Today’s high-tech cameras and lenses certainly have made it easier than ever before to get good bird photos. Autofocus and image-stabilization let newbie photographers capture tack-sharp shots that were to die for a decade or so ago. Plus digital capture is a great tool for learning to improve your images on the spot. The downside, though, is that now simple bird portraits are a dime a dozen. How do you create bird images that stand out from the crowd?

It’s no secret. Equipment doesn’t take photos; the photographer does! The essence of a standout bird photograph is the same as it always was: it captures the bird’s soul. It engages us emotionally by showing us the bird living its life, whether interacting with its environment or fellow creatures, or in the midst of some distinctive behavior. And that takes far more than equipment and technique—it takes knowledge, experience, and time. Luckily these requirements are within reach of any of us. Here are some tips for creating bird photos with soul.

Know your subject

The best bird photographers are also bird watchers. They know a lot about bird biology, they understand bird behavior; they are familiar with avian habitats. Learn all you can about birds and how they survive by observing them at length when you’re not photographing. You’ll discover each species’ personality and notice the activities it performs during its daily routine. More important, you’ll learn the cues each bird gives before it does something dramatic or engaging.

Start with common birds

Begin bird photography where birds are used to seeing people: neighborhood parks with tame robins and pigeons, local ponds where people feed ducks, or anywhere birds are approachable. Approachability lets you explore your subject in depth, noticing how the light plays on its plumage as it moves, and watching for appealing poses as it preens, feeds, or interacts with others. Plus, by practicing with common, easy to find birds you’ll hone your skills so you’re ready when a more unusual species comes your way.

Great Blue Heron

Watch for predictability

Pay attention to patterns of behavior. They can help you find a predictable subject, one that’s coming to the same spot regularly so you can work with it at length. Otherwise your photos will be “grab shots.” Feeding areas are a good example: patches of thistles gone to seed attract American Goldfinches; berry-laden shrubs bring in Cedar Waxwings; herons and bitterns have favorite spots to hunt for fish and frogs. Songbirds use preferred singing perches in spring. Waterfowl often choose the same log on which to rest and preen every day. Once you’ve found a reliable subject, return again and again to that spot, placing a blind nearby if necessary.

American Bittern

Include the habitat

Close-up bird portraits certainly are dramatic, but a bird in its habitat can be equally compelling. So if you can’t get close to your subject, make an environmental portrait instead. The compositional possibilities are endless. By its very shape, a frame-filling bird defines the orientation—a heron standing tall is vertical, a swimming duck is horizontal. When the bird takes up a small part of the frame, though, there are no such restrictions. Close up, a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron would best fit a vertical composition, but shown hunting for crabs in a mangrove swamp it works better as a horizontal. For bird-in-habitat shots avoid putting the bird in the middle of the frame—composing it off-center is much more dynamic.

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Get down and dirty

Shooting from bird’s-eye level results in dramatic photos with an intimate feeling to them that you don’t get when the bird is viewed from above. So keep a low profile for birds on the ground. This method will also help you get close. Open country birds, such as those on beaches or shorelines, are wary of a human looming large on the horizon. Approach low to the ground, hiding behind objects in the landscape, such as rocks or shrubs, as you proceed. Move slowly, stopping often, and proceed in a zigzag fashion rather than directly toward the bird.

American Oystercatcher

Anticipate the action

The ultimate challenge is capturing birds in action. Autofocus and a fast motordrive improve your chances of success, but it’s even more important to pay attention to the bird’s behavior cues. Be observant so you’re anticipating the behavior, not reacting to it, otherwise you’ll miss the peak action.

Consider the cues birds give before taking flight. Sandhill Cranes “crane” their necks, stretching out distinctively before taking off. Focus on the crane’s head, finger poised on the shutter release, then fire off a burst of shots as the crane runs along to take flight. Raptors, ibises, spoonbills, and shorebirds crouch just before springing into the air. Ducks and geese flip their heads agitatedly in a rhythmic pattern when they’re going to take wing.

Northern Pintail

Waterfowl typically flap their wings after bathing. To capture this dramatic behavior, keep focused on the bathing bird, placing your autofocus sensor over the bird's head or neck, then as it rises out of the water and begins to flap, start firing.

Good concentration and a solid tripod to support your camera and lens are essential aids while you wait for the decisive moment.

Birds in flight

Most beginners try to focus on a flying bird when it’s already too close. By that time it’s moving across the camera frame too fast for even the best autofocus technology to pick it up. Instead, watch for a bird approaching in the distance, then focus on it while it’s still some distance away. Pre-focusing on a distant stationary object, such as a tree on the horizon near the flying bird, can help you locate your subject in the frame. Follow the bird as it flies—called “panning”—releasing the shutter when the bird is positioned to your liking.

Northern Harrier

Predictable flight patterns help flight photography, too. Seabirds, herons and egrets, anhingas, and others often fly in a consistent direction when leaving and returning to their nesting colonies. Waterfowl and birds of prey take off and land into the wind.  

Think outside the box

The more you photograph the more you’ll think of creative possibilities to try—blurs, multiple exposures, silhouettes, and so on. With digital capture you can evaluate your results immediately, so let your imagination run wild. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

© Marie Read