My first bird photography experience had all common mistakes: blurred areas, misplaced focus, awkward compositions, and lack of any focal point, to name just a few. Over the years, I have perfected my skills. I added useful accessories to my photo gear. And I have learned to understand the birds’ universe a little bit better. Here are the bird photography tips I wish I had known from the beginning.
Nature provides a broad variety of amazing subjects, but birds are some of my favorites. They have a world of their own, and only a few can enter. No wonder they appear in most fairy tales. Furthermore, bird species come in all colors and sizes, have peculiar habits, live in all sorts of environments by themselves or in large groups, and can stand still, walk, dart, swim, and fly. They are gracious and photogenic but easy to startle. And they are very good at hide and seek, too.
Take Time to Find Your Subject
One may think birds are everywhere, and there is nothing else to do than pick up a camera and a telephoto lens and go for a walk to take a perfect bird photo. However, the reality is a bit different. Birds are everywhere, but that doesn’t mean they are willing to pose for you. You need to know where to look for them, especially if you want to photograph a particular species. You also have to learn their behavior and anticipate their moves. Consider when they like to feed, sleep, or nest, their habitat, their flying modes, and their natural predators. Their lifestyle is guidance for choosing the location, time of the year, time of the day, and even the gear and camera settings. All the bird photography tips in the world won’t help you if you can’t find the birds.
In my experience, I learned that bringing a binocular helps a lot. It allows you to spot and track birds without the heavy weight of a camera and telephoto lens combo. The binoculars are also quicker and more efficient. Knowing where the birds are and what they are doing helps you get closer without startling them. A binocular is also smaller than a telephoto lens and makes your presence more discrete. Sometimes, before a bird photography session, I do a bird-watching session, bringing nothing but a binocular and something to take notes with. Then, I come back prepared.
Pay Attention to Background
One of the most common reasons for ruined bird photographs is a busy background. Birds rarely live in an environment with smooth, plain backgrounds. Thus, you’ll have a lot of branches, grass, leaves, and rocks to avoid. The problem is that once you’ve spotted a beautiful bird, you forget entirely about the background. You get carried away by composition, focus, and camera settings, and don’t take your eyes off the subject. Then, you get home, download your photos on a computer, and face the disappointment.
Except for the obvious advice to take a moment to check out the entire frame and adjust the setup to have a flattering background, I find a ground pod to be very useful. A ground pod is a plate with small, adjustable feet that keep your camera at ground level. I mount the gimbal head on it and lay on the ground to look through the viewfinder. The ground pod stabilizes the camera, allowing me to focus on composition. Furthermore, the position makes the subject stand out because it offers a farther-away background, which is easier to blur with the narrow depth of field of a telephoto lens. It also helps a lot when you photograph birds on water or the ground because you get to their eye level and, thus, create a deeper connection.
Prioritize Shutter Speed and Aperture
Shutter speed is the most important camera setting for bird photography because birds like to move. Even when they are stationary, birds tend to move their heads, beaks, legs, tails, and wings. And with the ultra-telephoto lens you use, the smallest movement can cause a blurred image or at least a blurred area. Therefore, you must rely on fast shutter speeds to freeze motion. No matter if the bird is flying, swimming, or just making sudden movements.
My advice is to let the camera set the ISO value and focus on shutter speed and aperture. You may want to use either the Manual mode or the Shutter Priority mode. Some birds move more and are faster than others, such as small birds. To be on the safe side, a 1/2000 shutter speed is a good starting point. However, if the bird is stationary, you may get away with a shutter speed of 1/640 or even 1/200. But don’t slow down unless you really need it, such as on an overcast day or when shooting near the end of the day.
To compensate for fast shutter speeds, a large aperture may be necessary. Large apertures also help you blur a busy background because they decrease the depth of field. Start with f/4 (or the minimum aperture at which your lens takes sharp photos) and go from there. Use narrower apertures only when you want a deeper depth of field for artistic purposes.
Use Back Button Focus
Back button focus is a feature provided by digital cameras that allows you to skip the half-pressing of the shutter required to focus and maintain it. Instead of using the standard shutter for this, you use another button positioned on the back of the camera that is easily reachable with your thumb. To focus, you need to press the back button and hold it until you are happy with the focus point. When you release the back button, the camera locks the focus. Now, you are free to take the shot whenever you are ready without worrying about focus.
I find the back button focus particularly helpful for bird photography. First of all, there is no chance of refocusing by mistake when pressing the shutter release after recomposing a shot. To track a bird, you just continue to press the AF-ON button. If something comes between you and the bird, you can just let go of the AF-ON button and resume once the bird is under the focus point again. It is like having the single autofocus mode, continuous autofocus mode, and manual all-in-one mode. Everything depends on whether you press the AF-ON button. It cannot be more simple once you get used to it.
Bring a Tripod and Camouflage
Chasing birds is never a good idea. The gear is heavy, bulky, and takes some time to set up. Often, the best location is a remote one, where you can’t get by car, and after walking or biking for a while, your muscles will be too tired to move the camera smoothly and quickly enough. Therefore, most of the time, I use a stationary photo setup for bird photography. This includes a sturdy, stable tripod for any surface and a gimbal tripod head.
When you walk and shoot at the same time, most often you will photograph birds that are far away or fly away from you. It can be very difficult to get into position without scaring most birds away.
The gimbal head is ideal for panning and follow-focus with a heavy camera and telephoto lens combo. It maintains and stabilizes the camera’s alignment. And, as I said before, you can mount it on a ground pod and shoot from the ground level as well.
Another advantage of bringing a tripod is the possibility of camouflaging. Birds are suspicious, especially if you happen to be near their nests. Therefore, camouflaging yourself and your gear with a ghillie blanket or a photography hide improves your chances of getting a good photo. A ghillie blanket resembles grass very realistically, has a three-dimensional appearance, and even moves in the wind. But it’s not something you can easily cover yourself with while walking and looking for birds. With the tripod supporting the camera and the gimbal head allowing you to move it, camouflaging doesn’t seem so difficult anymore.
Conclusion
Bird photography is, technically speaking, challenging. But there is nothing you can’t learn. With the right camera, lens, accessories, and some practice, one can easily master the technical part. However, most of your focus and attention should be elsewhere. To photograph birds and to do it well, you must love them, get to know them, and have patience with them. Your photographs must be like portraits, either posed or environmental, which means you treat your models with respect and make them feel comfortable in your presence. That’s the most important thing I learned about bird photography. When I put the connection above the possibility of a good photo, birds reward me with incredible moments.
