15 Incredible Bird Photography Tips

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Introduction
A Journey of a Thousand Mile Begins With Single Step - Confucius
I started my blog Nature Photography Simplified with this very quote in my Coming Soon page on December 2013. I have
started my journey as a blogger with one article at a time. I know it is a long process to get noticed in this crowded internet,
but I am sure I will succeed if I take baby steps...yes, baby steps!
If I start beating up myself everyday to get thousands of visitors in a day, then I am sure to be frustrated. It may probably
force me to quit blogging too. But if I keep sharing very good content every time, then slowly and steadily I will be able to
build a loyal audience like you and you may spread this word far and wide to reach my goals faster!
Hold on...but why am I saying this to you? how does it ever make sense to you?
Believe me, it does! You are starting off to a thousand mile journey of becoming a great bird photographer...dont you? And
I am very happy that you have taken the first step by reading this ebook.
But remember, it is not different in your case. You have to take baby steps as well. You have to take it easy, one step at a
time. Understand each of these incredible tips one at a time and put them into practice. Make one wonderful bird
photograph at a time, then share it. Your friends and family members will start to notice your improvement and start
sharing your work! You will be on your way of becoming a great bird photographer slowly and steadily.
Good Luck and Happy Reading...
15 Incredible Bird Photography Tips www.naturephotographysimplified.com Page 1

1 Camera and Lenses
Bird photography is by far the most
expensive of all other photographic genre.
One of the most debated topics is about
camera and lenses.
The reason is simple, birds are almost

always very far, which dictates for telephoto
lenses, and hyperactive, which dictates for
faster AF performance. But everything
comes at a greater cost.
I would like to tell you that I got my first

and very favorite of my bird photograph,
Seagull Landing, with Nikon D60 and kit
lens Nikkor 18-55mm lens! Believe me...I
did.
Seagull Landing on a Lamp Post

Wide Spread Wings of a Great Egret
I made plenty of successful photographs with my Nikkor D7000. It was more than sufficient to get most of my
18-200mm lens as well for 4 straight years. I should best photographs with that.
admit that I learnt most of the photography concepts
with lens alone. I have won several appreciation for the Great Egret
photograph I took with Nikon D7000 + Nikkor 70-
Later I did use Nikkor 70-300mm lens and I was blown 300mm lens.
away with its performance with D300s and
I have used Canon 5D Mark III + Canon 100-400mm lens for 1
year and had reasonable success it too. The left photograph of
Great Blue Heron with a fish is made with Canon.
Now, I own Nikon D7100 + Nikkor 300mm f/2.8 lens, after more
than 5 years of photography experience. I am definitely able to
make sharper and more detailed photographs now. Most of the
photographs in this ebook are taken with 300mm f/2.8 lens.
Whichever camera or lens I have used, it is always

been the patience, perseverance and the love of
photographing those beautiful creatures, which has
made it possible to capture beautiful moments
Great Blue Heron with Red Fish

I want you to always remember these lines: Create some kind of a bond with a bird by visiting it
often and just watching it without ever scaring it away.
It is not just the lens or the Camera you use, It will open up a new possibility in your life to
which makes you a good photographer. It is communicate in silence!
the passion to capture those beautiful
creatures, that inner drive to go out and wait I was fortunate to make bonds with a Juvenile Blue
for hours to get a live their life, is what makes Heron and a Green Heron, the one in the cover page. I
have been watching them for over 6 months and they
you a wonderful photographer
have given me so much joy that I cannot express.
Start with a good entry level or semi-pro DSLR camera

Try it...You will know it!
and a decent telephoto lens like 18-200mm or 70-
300mm lens preferably with VR (Vibration Reduction)
There will be a time, when you realize that you are
on Nikon lenses or IS (Image Stabilization) on Canon
passionate enough to pursue this hobby more seriously.
lenses.
That is the time when you will consider buying more
expensive gears if necessary.
Start taking pictures of bigger and easier to approach
birds like Ducks, Geese, Seagulls, or Swans. Learn and
apply each and every concept that I describe in the rest
of this e-book. Master them all.

2 Bird Photography Settings
There are many options to use for bird photography, the camera decide on rest of the settings like Shutter
depending on the needs and what suits you the best. Speed and ISO to get proper exposure.
I will try to explain some of the most widely used bird This is by far the most widely used mode in Bird
photography settings here. These are the settings Photography because of following reasons:
which I use in my daily bird photography.
You can decide whether to blur the background
Remember that, no matter which settings you use, the completely to achieve most sought after
photography composition and the concepts remains Bokeh effect or to achieve deeper depth of
the same. field by showing the bird and its habitat
Aperture Priority Mode As the birds are very active and always on move,
the light and the background changes drastically,
Aperture Priority mode enables the user to select the making it quite difficult to change the shutter
Aperture to control the Depth of Field (DOF) and let speed and/or ISO in fraction of seconds

Shutter Speed conditions and aperture settings may not allow us to get
higher shutter speeds.
Remember that the shutter speed should be atleast (1 /
effective focal length) to avoid any kind of camera VR or IS system compensates for any camera shake
shake. normally due to slow shutter speeds. Depending on
whether you have VR/IS (first generation systems) or
If you are shooting at 300mm on a Crop factor camera VR-II/IS-II (second generation systems) you will get
(1.5x) then the effective focal length is 450mm. It means close to 2 stops to 4 stops of exposure compensation.
you need shutter speed of atleast 1/450th of a second to
reduce the camera shake. Which means, if you are using VR/IS and if you are
shooting at 300mm in a cropped sensor, then you can
Whereas, in case of Full Frame camera you can use avoid camera shake with shutter speed of (1 /
1/300th of a second. (effective focal length /4)) which is 1/112.
Note: Each stop is typically multiple of 2.
VR (Vibration Reduction) / IS (Image
Stabilization) Shoot in Burst or Continuous Mode
I strongly recommend you to go for a VR (Nikon) or an This is no-brainer I think. More frames per second you
IS (Canon) lens. It is not always possible to reduce the have, better it is. You do not want to miss that next
camera shake in the field, since the lighting unexpected movement of the bird.

Use the high continuous burst speed always. I would recommend you to use the cross-point focusing
points if you can, as they are very responsive and can
Focusing modes quickly achieve the focus.
Use single point for perched or static birds. This will In general, smaller the number of focusing points
allow you to focus on the bird which is off-centered and greater will be the chance of achieving focus.
get a composition in the field itself.
But dont stick to one or the other. Try using all the
However, as you are aware, it is generally not easy to get focusing settings and check which one you are very
a bird to sit obediently. Especially true in case of small comfortable with and then stick to it.
birds. They will atleast be moving their head to check
their potential threats. Larger birds like Herons and As a general rule of thumb, use focusing
Egrets are generally not that threatened and can sit still points which covers the entire body of the
for a long period of time. bird and some surrounding space
Most of the times you have to use cross-point focusing This way you will ensure that you give enough focusing
points like 9- or 15- or 21-points. Or sometimes all point points to the camera to achieve focus.
focusing.

Spot Metering Mode Shoot In RAW
The spot metering mode will be the best bet in bird Always shoot in RAW mode. Apart from its obvious
photography since we want to perfectly expose for the advantage of having complete control over the
bird always as opposed to its background. processing, this will allow you to keep Auto White
Balance in the field.
Of course, it is important to get the right exposure for
background too, but there may not be enough chances if If you get the white balance wrong in the field then you
you miss the exposure on the bird. can correct it in the post.
Spot metering will also be very helpful in But if you are shooting in JPEG, then there is no way to
getting the right exposure for white birds like fix it or probably very hard if there is any latest software
Egrets and dark birds like Crow or Grackles to do so.
However, use evaluative or matrix metering for birds in

habitat since you are interested in the background too.
Try using all the other metering modes that you have
and see which suits the best for a given scenario.

3 Light
If there is no light, then there is no photograph. Based on the geographical location, season and weather
conditions, you might have difference in the duration of
Photography is all about light time you get soft light and hard light.
Light has quality and direction. Quality of light is as You may have more soft light during early spring, late
important as the direction of the light. autumn and winter months. Or you may get soft and
well distributed lighting conditions during cloudy days.
Quality of Light
As the name suggests, it is almost always required to go
Quality of light can be broadly classified as Soft light with soft lighting for the bird photographs.
and Hard light.
The soft light is more diffused and helps to
Soft light is generally the early morning light, generally bring out the subtle and beautiful colors of
2 hours post Sunrise and late afternoon light, generally 2 the bird, without casting any unwanted
hours before Sunset. shadows
Hard light is usually all other times of the day.

On the other hand, the hard light may cast unwanted The name of these categories are very much self-
shadows on the body of the birds as it is usually very explanatory. However, let us understand how each can
directional. It is better to avoid it if possible. affect the bird photograph.
Bird photographers do not have to care too much about Front Lighting is when the bird is lit from the front,
hard light, since birds are very active during the early which means that Sun is behind you.
morning and evening. Most of their activities seize
during the harsh sunlight when they normally take rest. Front light is the best lighting condition in the bird
photography for obvious reasons that:
Direction of Light it does not cast the shadows,
it gives the catch light in the birds eye, and
Along with quality of light, bird photographers should it helps to bring out all the beautiful colors in the
also consider the direction of the light. birds feathers
The Sunlight is always directional. It can be broadly Most of the photographs in this ebook are examples of
classified as: Front lighting, Side lighting, and Back front lighting.
lighting.

Side Lighting is when the
bird is lit from the side. It is
generally not ideal for bird
photography since it will
cast the shadow on the
opposite side of the bird.
It is better to avoid this

lighting condition and
change your position until
the Sun is behind you or the
bird is front lit.
Green Heron distracted while fishing

River Tern or Common Tern in backlight
Back Lighting is when Sun is behind the bird and you Back lit bird during Sunrise or Sunset will
are facing the Sun. Back lighting has a unique almost always be most wanted bird
characteristic of giving a rim light around the bird photograph due to its orange-reddish rim
which gives birds feathers a translucent quality and light around the birds
also helps the bird to stand-out.

4 Rule of Thirds
The Rule of thirds is a guideline to compose a The Rule of Thirds is probably the only
photograph which is visually compelling. photography composition technique that is
necessary in Bird Photography
If you divide a photograph with 2 equally spaced vertical
and horizontal lines you will get 4 intersection points It is the most simple composition technique to
and 9 equal parts. understand and apply.
As per the statistical data, it is said that a photograph is The Rule of Thirds photography composition can be
more compelling or visually interesting if the main applied to birds portraits, birds behavior, birds in
subject of interest, is placed on one of the 4 intersection action, birds in flight or any other type of bird
points. photography.
In case if the main subject of interest is big enough, that

it cannot be placed on the intersection point, then you
can place the subject either on left or right third (vertical
line) OR top or bottom third (horizontal line).

Composition Tips
- Place the main subject of interest (bird in
this case) on one of the 4 intersection points
- Place the vertical subjects, like bird walking

or perching, on either the left third or the
right third line (vertical lines)
- Place the horizontal subjects, like bird in

flight, on the top third line (horizontal line)
The Rule of Thirds Grid and the 4 Intersection Points

5 Get Proper Exposure using Histogram
Histogram is a graphical representation of the Same concept applies to RGB histograms, where each
distribution of light and color components (RGB) of a histogram represents how Red, Green and Blue values
photograph. In digital world, an image is made of are distributed in a photograph.
collection of pixels and a pixel is made up of Red,
Green, and Blue (RGB) color components.
You will find two types of histograms in modern DSLRs.

One which is represented in all white and a histogram
for each color component R, G, and B.
The white histogram represents the light distribution

across the photograph that is captured. It just plots a
graph by calculating how each light (or gray) value
ranging from 0 (darkest or black pixel) to 128 (mid value
or gray value) to 255 (brightest or white pixel).
Histograms showing RGB Composite (white which represents Light
Check this in-depth article on Histogram. distribution), Red, Green and Blue components

If the distribution in the histogram is towards left hand On the other hand, if the distribution in the histogram is
side of the graph, then the photograph is said to be towards right hand side of the graph, then the
underexposed or is mostly dark. photograph is said to be overexposed or it is very
bright.
Great Egret Staring Blue Heron in Flight

You must have
realized how the
histogram should look
like for a proper
exposure. It has to
be distributed well
within the extreme left
or the extreme right
side.
The histogram showing proper exposure of a Belted Kingfisher photograph
Expose to the Right To preserve the fine details, it is usually better to push
the histogram towards the right hand side without
It is usually better to avoid the distribution towards the overexposing the photograph.
left hand side of the histogram. The chances are that you
will lose the fine details in the shadow regions.

6 Its All in the Eye
Have you ever wondered why some photographs of But how about the catch light? The light indicates life.
beautiful birds seems to lack the charm? Everything Without the light in the eyes, the bird look boring or
seems to be correct in such photographs but something lifeless. It is always very important to get the catchlight
important will be missing. in the birds eye.
That important thing is: Catchlight simply means a spark in the eye. It can be
The birds eye is not in focus produced by any light source like Sunlight, reflected
There is no catch light in the birds eye light, flash light, etc.
Birds look charming and lively only when their eye is in Since birds are found outdoors, it is not tough to get the
sharp focus and there is a catch light in their eye. catch light in their eyes. As you already are aware, you
will always have to try to photograph a bird in the front
When you look at the photograph of a bird, your eye lighting, which will make sure that there is catchlight in
goes straight into the eye of the bird. It acts as an the birds eye!
anchor point for your eyes to rest, after scanning the
entire photograph. We always strive to make an eye
connection with the bird. So, it is very important to get
the bird eye in sharp focus.

Peacocks Portrait

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
The peacock was probably few feet away from me in this
instance. It was actually perched on a fence making it
easier for me to try out few compositions. - If the bird is perched or static, then choose
single point focus and focus specifically on the
Since the subject distance was quite less I had to choose eye
a smaller aperture leading to greater DOF that gets the
birds entire body in focus of course with the sharp eye
and catch light. - If the bird is in action or in flight, then choose
an aperture value of f/5.6 or f/8 to make sure
that eye is always in focus
- Check for the catch light in the eye. Make sure

the bird is front lit
- Use Rule of Thirds by placing the birds eye on

or close to one of the 4 intersection points

7 Shoot at Birds Eye Level
A most common mistake among the beginners is that Initially you may feel bit uncomfortable sitting down or
they photograph the bird from their eye level! lying down in the outdoors. Every bird photographer
would have faced this when they started taking an eye
Most of the birds are very small and stands only few level shot.
inches to few feet on the ground. If you take
photographs from your eye level then you are looking To be honest, I am really very shy when I am outdoors
down towards the bird. This makes the bird to look while taking bird photographs. I usually photograph
dwarf or intimidated in the photograph. birds in my apartment complex where the lakes are
surrounded by apartments.
Instead, if you photograph the bird from
birds eye level, then you will be able to I will be photographing birds in some crazy styles sitting
transport the viewer in to birds world! down or lying down or sitting for hours sometimes.
Sometimes I think what might people think about all
This is the most important factor in bird photography. It this...but then...very thought of getting that next
is about birds and their life. You should strive to portray beautiful photograph makes me forget everything!
that in the best possible way!

If you pre-visualize how you want to photograph the
bird, then you will be so involved in watching the bird
that you might not notice what is happening around
you! You will be amazed how involved you are in
photography. This will be an indication that you are
becoming more passionate.
The most important advantage of shooting

at eye level is that you will get a beautiful
bokeh effect in most of the cases. Which is
probably another driving factor for bird
photographers to photograph at birds eye
level

Red-headed Sparrow

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
This beautiful red-headed sparrow was having its
breakfast one day as I was on my everyday morning
photoshoot. - Always try to get an eye level shot of the bird
to create an intimate photograph
It was like a red dot in the green playground. As usual I
was standing still for few minutes until the bird started
- If possible, try to use single point to get perfect
ignoring me and continued to enjoy its breakfast.
focus on bird.
I lied down to get an eye level shot with focusing points
set to 9-points and focused on the upper part of the body
- If you have to use more focus points because
to get the bird in sharp focus. Used the maximum
aperture to throw both foreground and background out- bird is moving, then try to focus on the upper
of-focus by making the bird standout. body of the bird
- Use maximum aperture to throw everything

out of focus except the bird

8 Fill the Frame
One of the most widely used composition in bird The pleasing blur or the famous Bokeh effect is
photography is to fill the frame with the bird. Which achieved based on the below factors:
means, the bird takes anywhere between 50% to 80% of The longer the focal length of the lens, greater is
the frame giving very little amount of space for the the bokeh effect or more blurred the background
background. is
The bigger the aperture opening (maximum
This is one of the reason why the background is almost aperture), more the blur is
always blurred to give emphasis only to the bird. The shorter the subject distance (i.e., distance
from the camera to the bird), greater is the blur
You do not always need a long telephoto lens to do this. The longer the distance between subject and its
A decent telephoto lens like 70-300mm will be more background, greater the blur
than enough to begin with.
Now you must have realized that longer focal length
Consider using far end of the telephoto, like 300mm and alone cannot give you pleasing blur effect. It definitely
maintain the subject distance such a way that you can increases your chance to get better pleasing bokeh, but
fill the bird in the frame. that alone is not the deciding factor.

Remember to pay closer attention to the
background and the distance between the
bird and the background. You can get away
with beautiful bokeh effect if the bird is far
away from the background and you are closer
to the bird
It may not be possible to always fill the frame with the

bird, but you can do it in the post. Just make sure you
give enough space around the bird so that you can
compose it with Rule of Thirds.

Juvenile Blue Heron with a Fish

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
This is the Juvenile Blue Heron I spoke about. It took
me several months to get this beautiful photograph.
- If the background is not that great, then try to
It is a very tough life for the Juvenile Blue Herons and fill the frame just with the bird
the Great Egrets as any other predators. If they do not
learn to fish properly, then there is no survival.
- Try to use maximum aperture to throw the
I am very glad that this blue heron went onto become a background out of focus
very skilled fisher! and hopefully will survive for many
more years to come. - Try to get an birds eye level shot
In this photograph, the blue heron was probably 15 feet

away from me which made it easy to fill the frame just
with the bird and its prey.

9 Show Bird in its Habitat
Several times you can make a bird photograph more How do you compose it then? Follow either or all of
compelling by including birds habitat. these to get compelling photographs:
Make the habitat slightly blurred by choosing the
In such scenarios, the bird acts as a main point of right aperture value. For instance, if f/16 brings
interest covering 25% to 50% of the frame and its both the bird and its background in clear focus,
habitat (or background) acts as a secondary point of then try using f/11 or f/8 until the background
interest. becomes slightly blurry
Wait for the perfect light conditions, when bird is
You have to pay more attention here because you want slightly better lit than its habitat. This will
give only small portion to the bird as oppose to its usually yield amazing results
habitat. Which means, you need to compose the If you cannot do either of the above, then use
photograph with much greater attention. wise judgement to include only portion of the
habitat which is not asking for too much
Just by including its habitat does not make the attention
photograph any better rather it will make it worse if you
do not compose it properly. Essentially, your focus should be to make sure that bird
is quite visible and well focused compared to its
habitat.

Blue Heron pair in their Natural Habitat

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
On this occasion, there were several blue heron families
building their nest for the breeding season. I was
photographing their flight for almost 2 hours but could - Use minimum aperture values like f/8 or f/11
not get a family photograph. to get both bird and its habitat in focus
The female in the photograph (standing) was in the nest

- Wait for perfect lighting conditions to make
peeping its neck outside waiting for the male. I was
keeping an eye to see if the male arrives. the bird pop-up
After an hour, the male arrived and took over the nest
- If the birds habitat is too intrusive, try to
while the female got ready to go!
throw the background a bit out-of-focus by
With beautiful sunset light illuminating the subtle playing around with aperture setting
feathers of the birds, I had a chance to take couple of
memorable photos.

10 Capture Birds in Action
Birds are always on the move and ever active subjects All the composition principles have to be followed for
which makes it challenging to photograph them. More birds in action also. Remember that:
challenge it is to photograph, more interested we will be
to photograph them, since we love challenges! Even if the action is great, but the
composition is not good, then photograph
Though birds in action may also comprise of birds will fail to impress the viewer
behavior and flight, I have kept them as separate topics
to have more focused discussion.
Here is simple difference between action and behavior:

Behavior is reflex of the bird due to external stimuli
and Action is the activity of the bird done consciously.
Bird in action is always preferable to a bird perching or

sitting quietly. Aim for photographing the bird in action
like preening, walking, turning around, hanging upside
down, etc.

Juvenile Great Egrets in Action

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
As said, Egret is my favorite bird and I never get tired of
taking their photographs.
- Make sure you get shutter speed of atleast (1 /
Fortunately, there were atleast 20 juvenile egrets in a effective focal length)
small pond! for few days giving me enough
opportunities to make some wonderful photographs.
- Keep track of the bird and its movement
This ballet action shot of two Juvenile Egrets came after
3 visits each of atleast 2 hour duration. These kind of - Half press the shutter to lock the focus when
action are very rare and definitely the one we should
you see a slight movement in the bird
always look forward to.
Aperture Priority, Spot Metering, and an aperture of f/4 - Once bird makes a move, track it for few split
did the trick of capturing this moment in a split second. seconds and take multiple shots the moment
Because the birds were atleast 25 feet far, aperture of f/4
was more than enough to keep them in focus. focus is locked

11 Show Birds Behavior
Birds behavior probably requires the most patience The secret is...be patient and you will be
from us than any other type of bird photography. rewarded with never before seen behavior of
the birds, sometimes scary and sometimes
Why? Because the birds are always on watch. They funny!
watch us and our steps much more carefully than we
watch them!
Most bird photographers live for those moments when
something crazy happens... and they seize that
Once they know that you are behind them to
opportunity to proudly show it to the world.
photograph, they are very much alert and watching you.
They think you are a potential threat to them, which
Remember to keep an eye on the composition. Since you
makes them to be on their toes.
are not sure when do you get that once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity, remember to have enough space around
It can take from few minutes to hours to days to really
the bird to allow for any sudden movements. You can
get the bird feel comfortable and be on its own upto
always do the required composition in the post.
some extent. Once it starts to ignore you or starts to get
comfortable with your presence, you will get to observe
its actual behavior.

Green Heron Standing Tall!

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
Another favorite buddy of mine in the recent past is
Green Heron. I have taken numerous photographs of
this green heron and I am very thankful to the bird for - Do research and get to know its common
all those poses. behaviors!
Generally, green heron stands with head retracted,

- Be patient and stay still and far from the bird
making its neck almost invisible. It only extends to the
full extent when leaning forward for fishing, as you see until the bird ignores you and be on its own
in the cover page.
- Wait for the subtle signs of the birds
This instance was different. It was standing still with it
s neck stretched completely and observing with utter
attention. It was very clear to me that it is sensing - If you are attentive, you will get an indication
some impending danger, though I couldnt see its usual that something is going to happen, and
predator in the area, a falcon.
probably thats the moment you were waiting
I lied down to get an eye level photograph and also to for!
give a sense of its real height!

12 Capture the Magnificent Flight
Birds in flight is the most exciting and probably the most Most of the birds, especially the big birds, are
challenging task a bird photographer faces. It is the most reasonably slow in flight and have a known flight
popular type of bird photography who does not want to characteristics. The more you spend time observing the
see birds in flight? Everyone is interested to see birds in birds in flight, the more you will be aware of their flight
flight. path, their takeoff and landing techniques.
The longer the lens better it is for sure. However, Most of the times, it boils down to how prepared are you
remember that the high-end lenses are very heavy and and how knowledgeable are you about the birds flight
potentially require expensive tripod gears and a well- characteristics.
built personality. Despite that, it does not guarantee any
better results unless you have required skills to track the Camera and lens comes into play only when
bird with those heavy lenses. you are well equipped with the knowledge of
birds flight characteristics!
Think about carrying those heavy lenses for hours, even
worst if have to carry those tripods! It is not easy. It Spend most of your time knowing about the bird and
requires lot of patience, perseverance and of course enjoying the bird in the field. You will start making most
passion. beautiful and appreciable flight photographs that will
get noticed.
I have taken my most notable bird photographs with 18- The secret is in waiting for the focus to lock
200mm and 70-300mm lenses. Because of just one and then waiting for the bird to appear in the
reason...I love birds and their magnificent flight.
desired background and then going for burst
of shots
Just follow these steps to get the best flight photographs.
1. Track the bird by focusing on the bird by half-
By doing this, you will see your bird-in-flight
pressing the shutter button
photographs stand-out in the crowd!
2. Track until the focus is achieved
3. If possible, wait until you get reasonably good
background
4. Take burst of shots
It is very important to allow the lens to achieve

focus. If you just start clicking from the beginning till
the end, then chances are that you will get frustrating
results.

Sandhill Crane Pair in flight on a Beautiful Autumn Morning

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
I cannot express how delighted I was when I first saw
Sandhill Cranes pair dancing in the Sunset, way back in
March 2013. - Make sure you get shutter speed of atleast (1 /
effective focal length)
It took me several months to really get to photograph
these birds. The longing for the bird for several months,
- Use the lower aperture values like f/5.6 or f/8
made me visualize a lot about how I will photograph
them, if I see them. to make sure entire bird is in focus
When I finally got to photograph them, I made sure to

- Track the bird atleast for sometime to let the
turn my visualization into reality.
focus lock on the bird
I love this photograph of Sandhill Cranes pair in the
beautiful autumn morning and their synchronous wings - Take multiple shots
position. By using the autumn colors in the background,
I emphasized the story a bit more.

13 Background Makes the Picture
Let us consider the fact that you learnt all the above Well known bird photographers always try to get the
concepts thoroughly and ready to apply in the field. If pleasing background which complements the bird or
you fail to get the perfect background, then it can ruin which helps the bird to stand-out in the photograph.
your photograph.
It is the background, not the subject, which
No matter how you compose, what was the lighting, or gives the wow factor to the bird photograph
what were the settings used, if the background is messy
or cluttered then your bird photograph is ruined.
You can check it yourself by browsing your favorite bird
photographs. Most of your favorite ones should be
I am covering this topic so late in this ebook to make having a clean, complementing and out-of-focus
sure that you wont forget when you go to the field. background. Isnt it? If you imagine the same bird in a
messy or cluttered background, then probably it wouldn
Most of the great bird photographs will almost always t have been your favorite.
have a clear or complementing background.
Even when bird is shown in its habitat, the background
has to be complementing the bird.

A Green Heron Leaning forward, while perching on a fence, to have a better look at its prey

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
As I said, this green heron has given me tremendous
opportunities to photograph. And this photograph is by
far my best. - Always strive for out-of-focus background
choosing maximum aperture value like f/2.8, f/4
This green heron was relentlessly fishing on that day. It
was my first photographic outing with 300mm f/2.8 or f/5.6
lens. I was extremely happy as I was photographing with
my new lens. - Try to avoid plain background like white or
pale blue. Wait for bird to assume a different
After an hour, the green heron began to perch on the
fence to take a better look at its prey from above. I put position until you get a desirable background
my lens on the fence to get an eye level shot and was which complements the bird
waiting for some good photographs.
Little did I expect the green heron to come so close to - Remember that background makes or breaks
me and then lean forward before plunging into the water the picture
giving me a wonderful photograph to cherish for a very
long time...

14 Practice Makes Perfect
No matter how much you know about any subject, you One of my most appreciated bird photograph, Great
will only master it by practice. Egret with its widespread Wings in the beginning of
this ebook, was taken in a spur of moment on a
Practice every tip to the best possible extent. Make them photography trip with friends.
your second nature. You will see yourself using the
camera as an extension to your eye. Your reflexes will To my surprise, I was the only person to get that
develop really well over time. photograph while my friends missed the action
completely. My passion towards those white beauties
always keeps me on my toes to grab that rare
Its all about your reflexes when it comes to
opportunities.
capturing the birds behavior, birds in action,
and in flight You can concentrate on the moves of the bird and seize
those rare opportunities only if you have practiced the
You will be rewarded with excellent results despite techniques to an extent to make them your second
the fact that there are plenty of other photographers nature.
next to you failing to see the opportunity when it strikes!

Above all, I personally feel that my passion towards
birds is increasing day by day as the years pass by.
Several times I just go out in the early

morning and spend an hour or so just
watching the Mallard Ducks, Canada Geese
and Seagulls
It is quite amazing to see how beautiful these common

birds are and is very interesting to understand their
behavior which may lead to some extraordinary
photographs.

Juvenile Great Egrets Fighting for the Fish

Behind the Scenes
Important Tips
I dont want to repeat how much I love Egrets.
I always wanted to photograph an egret flying away with - No matter what equipment you have, it all
a fish in its beak. It is not a good idea though... because boils down to practice
they generally dont!
But on this occasion, the pond was filled with Juvenile - You should know, in a split second, what
egrets and there was a lot of competition going on. settings work the best for a given situation
I was pretty sure I will be able to get a decent

photograph with an Egret flying away with a fish. But, as - Try capturing photographs of the same bird
always, luck favors the prepared. I got lucky with an hundreds of times and you will improve your
Egret flying away with a fish and another chasing it!
skills
I made sure that Egrets are properly exposed using spot

metering.

15 Post Processing
Post processing is abused to a large extent after the Recompose
DSLRs are getting into everyones hands.
Most of the bird photographs cannot be composed
Any photo taken in RAW needs to be processed for sure, perfectly in the field. In such cases, it is necessary to
since you cannot see a RAW image, but the idea is to recompose an image in post.
process it in a way to make it closer to reality!
Use Rule of Thirds composition guidelines to make a
A RAW image by nature is flat, lacking compelling photograph. If it does not work out, then
contrast and the colors. The goal of post compose it in a way which makes the photograph
processing is to bring back the contrast and compelling.
the colors that were present in the actual
scene But avoid the 9 composition mistakes.
Sometimes it is fine to make it a little bit more to give Adjust Color and Contrast
POP to an image. However, it should not be overdone to
an extent that it looks unnatural. Adjust the color and contrast as needed to increase the
dynamic range and get back the colors.

Resize the Image Noise Reduction
This is probably not followed by many beginners. You Noise reduction should be done with care. If you reduce
have to resize the image first, based on whether you the noise too much, then it will soften all the subtle
intend to share it in the web or display it or print it. features in the birds feathers.
Because, image looks oversharpened when it is Birds feathers being the most attractive ones, it should
resized to a smaller size. So, if you sharpen it before always be preserved.
resizing, then the sharpening artefacts will make the
image unusable. This is a very common mistake I see in many
photographs. The photographs with too
On the other hand, an advantage of resizing is that
much noise reduction look like a wax statue of
sometimes you might get away with a slight blur that
the bird
you see in a bigger image! Which is definitely more
desirable.
While reducing the noise, make sure you do it
selectively. Apply noise reduction to the entire image,
then use layers and masks to undo noise reduction on
the bird to bring back the birds features.

Sharpening Sharpening should be done with extra care. Most of the
times, sharpening is necessary only for the bird since
This is the worst mistake committed by beginners and most of the photographs are filling the frame with the
intermediates! bird.
Oversharpening kills the image completely While sharpening the bird alone, remember to sharpen
in bird photography just enough so that just the bird as a whole looks sharper
in the picture but all the subtle features are still
The feathers, the subtle textures, the features of the bird smoother.
are the most important elements of a bird photograph.
They are generally very soft in reality. In other words, if the image looks blurry to
your eyes, then only sharpen it!
When you oversharpen the photograph, all these subtle
features of the bird will become very rough and halos Check all the images in this ebook to understand how
will show up around the edges. the images have just enough sharpness. Several times, I
keep it a little less sharp to keep that smooth roll-off of
This is one of the major difference between a great the edges.
looking bird photograph versus an odd looking bird
photograph.

About Me
My name is Prathap and its me in the photograph.
I am a Project Manager in a Software Company by Profession and a

Photographer by Passion. I started photography from 1997 in point-
and-shoot cameras and mobile cameras, all borrowed from my friends.
I started photography quite religiously from 2008 when I first bought

my DSLR. Then on everything changed in my life, rather DSLR became
my life. Even today I will hear complaints from people closest to my
heart that I am mad. I agree with them completely, but I say it a bit
differently...I call myself Passionate.
Want to see my passion? Connect with me now!

Send your valuable feedback to:
prathap@naturephotographysimplified.com

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Copyright 2014 Nature Photography Simplified

All Rights Reserved

Good Luck and Happy Reading...

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The reason is simple, birds are almost

I would like to tell you that I got my first

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Whichever camera or lens I have used, it is always

Great Blue Heron with Red Fish

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Start with a good entry level or semi-pro DSLR camera

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However, use evaluative or matrix metering for birds in

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Hard light is usually all other times of the day.

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It is better to avoid this

Green Heron distracted while fishing

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In case if the main subject of interest is big enough, that

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- Place the vertical subjects, like bird walking

- Place the horizontal subjects, like bird in

The Rule of Thirds Grid and the 4 Intersection Points

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You will find two types of histograms in modern DSLRs.

The white histogram represents the light distribution

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Great Egret Staring Blue Heron in Flight

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The histogram showing proper exposure of a Belted Kingfisher photograph

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- Check for the catch light in the eye. Make sure

- Use Rule of Thirds by placing the birds eye on

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The most important advantage of shooting

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- Use maximum aperture to throw everything

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It may not be possible to always fill the frame with the

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In this photograph, the blue heron was probably 15 feet

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The female in the photograph (standing) was in the nest

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Here is simple difference between action and behavior:

Bird in action is always preferable to a bird perching or

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