Photographing Birds

D.W. Maiden Photography

Here's a few tips on how to get good pictures of birds:

The best advise I can give you is DO NOT try to chase birds! You'll lose! Think about it. They are able to escape in three dimensions! While we are stuck in two. Unless you can fly or run at 40 mph you'll lose.

The first thing you will want to do is; your homework. I spend a lot of time just watching AND LISTENING for birds. If you only watch birds you'll have missed 50 percent of your chances! I'm still learning to ID by song, so the best thing I can tell you is to listen for something that is a different song. You'll be amazed at what you can capture when you start paying attention to all your senses!

Birds, like all animals are creatures of habit. I know that I go to the same place for lunch each day and order the same food most of the time. Birds are no different. When they find a food source, they'll visit it routinely. For example, I have Cardinals that visit my feeders each morning and evening. At around 4:30pm I can be assured that Cardinals will be feeding on the sunflower seeds from my feeders. Use that to your advantage. If you do your homework, you'll know where to be and when to be there.

Backyard birds are fairly easy to attract with the proper food source. Don't skimp on the food! Good, quality feed will reward you with dozens of species! I've found black oiled sunflower seeds and safflower seeds attract a nice variety of backyard birds. Don't forget the Woodpeckers, they really like suet cakes with sunflower seeds. Be sure to place your feeders in an area where there is ample perching. Most birds will perch at a safe distance before visiting or re-visiting your feeder. But, make sure your feeders are far enough away from 'jumping' spots of squirrels. Squirrels are amazing creatures and can jump a long way. I would recommend putting feeders at least 20 feet from the nearest jumping point. Really!

After you've observed the habits of your birds you're half way there! With all the information you now have, you can PLAN how to capture the best images. Be aware of the lighting conditions. I always like the sun to be over my left shoulder when I shoot. No real reason for it, just my preference. But you definitely want to shoot with the sun at your back. If you can't get that angle then use a fill-flash (but that's a whole other subject!).

Now for your camera. Get the biggest/longest lens you can afford. I've heard and really believe that when purchasing a camera set up, 2/3's of your budget should be spent on the lens. Get the longest, lowest f-stop lens your budget can tolerate. The body has a role to play but, the lens is the thing! There's not many things that you can say that 'you get what you pay for' but, it is true in photography. You get what you pay for!

Use a tripod! I never take my camera off a tripod. I know it's a pain to drag a tripod around but there is no way you can handhold a 400mm lens without shake. Camera manufactures have come a long way with anti-shake and image-stabilization but there is no way you can hold a long lens steady enough to get a sharp photo of a bird! Plus, for in-flight shots I turn my IS off anyway (I'm always fighting with IS).

Get as close to the bird as possible. I normally will use a blind. The word blind sounds exotic but can be anything that hides you and your camera. It could be your house, a pup-tent or a tree. Anything that will hide you from your subject while allowing you a unobstructed line-of-site to your subject.

That's about it! In a future blog I'll share my camera settings and other things to keep in mind and maybe go into a little more detail on each of the steps above. But if you do your homework and plan, 80% of the battle is won! Then it is just learning to master your tool (camera) which really is the easiest part!

I saw a tweet today that sums it all up. It was posted by @ShowFeeders and said "Good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose." That quote sums it up!

Good luck and happy birding!