamper, swim, mate, fight, and dive, sometimes constantly, sometimes all at the same time. I usually see my best shots in my head first, watching behavior and anticipating what the bird will do next. If I know how my subject will move, I can select shutter speeds, f-stops, and ISO that maximize the potential quality of that image. In order to be successful, I spend a lot of time learning about my subjects, watching them closely and reading up on them, so that I know how they might behave under different circumstances.
Let the birds come to you
It is tempting to chase birds, since most are timid and move away from us. This often results in photos of birds turning or leaning away or, even worse, with their backs to the camera as they flee. By studying behavior and habitat ahead of time, you can anticipate where a bird will land, walk, or fly, and set yourself there in advance so that the bird comes to you, resulting in a much more compelling and intimate photograph.
Arrive early and stay late
Get out early and stay until the last light fades and your photos will be much better. The magical light just after sunrise and just before sunset is when color looks its best, shadows are farther from subjects, and birds are most active. These are the times to maximize your shooting.
Select your background
We tend to naturally take photos from a vantage that is comfortable for us, whether it be standing up or leaning over with the legs of our tripod fully extended.
We tend to position ourselves with the sun at our backs, and assume that the bird has a "given background." As a result, we often miss the best shots. By changing the angle you shoot from, you can change the background dramatically. A cluttered tangle of branches might be replaced by brooding dark-blue storm clouds if the photographer drops to the ground and shoots up at the bird; a warm blanket of gold can become the setting by rising up to shoot down at the subject with yellow winter grass as a backdrop.
Test exposure regularly
Light conditions change regularly. It may be a gradual shift as the sun moves across the sky, or the more abrupt change when clouds alternatively obscure and expose the sun's rays. Consider the change in exposure that might be required if your subject moves from a light background to a dark background, especially when shooting in Aperture Priority Mode.
Know the required shutter speed
It's heartbreaking when blurry wings or heads mar an otherwise perfect photograph.
To avoid this, learn which shutter speed you need to capture different behaviors in crisp detail. Which speed freezes which species in flight? Which is needed for birds that are walking or standing still? As you anticipate what behavior is about to unfold, you can be sure that your camera is set to shoot at a high enough speed to capture the desired behavior, tack-sharp!
Shoot in Aperture-Priority or Manual mode
Although a friend of mine jokes that "P" mode stands for "Pro Mode," it is really the Program Mode, where the camera makes the decisions for you. I almost always shoot in either Aperture-Priority Mode or Manual Mode, which allow you to make the decisions of shutter speed and depth of field, and gain control of your photographs.
I use Aperture-Priority mode when the subject is either still or moving across backgrounds of similar tonal values, or if I'm unlikely to get close enough to use more than the minimum depth of field. With Aperture-Priority, at any given ISO, I choose the aperture (to determine depth of field) and the exposure compensation, and the camera gives me the fastest shutter speed at those settings.
I use Manual Mode when the background changes often or when I am frequently changing my f-stop (depth of field). With this mode, I select the desired shutter speed and the desired f-stop, and make adjustments to each depending upon how much light I have to allow for my desired exposure.
Photograph unique subjects you love
Use your passion to your advantage: Shoot what you love, especially if what you love is somehow different from what others love. Everyone adores eagles and hummingbirds, and thus it is more challenging to get photographs of these species that feel fresh or new. But if your passion is nightjars, sparrows, or gulls, you might find you have less competition for creating that compelling, never-before-taken photo.
Great photos take lots of time and effort. Make the most of that time and energy by learning about, and living with, the birds you love. Then the perfect photo becomes one more reward of time well spent in your favorite spot, with your favorite subjects.
Bird Photography Tips and How-Tos
From tools to techniques, here’s what you need to know to get started doing bird photography—or to up your game.
Tips and How-tos
Use a Remote Trigger to Get Your Camera Closer to Birds
Even the best blind won’t help you capture certain shots—but that doesn’t mean you have to give up.
Tips And How-Tos
Recording Lots of Bird Videos? Here's What to Do After You Hit Stop
By Tara Tanaka
Tara Tanaka, a videographer and judge for the new video category in this year's Audubon Photography Awards, shares her how-to guide for managing video files and key editing tips.
Tips And How-Tos
How to Record Great Audio of Birds and Their Environments
By Drew Fulton
To capture clear sounds of birds that you are filming, follow these tips.
Tips And How-Tos
Use Blur to Paint With Birds—and Other Creative Avian Photography Strategies
By Faraaz Abdool
In low light conditions, you can get experimental with your methods to yield fascinating shots.
Tips And How-Tos
Use Your Photography to Support and Advance Conservation
By Morgan Heim
Go beyond taking photos of beautiful birds and their fascinating behaviors. Aim to inspire action.
Tips And How-Tos
Use a Remote Trigger to Get Your Camera Closer to Birds
By Mac Stone
Even the best blind won’t help you capture certain shots—but that doesn’t mean you have to give up, writes photographer Mac Stone.
Tips And How-Tos
Get Started With Camera Traps to Nab Unusual Bird Photos
By Jen Guyton
Change your viewpoint with technology that snaps the shutter for you.
Remember that Audubon depends on your support to do the conservation work that we do.
Donate
Tips And How-Tos
Tips for Taking Great Bird Photos From the Comfort of Your Car
By Diana Whiting
Photographer Diana Whiting has found birds are surprisingly acclimated to vehicles. Here she provides pointers on shooting from the front seat.
Tips And How-Tos
How to Capture the Splash Effect at Your Bird Bath or Fountain
By Sandrine Biziaux-Scherson
Freeze water droplets in mid-air to create dramatic bird photography.
Tips And How-Tos
How to Set Up the Perfect Perch for Backyard Bird Photography
By Melissa Groo
These tips will get you and your subject in position for a great image.
Tips And How-Tos
Pigeons Are Beautiful, so Start Photographing Them
By Molly Bennet
Photographer Andrew Garn shares his tips for capturing these underrated urban stalwarts in all of their iridescent glory.
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How to shoot birds in the park? / How is it filmed? / Lessons of photography
Publication date: 03/25/2015
Photo hunting ... The word is familiar to everyone. Often we present it as something quite complex, inaccessible to ordinary photographers. In fact, everyone can hunt with a camera for the inhabitants of the nearest park. Birds in the parks are accustomed to people and let them get close enough. Now, when the trees are not covered with foliage, even in a dense forest it is quite light during the day, and all the branches are clearly visible. It's time to try your hand at bird photography. nine0003
NIKON D810 SETTINGS: ISO 400, F8, 1/400 s, 400.0 mm equiv.
There are several approaches to photographing birds. Let's take a look at them.
With the "passive" approach, the photographer hides in a shelter, points the camera to where, for example, the bait lies, and waits for the feathered guests.
This approach gives excellent results in the wild when the birds are very shy. They do not pay attention to the motionless photographer hiding in the shelter. This method is chosen by advanced photohunters, because it requires experience, the ability to disguise, knowledge of the behavior of birds. We'll talk about a simpler approach. nine0003
The “active” approach involves shooting birds on the move: we carefully approach our “model” and shoot. This method is most effective in places where the birds are accustomed to people and are not very frightened by their approach. Interestingly, in different parks, birds have different boundaries to which they are ready to let a person in. Sometimes you can get close to them, and sometimes you have to shoot from afar.
We strive to take close-up photographs of the bird. Birds are usually photographed at a distance of 3-10 meters. And in order to show this small creature close-up at the same time, you need a telephoto lens. For "crop" lenses with a focal length of more than 200 mm can be recommended, for a full frame - more than 300 mm.
Many lenses fit into these criteria. Among them there are both expensive models and more budget ones. For example, an available lens for Nikon SLR cameras is the Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor. It can be used both in crop and full frame. Among the more expensive models, it is worth highlighting the Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f / 4.5-5.6G ED VR Nikkor, which has proven itself well among bird enthusiasts. nine0003
NIKON D750 / Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR SETTINGS: ISO 720, F8, 1/320s, 300.0mm equiv.
When choosing a telephoto lens, it is important to pay attention not only to its focal lengths (how close it is), but also to the aperture ratio, the presence of optical stabilization. Faster lenses will help you get better shots, because birds are shot at very fast shutter speeds, which can only be achieved by significantly increasing the ISO. Optical stabilization is very important because it's easy to get blurry images on a telephoto lens from camera shake in your hands.
The stabilizer is very effective in helping to avoid this. How to calculate the shutter speed at which you can shoot handheld and the frame will not be blurred? Read in our special lesson. nine0003
Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor
Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Nikkor
With these lenses you can take pictures of feathered inhabitants the park is big enough. The price of more advanced telephoto lenses used by professional hunters is much higher.
Compact cameras with a solid zoom (hyperzoom) also allow you to take close-up pictures of birds. At the same time, they are much more affordable than SLR cameras with telephoto lenses. nine0003
This shot was taken with the Nikon COOLPIX P600, but Nikon has an even more powerful zoom that's great for this. This is the Nikon COOLPIX P900.
COOLPIX P600 SETTINGS: ISO 220, F6.5, 1/250 s, 1440.0 mm equiv.
How do you set up a bird camera? Perhaps the main parameter that is important for a photo hunter is shutter speed.
It should be short enough so that nimble feathered fidgets do not blur in the frame. In addition, a fast shutter speed will help to avoid blur from camera shake in your hands. Birds are best shot at shutter speeds shorter than 1/250-1/500 s. The diaphragm will almost always remain open; so we get enough light at a short shutter speed. However, in order to make a sufficiently bright, correctly exposed frame at such short shutter speeds (even with an open aperture), you will have to greatly increase the ISO - be prepared for this. Well, if you are armed with a modern camera like Nikon D5500, Nikon D7100 or Nikon D750. These models even at high ISO give low digital noise. nine0003
Since shutter speed is the most important thing for us, it will be convenient to take pictures in S mode (shutter priority), giving other parameters to the automation control. It is convenient to use continuous shooting: this way you will not miss the most beautiful phase of movement or the expressive tilt of the bird's head.
NIKON D810 SETTINGS: ISO 1600, F8, 1/400 s, 400.0 mm equiv.
Most birds can be found near their feeding grounds. Parks usually have special places with feeders. Note that the shots will turn out more beautiful if you shoot birds not on the feeders themselves, where there is usually a mess, but on the twigs nearby. Try to watch the birds and catch the best angles. nine0003
Publication date: 03/25/2015
Konstantin Voronov
Professional photographer with ten years of experience. She has been teaching for six years. Journalist by education, author of courses and educational articles on photography. Area of interest - landscape, subject, portrait photography.
How to photograph birds? 7 tips and 25 inspiring photos - Russian photo
How to photograph birds? nine0051 7 tips and 25 inspirational photos
July 8, 2016
Photo: Mike Turtle
There are many birds around us.
They are beautiful and unusual, they attract with their colors and behavior. Shooting birds belongs to one of the most interesting and complex genres - wildlife photography. Here are some helpful tips and 25 shots that are sure to inspire your creativity!
Study bird habits and habitats
Advice, perhaps banal, but important nonetheless. For shooting wild birds, this is simply a fundamentally necessary condition, because different species of birds have different habitats, periods of activity, habits, preferred places: some birds can be seen in the fields among the grass, some in low bushes, and some most of the time they prefer to be high in the trees, so it becomes quite difficult to take a picture.
Photo: Raymond Barlow
That's why you shouldn't go randomly in the hope of meeting "some" bird - you won't get a good shot that way.
Photo: Nobby
You need to go on a photo hunt with a clear understanding of which of the birds your interest is directed to, and based on this, already choose the place and time of shooting.
Photo: Marcin Nawrocki
Choose bird arrival points
When shooting most species of birds, you will not have much time to choose the shooting point and focus. Therefore, it is worth minimizing this time as much as possible, having decided in advance on the places where the birds are most likely to fly. nine0003
These can be tree branches, free-standing bushes, a rock above the sea, and so on. Of course, you need to first study the habits of birds or scout out the place without a camera and see how the birds of interest to you behave there.
Photo: htmian (500px)
Think about your gear
Shooting wild birds requires careful photography. In most cases, you will need a tripod and telephoto lenses. The fact is that it is not so easy to get close to wild birds, especially if you are not a professional yet. And shooting at a great distance with your hands is not the best idea. nine0003
The lens is best selected in the range of approximately 400-600 mm, and preferably with a fixed focal length. The reason is the aperture, which is usually higher for primes than for zoom lenses. Of course, no flash: the bird will simply fly away.
Prepare in advance and don't linger
Birds, of course, do not wait for your appearance to fly out and perch in branches and bushes. This means that you will have to just sit and wait for their appearance for a long time. nine0003
Photo: Jon Harris
It is better not to be distracted at this moment, but to listen and look closely - an approaching chirp or branches that begin to sway in calm weather will tell you about the imminent appearance of birds.
Photo: Steven Ward
No more delay: start shooting immediately, in burst mode. Yes, most of them will turn out to be unusable, but it still increases the chance of making really good shots.
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Photo: Balan Vinod
Waterfowl - a different story
Photo: Doron Hoffman
This means that non-long-focus lenses are also suitable here, especially since waterfowl look especially beautiful in the frame of water. nine0003
Photo: Geo Messmer
And, by the way, usually reservoirs are lit much better than other typical places for shooting wild birds, which means that the requirements for aperture are less: good shots can be taken with an inexpensive lens with a range of about 70–300 mm , which each manufacturer has.
Photo: Josep Sumalla
Think about your composition
At first, you will probably photograph close-ups of birds. But then, as experience is gained, the transition to more general plans is inevitable, when the bird, although the central element of the picture, is not the only object in the frame.
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Photo: Sue Hsu
So, you need to think about composition. Here, in general, there are no special differences from the general laws of composition, and if you know how to think over the composition of the frame as such, then you can handle it in this case too.
Photo: Sham Jolimie
Practice on the birds of the city
Before you go hunting in the forest, practice on the wild birds that surround us. The nearest park, preferably large enough to move away from people somewhat, provides excellent conditions for this. You can also find ponds with waterfowl there. nine0003
Photo: Henny Egdom van
But actually, even just going out into the yard of the house, you can see a lot of birds - sparrows, pigeons, tits ... Of course, they are very commonplace and not so photogenic, however using their example, you can study the habits of birds, learn to build a composition and just get the first experience of photographing birds.
