Welcome back to my series “Great Subjects”. This week we’re going to look at one of my favourite great subjects to photograph: birds.
Bird photography can be incredibly rewarding when you get that special shot – the one with the bird in sharp detail doing something interesting with no distracting elements in the background. But it can frustrating trying to get that shot, waiting for all the factors you need for a great shot to come together.
This tutorial will help you understand the challenges and get prepared. And, with some patience and practice, you’ll soon be on your way to making memorable photographs of our feathered friends.
The Challenges
Even though you can find birds almost anywhere, they are not always exactly where you want them to be when you want them to be there. When your goal is to photograph birds, they have a way of disappearing on you. But don’t worry, I’ll help you find them.
Another challenge is that birds are always moving, which means you have to react quickly and leave enough room in your frame to allow for the movement, or they can quickly get away from you.
There’s a lot more to bird photography than using a long lens. It requires a lot of patience, being able to be still and quiet, and probably enduring some bug bites along the way. But, with a few techniques under your belt, you can overcome these challenges and start making great bird photographs.
Types of Bird Photographs
Freezing the Action
As I mentioned, birds are always moving. Even when they appear to be standing still, they will have slight twitches, the wind will blow their feathers, and they are likely to move suddenly. For that reason, you should use a fast shutter speed when birds are your subject. I recommend at least 1/500th of a second for a bird that isn’t moving much, and 1,000th of a second for a bird in flight.
You can use shutter priority mode to ensure your shutter speed doesn’t fall below the speed you have chosen. Or, you can stay in aperture priority to control depth of field, and just keep your eye on your shutter speed, increasing the ISO if the speed gets too slow.
Blur the Action
Freezing the action isn’t a hard and fast rule, especially if you like to make abstract photos. Feel free to try some motion blurs by using a slow shutter speed. This will take a bit of experimentation to determine what the right speed is depending on how fast the bird is flying. I recommend starting at about 1/25th of a second and going from there.
The Silhouette
When your bird has a great shape (like most birds do) and you have a bright background, consider making a silhouette by exposing for the background and letting the bird go completely black. To do this, use spot metering and meter on the background.
The Portrait
The colour and texture of a bird’s plumage make them such fascinating subjects for photography that a simple photo of a bird on a perch can be captivating. Use a shallow depth of field by using a wide aperture like f/5.6 or f/2.8 to blur the background.
Capturing Behaviour
The most interesting bird photographs are the ones that show behaviour such as fishing, feeding their young, taking off in flight, landing, or swimming and flying in a pattern. You’ll have to spend some time watching the birds to discover the behaviour so you’re ready for it ahead of time.
When I photographed this egret fishing, I watched it for awhile and noticed that it made a very slight head movement right before it attacked the fish. Once I discovered that, I was ready for the shot every time.
Finding Subjects
Sometimes the best opportunity for photographing birds is right in your own back yard. When you’re at home, make sure you’re ready for the hawk that lands on your fence or the quail in the garden by having your camera with a telephoto lens handy with all the settings dialed in ahead of time.
Other places to find birds are estuaries, forests, wildlife preserves, bird sanctuaries, lakes, rivers, raptor centres, and even zoos. Remember, it doesn’t have to be an exotic bird. Crows, seagulls, and geese are all excellent subjects.
Small birds tend to move faster and can be more difficult to catch in your frame. If you’re just starting out with bird photography, try going after some larger birds first. Some birds, like seagulls and geese, are more familiar with people and will be easier to get close to than others.
Birds are easily spooked, but there are several things you can do in the field to improve your chances of getting close to your feathered friend:
- The better your camouflage, the more likely the birds will come near you. Cover your camera with a green or brown sweater to mask its strange appearance.
- Wear neutral clothing and avoid bright colours.
- Make sure to remove or cover all reflective objects on and around you, including your equipment, camera bag, cell phone, and any jewelry you might be wearing.
- If you are going to try to approach a bird, keep a low profile. Don’t approach them directly, but rather move toward them in a zig-zag pattern. Keep very quiet and avoid making quick movements and startling them.
- Birds often choose favourite perches. Even if it flutters off before you can get your shot, if you wait silently for a few minutes, it may come back.
- Birds are easily startled, so a beeping camera can frighten them away. Turn off any beeps your camera might make.
- The same goes for flash – turn it off or your bird will be startled by your first shot and quickly leave.
One technique I find helpful when it comes to photographing birds is to find a location where birds are likely to be. If they are not there when you get there, don’t worry, that could be a good thing. Find a way to hide yourself by sitting behind something and wearing clothing that blends in with your background. Try to find a spot that will give you a good view of your potential bird with a clean background. Then sit, be still, don’t make any sound, and wait. This is where the patience comes in to play! The better your hide yourself, the safer birds will feel coming near you.
Recommended Camera Settings
- Continuous high speed drive mode
Most digital cameras will allow you to switch between single shot, continuous, and continuous high speed mode. Since birds move so quickly, choose continuous high speed and take lots of shots when the action starts. - Fast shutter speed
Again, birds move quickly, so choose a shutter speed between 1/500th and 1/1,000th of a second. - High ISO
Remember it’s better to have a noisy image than a blurry image. Keep your ISO high enough to allow a fast shutter speed. You can always reduce noise in post processing later. - Wide aperture for shallow depth of field
A busy background can cause clutter and distractions in your image. To keep all the attention on your main subject, use a shallow depth of field and blur the background as much as possible.
Capture an interesting moment – in great light – with a clean background. That’s the recipe for success.
Remember, spend some time observing your subject and get to know its behaviour. When you spot your subject, think about what it’s going to do. Where is going to fly? What direction is it moving in? Will it have a better background if you wait just a moment? Is some kind of behaviour about to happen?
Equipment Choices
When it comes to photographing birds, a long lens is the key. Even with big birds, getting a closer perspective can make or break an image. But that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck if you don’t own a big lens. There are options for you.
First, make the best of what you have. Even if your longest lens is only 100mm, you can photograph the kinds of birds that are likely to get close to you such as birds that arrive at your feeder, in your backyard, or birds that are used to people like ducks and geese.
Second, you can rent a lens. I highly recommend this option. In fact, most of the photos I put in this tutorial were made with a lens I rented. After I rented the lens 3 times, I finally decided it was worth it for me to make the purchase. But I still rent lenses when I need a specific lens and it’s very cost effective (especially when you consider the price of a good lens). Plus, I always have the exact right lens for the job.
So, how big of a lens do you really need? Generally, the longer the better for maximum magnification. But keep in mind that lenses get remarkably heavy – if you’re hiking up a mountain, it might not be practical to carry an extreme telephoto lens, which can weigh in at over 10 pounds.
A 70-300mm zoom lens is one of my favourites because it is very versatile and some of them are fairly lightweight. But you’ll get a sharper image with a fixed focal length lens. I recommend trying out a 300mm or 400mm fixed lens.
The extra weight of a long lens will increase the likelihood of hand shake blur, which will then be magnified by the distance between you and your subject. If you’re working with a heavy lens, a tripod or monopod will be a great benefit for taking the weight of the lens. If you want the increased flexibility you’ll get by not using a tripod or monopod, be sure to use a very fast shutter speed to compensate for the hand shake blur.
Getting sharp focus
One of the most challenging things about bird photography is getting a sharp image and there are many factors that go into achieving it.
Some people use manual focus, and if you are good at that, that’s fine! I stopped using manual focus 20 years ago because I’m terrible at it. Ever since I started wearing glasses full time it takes me too long to focus. It’s one thing if I have all day doing a macro shot on a tripod, but for moving subjects, there’s no way I would risk using manual focus. But again, if you are good at it, by all means use it. For the rest of us understanding the various auto focus settings in our camera is essential.
Auto Focus Mode
Most cameras have three different focus modes:
- One Shot – obtains focus once when you press the shutter half way down
- AI Servo – continually focuses on the subject as long as you hold the shutter down
- AI Focus – combination of One Shot and AI Servo – your camera decides whether the subject is moving or not
For bird photography, I recommend using AI Focus since it will work well whether your bird is standing still or flying.
Auto Focus Drive
The drive mode on your camera determines how many shots are fired when you hold the shutter down.
- Single Shooting – pressing the shutter button will fire one shot. This is good for landscapes or when there is not much action.
- Continuous Shooting – pressing and holding the shutter down will fire multiple shots at a relatively slow rate.
- High-Speed Continuous Shooting – will fire multiple shots as fast as the camera can go. This is different depending on your camera model.
Birds move quickly, so the best option for this type of photography is high-speed continuous shooting. You might be surprised to find that every frame is a little bit different even at 11 frames per second (fps).
Auto Focus Points
Your camera can have anywhere from just a few to 65 or more focus points that it is capable of using to achieve focus. You can allow your camera to decide where it should focus using one of the auto-select modes where multiple focus points are active and the camera decides where to focus. These days cameras are coming out with more and more focus points for this purpose.
You should do some tests and experiments with your camera to decide how well your camera does this job. For me, I don’t let my camera decide. I always use a single focus point so it is always in my control. In fact, I rarely even change my focus point, I just use the center one all the time – even though my main subject is rarely in the center.
I use a rather old fashioned method of focussing but it really works for me so I’ll share it with you in case it helps. Rather than changing the focus points on my camera all the time, or using multiple focus points and hoping the camera settles on the right one for the scene, I set mine to spot focus on the center point. I point my camera directly at what I want to be in focus and press the shutter half way down to set the focus. Then, while holding the shutter half way down, I recompose the image and then shoot. That way I can make sure that the part of the frame I want to be in focus is in focus no matter where in the frame that spot is. This is actually very quick to do once you get the hang of it.
I encourage you to try the different methods and decide which one works best for you.
Image Stabilization
Any time you are not on a tripod, image stabilization always helps.
Where to Focus
For bird photography, always focus on the eye of the bird. Even if you are using a very wide aperture and only part of the bird is sharp, if the eye is sharp it will look good. If the wing is sharp and not the eye, it wont look right.
Exposure Lock and Back Button Focus
In my view, part of the difficulty in getting a sharp image lies in the fact that the shutter button does too many things. Not only does it trip the shutter, but it also sets exposure and focus. Is this too many jobs for one button to handle? A lot of people think so. Of course, different techniques work for different people, so these are just a couple of ideas you can try out and see if makes things easier for you.
The first technique is using exposure lock. Most DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have a button on the back, usually a *, and when pressed it will set and save the exposure so no matter where you point your camera after that, the next frame will be taken at the exposure saved. This effectively removes the exposure setting from the shutter button allowing it to simply focus and trip the shutter. I used to use this method for landscape photography when I wanted to expose for the sky, but focus on something else.
Another method, and the one I use now, is called back button autofocus. I switched to back button autofocus to get more consistent and accurate focus results for wildlife photography. It’s a little tricky to set up, you have look it up in your camera manual and figure out how to remove the focus setting from being attached to your shutter button and change it to being associated with another button on the back of your camera (you can use the AF-ON button or another button). When you have done that you use your thumb on the back of your camera to focus. You set your focus mode to AI Servo (continuous focus) and you end up getting the best of both worlds because you can press the button once and release it for one shot focus, or hold the button down to get continuous autofocus. It’s awesome to be able to switch between those two focus modes so easily! You don’t even have to remove your eye from the viewfinder to do it. Plus, the shutter button is now only used for exposure and tripping the shutter.
It takes some time to get used to, but now that I’ve been using back button focus for awhile I wouldn’t go back. I am getting much better results this way. I simply use my thumb to focus first and then I press the shutter button.
Here is a link to a video which I found extremely helpful when I was learning about how back button focus works.
With these tips you’ll be well prepared to tackle the challenge and reap the rewards that come along with photographing one of nature’s great subjects: birds.
For more tutorials in this series, check out “Great Subjects”.
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Dear Madam,
very useful lesson .thank you so much.
You are welcome Chandana, I’m glad you found it helpful!
Lots of great info, as usual! I’m going to check out the video and figure out the back button focus. Thanks Ann!
Thanks Jean! I love using the back button focus now, hope you got it figured out for your camera.
As always, beautifully written! A clear and concise treatment of the subject. Better than anything my searches have come up with in the Internet. Thank you! Not to forget, your bird images are stunning!
Thank you so much Suzanne! I really appreciate your kind words about my article and photos 🙂
Like you, I switched to back button focus some time ago and it’s been a godsend! Far fewer blurry images and, if you’re looking to focus and then recompose, it’s brilliant.
Love your tutorials. Thank you!
Yes, if you do the focus and recompose technique, back button focus makes it much quicker! Thank you very much for your visit and comments Ceci 🙂
Another great article! Bird photography is one of my passions, and I learned quite a bit from this. As for the “Back Button Focusing,” I have been employing it for several years now, and as you said, I’ll never go back. I shoot Hummingbirds at a feeder, and find it helpful as I set my camera up on a tripod and prefocus on the feeder. I use a wireless remote to fire the shutter, and with Back Button, the autofocus isn’t activated.
Hi Skip, an excellent point! When I had my focus on the shutter button, I would have to switch to manual focus in order to prevent the camera from trying to focus again. Now that it’s on the back button, I don’t have to worry about it at all. Thanks for your visit and comments, much appreciated!
Thanks. What about focus-tracking with lock-on? Please tell us your settings.
Hi Stefan, You can use the AI-Servo focus mode for focus tracking. But, if you switch to back button focus, it’s even better because you just hold the button down when you want continuous focus and only press it for a second for one shot focus. It’s much faster than having to switch focus modes between continuous and one shot. I hope this helps! Thanks for your comments.
Great post an photos. Do you use auto ISO or do you change the ISO, as needed? BTW, that video is the same one that I watched when I decided to switch to back button focusing, a few years back. After watching the vid, I started to use BBF and never looked back.
Hi Gladys, I usually set my ISO to 400 when shooting birds but I will increase it if I am not getting fast enough shutter speeds. I know some people use auto ISO, and I have tried it, but it didn’t seem fast enough and I would sometimes get photos with terrible exposures. I heard that Nikons are better than Canons at doing auto-ISO. I would try it and just see if you get good results or not. I didn’t, so I set my ISO manually as needed. Thanks for your comments.
Nice and informative article Anne. I agree wholeheartedly about studying your subjects and learning their behaviors. Just 15 to 30 minutes of watching can make all the difference in the world. I use that technique with birds, insects, animals, and fish. They all have a somewhat organized and predictable lifestyle if you take the time to watch them.
You mentioned turning off the flash in order to not startle the birds. Have you ever experimented with using a Better Beamer on your flash? I know some bird photographers swear by them. I have one and have used it for birds on a feeder, but haven’t taken it into the field.
Hi Wes, Thank you very much for your comments, I’m glad you enjoyed the article. No, I’ve never tried the better beamer. I’ll have to do some research on it. Thanks for letting me know!
One of the best tutorial I have read on bird photography .you have covered every aspect very nicely. Thank you Anne. I have not used shutter speed more than 1/2000 Sec because of high ISO . Will have a go next time. KUMAR
Hi Kumar, Thank you so much for the great feedback! I find that sometimes a super fast shutter speed is required, especially when shooting animals that are moving particularly quickly like whales and dolphins, in addition to some birds. I think it’s better to have a bit of noise on a sharp image than to end up with a soft image.
That first photo is stunning. Been following your blog for quite awhile – this is one of my favorite posts.
Thank you so much Judy, I really appreciate your wonderful comment and feedback 🙂
Great article. Thank you Anne. You have great work and I follow it in your blog. Your photos are very beautiful. Cheers.
Thank you so much for your visit and comments Rose, much appreciated!
Anne,
Thank you for an informative article. I share your enthusiasm for bird photography and learned a lot.
Thanks Dennis, I’m so glad you found it helpful.
Well written and super informative post! I’m feeling very inspired to attempt photographing some wild birds now!
Hi Leanne, I am so glad you found the post inspiring! That’s the best feedback I can ask for 😉
Anne: Very good tutorial again. Recently in a swamp we went into thousands of cormorants fishing. I had my focus in a single point and it was impossible to get most of them in focus. For that particular case I think I should have the focus in multiple or wide.
Very interesting the AF-ON tutorial. I learned a lot.
Have a good day
Certainly the best and most comprehensive collection of tips and methods I’ve seen! And thanks for the video! I’ve set up my little camera (Panasonic FZ200) this way and look forward to trying it out in my backyard.
BTW, for backyard bird shots, an obvious help is a nearby feeder. Some may think that is cheating! 8+;) Of course, not many will continue to admire your images if they all contain the feeder in the frame. LOL!
Keep up the great work!
Dear Anne,
My name is Luiz Muzzi and I am a Brazillian photo enthusiast.
I love your posts and I wish I could take so marvelous photos as you do.
But I send you this message and comment today because of your most recent post when you say “you are losing your mother”. I would like to share with you my personal experience. I have already lost both my mother and my father (and my only sister too). And these experiences are the saddest of my whole life. It has already been years and I still feel deeply moved when I think of them.
I really understand your grievance. Perhaps your love of photography (and of the beautiful things in nature and in animal life) may help you overcome this hard time.
Best regards,
-Luiz Muzzi
Hi Luiz, thanks for sharing your thought with me. It’s a tough time and I really appreciate your taking the time to leave me a message.
Hi Anne,
Thank you for another excellent article.
I have not yet tried back button focusing sung the spot focus and recompose.
I would like to add that knowing your subject and its behaviour on all wildlife photography.
For example, if you are trying to get close to a ruffed grouse, it is imperative that you keep moving. A stop and go approach sounds like a predator and the grouse will not hold in place. As long as you keep moving, the grouse can tell where you are and feel safe unless you get too close.
Small birds rarely sit still for more than a few seconds at a time so prepare to shoot as soon as they land.
A blind can be useful in reducing stress to the bird. Please avoid unduly stressing the birds especially those with young. Stress results in wasted energy that can reduce the ability of young to survive. Never cut branches away to expose a nest for nest photos. Nesting sites are chosen to conceal eggs and young from predators. cutting even a small branch so you can get that shot you want so much can compromise the safety of the nest. If you really must shoot nesting birds, tie the offending branch back out of the way and gently allow it to return to its original location when you are finished. Respect your wildlife subjects by giving the space they need to fill comfortable.
I have found a monopod to be a very useful accessory for wildlife photography. It provide some extra stability over hand holding and helps take the weight of my Sigma 500 mm zoom, while giving me almost the freedom of movement that hand holding provides.
Hi Brian, Thank you very much for your comments and suggestions, I appreciate it.
Hi Anne I am so sorry to her about your mother,may God bless you all…. Anne i have a question please if you use the star button on back of camera to change the exposer when you raise the camera to take the shot how do you refocus for the shot with out the star button going out i have a canon 70 d. Thank’s
Hi Gary, thank you for your comments. If you use the star button to lock your exposure, you can still use the shutter button pressed half way to focus. It depends on how you have your camera set up. I use the star button for back button focus and there’s another button beside it on the back that I can use to lock exposure, or I can use the shutter button for exposure. I’m not sure if you are using back button focus or not.
These pictures are stunning! I stumbled upon your blog while looking for a little bit of inspiration, as I haven’t been able to travel as much recently, and my inner wanderlust is eating me away. Not being able to travel has dampen my mood, not only in terms of my daily life, but with my photography as well. When I ended up here, I was instantly intrigued. Travel journalism/photography is something I’ve loved the idea of, but I’ve never actually tried. Reading a few of your articles has made me re-evaluate some of the things I’ve been pursuing. I especially love this one because I’ve been rather fond of birds (especially ducklings) my whole life, but I have a hard time focusing my camera on them instead of my greedy eyes! Maybe with the things I read, I can finally fine-tune my techniques! I’m glad you mentioned “old fashioned” focusing, because that’s how I’ve always done it! I hope to read more insightful and interesting things from you in the future. You’ve made a fan out of me. Thanks for your wisdom and sharing your experiences!
Anne, great article. i so much want to get into bird photography. do you know by chance the name of that bird in the top photo?
Thanks Bird Man! Yes, it’s a Lilac Breasted Roller photographed in Tanzania.
Anne McKinnell,
very nice ebooks and nice way of teaching
Thanks a lot
Kariyawasam Padmatilaka
Thank you for sharing concise, practical tips for better shots of birds.
Very generous for sharing the link to the BackCountry video about back button focusing.
What’s your belief regarding better image quality in enlarging the photo of a far away bird between cropped and full frame cameras in general, and Canon 7d and 6 in particular?
Hi,this is absolutely top notch! its difficult to focus on a bird when its flying,you have another fan here as this as help me a lot,you talk a lot of common sence. Thanks.
Hi Roger, thanks! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Photographing birds in flight is definitely a huge challenge. But it’s so much fun too 🙂 I appreciate your visit and comments.
Anne, really enjoyed your article and also your stunning pictures!, Your article is so concise, practical, easy-to read and understand tips for shooting birds. I will practise following your valuable tips. Thank you very much for spending time sharing with the rest. Wish to read more of your articles.
Thanks again
Hi Tom, thank you very much for your kind comments! It’s always great to hear when readers find the tutorials helpful.
Excellent post! I’ve seen a picture recently where a kingfisher dove into the water to catch a fish, quite remarkable really! Thanks for writing!
Thank you for your comments Aaron! Kingfishers are notoriously difficult to photograph. They move so fast. And then they hover giving you the impression that it’s possible to photograph one, but they always dive just when you get it in your frame 🙂 I don’t have one in my collection yet, but hopefully one day.
Thank you for another informative tutorial. Picked up a few wonderful tips! I too switched to back button focus a couple of years ago and the change was dramatic, to say the least.
Hi Vasantha, yes back button focus is great for wildlife photography. Glad you enjoyed the tutorial and thanks for your comments.
Thanks, Anne for the great tutorial. I enjoy all your tutorials and love seeing what new pictures you take and post on facebook. I love wildlife/bird photography and go out to one of the local wildlife areas we have close by for birds. When I’m not able to get out, I have 2 feeders set up in my yard and I spend the afternoons shooting pictures of the different birds that stop by. Mostly sparrows which don’t stay still for long but fun to shoot and larger birds like Jays and Doves. I started using back button focus a while ago and most of the time it works for me. Thanks again,
You are most welcome Bob, glad you found it helpful. I love our hummingbird feeder! It’s great for photographing birds through the window. But if I’m actually outside they don’t usually come close enough. I’ll have to try another feeder for bigger birds.
Hello Anne
Thank you for a most informative photography link. The current link on bird photography was right up my street as I have always been a bird lover and recently purchased a Canon EOS 77D with a 28- 300mm zoom lens.
Very happy and have been doing a fair amount of bird photography at a Gravel Pit location which has a good selection of water birds and is surrounded with grassland and forest.
Practice and patience is slowly bring in some rewards including being out in the early morning air.
I’m glad to hear you found the post informative, Roy, thanks! Bird photography can be so rewarding, but yes practice and patience are essential! Your comments are much appreciated 🙂
Hi Anne,
Thanks for all your excellent tutorials and tips. You are so generous to share so much of your hard gained experience., .and all free!
Bird photography is my favourite photography too. I like to identify all the birds around me and that’s a great way to do it- “shoot”first and look up the bird book for an ID later 🙂 I know all the birds around me now and get excited when I see a new one or hear a new song.
I also always use the single centre point focus and never change from back-button focus – not for anything. It’s so much easier and so much easier to get that shot! I was delighted to read that you do the same, so I’m in good company!
Thanks again,
Cecilia
Thank you very much for your kind comments Cecilia! I’m glad to hear that you found the tutorial helpful. I find I am becoming a bird watcher too and love to identify all the birds, even the ones I don’t photograph.
My favorite bird to photograph are Bald Eagles, Heron, Blue heron, Wild Turkeys. Now after reading the tutorial
I feel better about going o the wild side and totally away from auto everything. Here in the Missouri Ozarks
eagles are little harder to find, so wild turkey hens in flight and herons on the lakes are easier to shoot.
I like the E-Books, tutorials, and the videos.
Thanks a lot
Hi Robert, glad to hear you found the tutorial helpful! I don’t have any wild turkey photos. Last year I got a photo of a tom but he was not wild. Thanks for your visit and comments, always appreciated.
Excellent article! I wish I had read this 3 months ago when I did a bird photography workshop locally (the instructor didn’t give these tips). This is very informative and organized. Thank you!
Jean
You are most welcome Jean! Now you’ll have to get back out there and find some more birds to photograph. Glad you found the tutorial helpful 🙂
Thank you so much Anne. you are really very clear and concise in all your tutorials. It is very pleasant and especially your articles are very didactic. I will continue looking for them and recommend them among my contacts.
I wish you good luck and I hope you continue to have the time to write these interesting articles.
Plutarco
Always good to read up on your material Anne…but better to see you making progress health wise and continuing to press on. Cheers and best wishes.
Aussie Al.