Master the Art of Bird Photography: Predict, Capture, and Inspire with Every Shot

^{Note: This tip comes from Audubon’s article - 10 Tips for Photographing Birds}

QT #1 – Make An Original Photo

Lots of people take inspiring images, and it's natural to want to replicate them. Unfortunately, that wastes lots of time and is rarely productive, as the power of an image comes partly from its originality—a redo of a great image rarely evokes that same awe.

QT #2 - Aim for different angles, new subjects, and unusual behaviors to create entirely new photos.

This photographer reacted to an element of composition to create a fresh image. What was that element of composition? It was the repetition of shape. If he had used a longer focal length lens and gone tighter on the bird, the ingenuity of the moment would have been lost.

A bird photograph of a bird diving downward with its legs extended isn’t a remarkably fresh image. However, the photographer added boldness to this composition by cropping the shot into a panoramic format. That decision emphasizes the shape of the bird’s wings and body into something more graphic than a standard camera format would have provided.

QT #3 – Anticipate Behavior

Birds move. They fly, scamper, swim, mate, fight, and dive, sometimes constantly, sometimes all simultaneously.

Great bird photographers usually see the best shots in their heads first by watching behavior and anticipating what the bird will do next.

If you know how the subject will move, you can select shutter speeds, f-stops, and ISO that maximize the potential quality of that image.

QT #4 - Spend a lot of time learning about your subjects. Watch them closely and read up on them so that you know how they might behave under different circumstances.

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!)