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Bird Photography Photo Tips
by Kristen Westlake
Helpful tips for Nature Club members, photography students and wildlife, nature, and bird photograpers. Please contact wildlife photographer, Kristen Westlake for photo critiques, individual instruction or to schedule a workshop.
1. The animal's welfare should be your number ONE priority.
2. Know your subjects.
3. Become a part of the Scene.
4. Distracting foreground elements
5. Feet, wing tips, and tails.
6. Busy backgrounds.
7. Focus on the eye
8. Eye level
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1. The animal's welfare should be your number ONE priority. No photograph is worth compromising an animal's safety or comfort. Number 2 & 3 below will help you to be effective with this important priority.
2. Know your subjects. Study your subjects. Research them but most importantly, observe them. Observation of your subject will tell you what it's habits are. When you are aware of it's habits, you will be able to much better predict what your subject is about to do next. Just spending the time to get to know your subject by observing him or her will yield you better photographs than if you had just come in quickly to "take" a picture. Patience is a key element to bird photography.
3. Become a part of the Scene. Be on Nature's Clock. Though society tells us the pace in life is fast, it is important to S L O W .... down, if you want to make great photos. Become immersed in the habitat of your subject. Generally, action will stop for about 20 minutes when you enter into a bird's habitat. Once animals get used to you, activity will resume. Move slowly. The only fast thing that you should be doing is shooting, when the action gets good. Let the bird do all the action. If you enter the scene expecting to get a great shot right off the bat, you will often be disappointed. Even if you do get a great shot, you will miss out on opportunities that might have come your way if you don't take the time to practice patience.
4. Distracting foreground elements. You may see a great subject and not notice that there is a branch obstructing the view, until you get home and look at your photos. You may have shot lots of great pictures of the subject (from the same vantage point) doing all kinds of things - preening, spreading his wings, reaching for berries, etc. But you have this annoying branch intersects the body. The photo of the catbird below is an example showing a branch that clearly gets in the way of the catbird. There are also other out of focus branches that detract from the photo.
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Advice:
1. Be aware of elements that may detract from your picture. Get excited about the bird, but pay attention to things that will render your photo useless.
2. Move slightly to the left or to the right. Changing your angle may eliminate a pesky branch. You will notice that in this photo, if I had moved slightly to the right I would have avoided the mishap with the branch that detracts from the catbird.5. Feet, wing tips, and tails. This photo clips the tail of the catbird as well as the toes on one of the feet.
Advice:
Watch carefully in your view finder to make sure you have the whole bird in the frame. If the bird is too large in the frame, back up or use a smaller lens. In some instances, clipping works, but it is not the norm.
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6. Busy backgrounds. Watch out for backgrounds that are busy and distracting. The photo to the right, of the Black-crowned Night heron is bothersome. The greenery is too busy and detracts from the subject.
Advice:
If possible, find another angle to photograph from. Or get in closer to get rid of the annoying distractions. Getting closer is best achieved by knowing your subject and becoming part of the scene. (Please Reference tip 2 & 3 above). Always remember that the welfare of the animal comes first, and if moving in closer stresses the animal or causes it to flee, it' s not an option.
7. Focus on the eye. The eyes are the "windows to the soul" and it is no different with birds. Showing the eye in focus with catch light draws your viewer in to the bird and makes the photo come to life.
8. Eye level . There is much more intimacy in a photograph that is made at eye level with your subject. Looking down or up at a bird suggests a bit of disconnection. Larger lenses help remedy that issue a bit, especially when photographing, for example, an osprey in a nest. Backing up and using a long lens achieves a less steep angle than using a shorter lens and needing to be closer to the nest to fill your frame with the bird. The longer lens also allows you to be further from the bird, avoiding possible stress put on the bird. |
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