These 5 Points Are Needed For Successful Action Bird Photos

^{Note: This tip comes from the photography case study #1 ‘Action Vs Static’ inside Photzy’s - 5 Extended Case-Studies on Bird Photography}

What considerations did this photographer make to capture this unique picture?

Making considerations such as these are crucial for the bird photographer.

Here they are. There are five of them.

1. Find the correct location for the species that you wish to photograph. For example, in the blue heron photograph (above) you wouldn’t look in the woods.

2. Typically, a longer focal length lens (a telephoto lens) is needed to pull in the action and obscure the background. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you must purchase an exotic mega-lens as demonstrated by the above owl photo. It was created with a standard mid-range 200mm lens.

3. Practice setting and using the focus points to always capture the eye sharply. Parts of the bird’s tail, body, wings, feet, or beak can be out of focus or blurred. But unless you’re going for a special effect, the eyes should always be sharp and clear.

4. Determine how to select an aperture that provides enough depth of field to keep the eyes and face sharp. Sometimes, you may want to include some sharp background, and other times, not. Quickly calculating this decision is crucial because a bird won’t sit around waiting for you.

5. Learn to use and quickly change your camera's metering modes (patterns). When the background behind your bird subject is noticeably lighter (right example) or darker (left example) you should adjust your metering pattern and potentially the exposure as well.

Want more? If you want to learn more about bird photography, and capture beautiful shots of your own, we recommend downloading and printing out Photzy’s 10 Bird Photography Cheat Sheets (Special bonus available now!)