Take Your Bird Photography to the Next Level

Written by Kirby Flanagan

Bird photography is one of the most exciting and challenging forms of photography. And the most frustrating! My goal in this article is to remove some of the frustration involved and make it a little less challenging. Birder’s photograph birds for a variety of reasons, but all photos can be improved with understanding of some basic principles of photography.

Seeing the Light

Learning to see the light is the most important and perhaps the least intuitive way of improving your photography. Lighting your subject in photography is divided into front lit, side lit and back lit. Front lit means the subject is directly lit by the sun and the light is coming over your shoulder. This is the most pleasing kind of light and the easiest for your camera to deal with. Side lighting can sometimes be more exciting because it brings out the textures in your subject and is fairly easy for your camera to deal with. Back lighting is the most difficult to deal with and should be avoided until you’ve mastered the other two. Here are some examples:

Front Lit

Side Lit

Back Lit

Focusing

Whether you are shooting with your phone or an expensive high-end camera, understanding how your camera focuses will avoid those apologies for blurry photos. Phone cameras generally allow you to focus using the touch screen on your phone and your finger. Two fingers will allow some degree of zooming for a larger photo. However, too much zooming will result in a blurry, pixelated photo. So, less is more. Focusing with most other cameras will result from pressing the shutter button halfway down. 

All cameras suffer from poor focusing when the subject is small in the frame or when there is little contrast in the scene. In other words, when the bird and the background are the same color or the same degree of brightness. What to do then. Move closer if you can if the bird is small in the frame and change position so that there is more contrast in the scene. Generally, this means moving so the sun is at your back and the bird is front lit as discussed above. Or, don’t take the photo!

Low Contrast and Small In The Frame

Composition

​Avoid putting the bird in the center of your frame as this generally makes for a boring photo. Alternatively, leave enough room to crop your photo later so that the bird is looking into the frame and has room to fly into the frame. Give it some breathing room or room to fly.

No Breathing Room

Out of Focus Background

Wait until the bird does something interesting like turning its head, flapping its wings or eating something.

Avoid distracting elements whenever possible!

​Try to position yourself so that the bird is clearly seen. Avoid twigs or branches crossing in front of the bird or sticking out of its head. The bird should be the center of attention.

Finally, look for a catchlight in the bird’s eye as seen in the above photo. A catchlight is a reflection of the sun and it makes the bird look more alive.

Putting all of this into practice will take time. Don’t get discouraged! The result will be worth the effort, a bird photo that you’re proud to show off!

Kirby Flanagan​