GracesWarbler Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 Hi folks. Anyone have good tips for improving their bird photography (or photography in general)? For example, what is most important: time of day, angle of sunlight, bird behavior, background, closeness of target? Do you wait a long time to try to get a good photo of one species or do you move around trying to find different species? Do you know of a particularly good photography book or website? If you want to comment on something specific, I've posted two of my photos below. I like both of these photos, but wonder if they could be better. For reference, I'm using a Nikon d5600 with a 200-500mm lens. #1: Verdin. My main trouble with this photo is the lighting. It was taken around midday and the bird is in partial shadow with a bright background (a sunlit pond). The bird was hopping around a lot and then disappeared shortly thereafter. Considering how quick little birds are, does it just take patience to get a better angle? https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/421310151 #2: Cormorants. I had plenty of time to set this photo up, so I opened the aperture as wide as possible to get some depth. Is there something else I could have done to add some interest? I didn't want to get too close to the cormorants and bother them. Would some closer detail have helped, or wait for the cormorants to do something a bit more interesting? Or do I need a better foreground/background? https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/421314661 Thanks for any advice! This thread is meant for everyone, so feel free to post photos of your own! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 This is a great topic. I strongly recommend this book. https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bird-Photography-Technique-Photographing/dp/1681983621/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ELVX94TZUZWJ&keywords=mastering+bird+photography+marie+read&qid=1647052289&sprefix=Mastering+bird+%2Caps%2C198&sr=8-1 Gear: As long as you have decent gear, you can take outstanding photos. Does better gear make it easier? Yes. Your setup is more than capable . The lens is always more important than the camera. Backgrounds: Once you have a bird, move around at different angles until you get a clean background. Sometimes a completely clean background isn’t possible, but get the cleanest one you can. Composition/position of the bird in the frame. This one is a personal opinion. Place the bird in the place you feel it looks best. Personally, if the bird is looking to the right, I’ll leave double as much room in front of the bird than behind it. Lighting: this is more important than you might think. Good light takes a good image to a great one. If it’s cloudy, try and shoot at times where the sun is still kind of visible behind the clouds. This will make a nice, bright scene while avoiding shadows. I love shooting on overcast/cloudy days. If it’s sunny, shoot in the morning and early evening, when the light is warm in color. If your shadow is longer than you height, it’s good light. For ideal lighting, point your shadow at the bird. The best times of day is up to two hours after sunrise, and two hours before and up to sunset. Sometimes you can use backlighting creatively, as shown below. Once you get technically perfect images, that are well exposed sharp, good lighting, background and composition, Experiment with unique situations. A normal bird portrait is great, but IMO for a photo to be truly great, it needs something extra. Some sort of story must be told, behavioral or something else. There are also great you tubers on the subject. Duade Paton is one of my favorite. The best tip is just enjoy yourself, and challenge yourself to get a better image each time you go out. This took me fifteen minutes to write, so hopefully it helped! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meghann Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 2 hours ago, GracesWarbler said: #2: Cormorants. I had plenty of time to set this photo up, so I opened the aperture as wide as possible to get some depth. Is there something else I could have done to add some interest? I didn't want to get too close to the cormorants and bother them. Would some closer detail have helped, or wait for the cormorants to do something a bit more interesting? Or do I need a better foreground/background? https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/421314661 Thanks for any advice! This thread is meant for everyone, so feel free to post photos of your own! Editing the lighting/contrast and doing a crop that follows rule of thirds would jazz this one right up. I like the depth of field. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 One more thing. Always shoot at the birds eye level, as it looks more appealing. If the bird is too high, there’s nothing you can do. If it mid level, then your in luck! If it’s on the ground or in water, get as low as you can by lying on the ground. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GracesWarbler Posted March 12, 2022 Author Share Posted March 12, 2022 Thanks for the advice, folks! 2 hours ago, IKLland said: A normal bird portrait is great, but IMO for a photo to be truly great, it needs something extra. Some sort of story must be told, behavioral or something else. This is something I've been thinking about recently, and it's a tough nut to crack. I'd love to get more behavior, feeding, interactions, details, bird-in-an-environment, etc. Little birds are so quick, though, and sometimes big birds aren't very cooperative either. But I guess if birding were easy, it wouldn't be so interesting! 1 hour ago, meghann said: Editing the lighting/contrast and doing a crop that follows rule of thirds would jazz this one right up. I like the depth of field. By rule of things, are you suggesting that the left bird be moved left (i.e. less background) or third (i.e. more background)? Thanks again! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Spencer Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 (edited) Are you familiar with the Top Photos page on eBird? It shows the best of the most recently uploaded checklist photos. Look at them and try to see what makes them good photos, especially regarding composition. https://ebird.org/media/catalog?mediaType=p®ionCode=&dsu=1&taxaLocale=en_US&sort=rating_rank_desc And yeah, little / active birds take patience. But we’re in the digital era and don’t have to pay for film and developing. One crude technique is to shoot like crazy; there have to be some good ones in there. Edited March 12, 2022 by Charlie Spencer 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpoetmarcr Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 I highly recommend Steve Perry's website, which covers wildlife photography in general but he has a lot of info about bird photography including techniques and video tutorials. https://backcountrygallery.com/ 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpoetmarcr Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 Also, I just noticed that he has a new e-book available titled 'Stunning Bird-in-Flight Photography'. I have a couple of his other e-books and they are the best that I have read on their particular subjects. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonestranger Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 16 hours ago, GracesWarbler said: Do you know of a particularly good photography book or website? I have read through most of http://www.digitalbirdphotography.com a few times, and refer to it now and then for refreshers. I've also referred to https://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tutorials in the past. Both websites have technical camera tips, post processing tips, and tips that deal with some of the other things to consider when out in the field. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Some great advice above, IKLland pointed out some of the basics for a great image and others have posted links to some good websites. However, for me there are two important aspects that can't be taught, those are passion and patience. I find that I capture my best images by waiting for the subjects to come to me and that sometimes requires being in one place, well hidden, for a couple of hours maybe. I'll scout a location where I know my target species is likely to occur and set up in a place where the light angle will be right and there's a nice clean background. Yes, you can get some great shots by walking around with a camera but the more you have control over the setting the greater the chances of capturing an image that just wouldn't be possible walking around. Below is a shot of a couple of drake wood ducks that I took a few days ago. I know they were on this marsh and there would be no way that I could get this shot if I approached them in the open so I found a spot along the edge of the marsh where I knew the sun would be rising behind me. I put camo netting over my camera/lens and myself and laid flat then waited for the ducks to come into range. This technique is not for everyone and requires dedication and patience but sometimes it's the only way to get decent results. The same technique can be used for songbirds by placing an attractive perch over a water drip or some seeds, stay hidden and wait. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpoetmarcr Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Mentioning passion & patience...when I used to be on Instagram a few years ago, there was a professional birder who would often post spectacular photos she captured by wading slowly into the water with camera to get relatively close 'eye level' photos. Not my degree of passion, that's for sure! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKLland Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 10 hours ago, JimB said: Some great advice above, IKLland pointed out some of the basics for a great image and others have posted links to some good websites. However, for me there are two important aspects that can't be taught, those are passion and patience. I find that I capture my best images by waiting for the subjects to come to me and that sometimes requires being in one place, well hidden, for a couple of hours maybe. I'll scout a location where I know my target species is likely to occur and set up in a place where the light angle will be right and there's a nice clean background. Yes, you can get some great shots by walking around with a camera but the more you have control over the setting the greater the chances of capturing an image that just wouldn't be possible walking around. Below is a shot of a couple of drake wood ducks that I took a few days ago. I know they were on this marsh and there would be no way that I could get this shot if I approached them in the open so I found a spot along the edge of the marsh where I knew the sun would be rising behind me. I put camo netting over my camera/lens and myself and laid flat then waited for the ducks to come into range. This technique is not for everyone and requires dedication and patience but sometimes it's the only way to get decent results. The same technique can be used for songbirds by placing an attractive perch over a water drip or some seeds, stay hidden and wait. Awesome shot! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimB Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 2 hours ago, xpoetmarcr said: Mentioning passion & patience...when I used to be on Instagram a few years ago, there was a professional birder who would often post spectacular photos she captured by wading slowly into the water with camera to get relatively close 'eye level' photos. Not my degree of passion, that's for sure! Been there, done that, in fact, I just bought a new pair of waders, my old ones sprung a leak! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xpoetmarcr Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 2 hours ago, JimB said: Been there, done that, in fact, I just bought a new pair of waders, my old ones sprung a leak! My hat is off to you. The days for me doing that are long gone! ? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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