
Light is soft during the late afternoon and early morning, which lends luster to a bird’s plumage and a sparkle to its eye. Make sure you have good light and composition Starting with birds that are more easily photographed will allow you to hone your skills before moving on to the more exotic species that draw birders to Antarctic cruises.Ĥ. So try for these hours – as well as the late afternoon, another good lighting period. These birds will tend to be less flighty, for lack of a better word, as they will be used to people.īirds often look for food in the early morning, which due to the lighting is a good time to take pictures of anything. It can be helpful, especially if you’re a beginner bird photographer, to start by photographing the common birds you see all around you. Practice photographing birds you see every day

When it comes to bird photography, one size does not fit all.ģ. A longer lens will make it easier to capture fast-moving birds, but a solid DX or APS-C format camera will suffice given proper photography skills.Įven so, a large part of your bird photography success depends on matching your birds to your equipment. Though this bird photography tip seems to refute our earlier suggestion, the fact remains that expensive equipment does not a great picture make.Ī bird photographer also needs good quality of light, knowledge about the birds she or he is capturing, a decent background, familiarity with the equipment, and patience. But do not place too much importance on cameras and lenses

Teleconverters can also be used to give the appearance of longer focal length, though these will sacrifice speed and sharpness.Ģ. Lenses, like cameras, can vary widely in quality and price, but shorter focal lengths are often the way to go if you’re birding on a budget. Opt for a fast digital single-lens reflex camera that has a shutter speed of at least 1/2000 of a second with 6 to 9 frames per second. Just as with birding binoculars, there are numerous cameras and lenses designed with bird photographers in mind. But you’re likely to get frustrated if you have nothing to work with except a sub-par camera. To some degree, it’s true that technique is more important than equipment. Start with the bird photography basics: equipment

Whatever the case, here are 10 tips that can only enhance bird photography.ġ. It’s easy to understand our fascination with birds: They’re beautiful, graceful (usually), and most of them have the power of flight.īut how do you capture that beauty, grace, and freedom in your photographs? Some will tell you it’s the lens, some the camera, and other bird photographers will say that some species are just naturally photogenic. And of course, it is fantastic to see the results he is able to get, as well as how neat the experience is.10 tips to make your bird photography fly Rather, Ianiro put a lot of careful thought into creating an area that was attractive for birds and suitable for photography. The pond is not simply a hole dug in the ground and filled with water. What I really appreciated was learning about everything that went into the design.
The art of bird photography series#
This wildlife photographer made a way for them to come to him, however, by designing and digging his own pond for bird photography, and this neat series of videos show the ideas that went into the design, the construction process, and the impressive results that came from the project.Ĭoming to you from Stefano Ianiro Wildlife, this awesome video series shows the design and construction processes of his DIY birding pond along with the results he has been able to get. One of the hardest parts of wildlife and bird photography is simply finding and waiting for your subjects.
