Use These Settings for Your Bird Photography – PT 1

^{Note: This tip comes from Digital Photography School’s article - Bird Photography Settings: The Ultimate Guide}

Want to capture amazing bird photos? Then, you absolutely need to master your camera settings.

Settings determine whether your bird photos look blurry or sharp, well-exposed or lacking details; they’re often the difference between a great shot and a mediocre one.

This Tip will cover the following bird photography settings:

• The shutter speed you need to keep your bird shots sharp

• The best camera mode for well-exposed bird images

• The best ISO setting

Tip #1 – Choose your Exposure Mode carefully

You must choose the right aperture, shutter speed, and ISO settings – the three exposure-triangle variables – to create a bright and detailed photo.

If there is plenty of light, use the Aperture Priority mode. If the light levels are low, use Shutter Priority to ensure a stabilized camera and no camera shake.

Tip #2 - Working in Manual mode is slow, and birds are fast. If you stick to Manual mode, you’ll miss too many shots while fiddling with your camera dials.

Tip #3 - Here are a few shutter speed recommendations:

• If you photograph a motionless bird, use a shutter speed of at least 1/500s, especially if you’re working with a telephoto lens. The 1/500s speed may not be strictly necessary to freeze the bird, but it’ll help compensate for any camera shake.

• If you’re shooting a small bird moving slowly (e.g., preening) or a big bird moving at a slow to medium speed, around 1/1000s is a good choice.

• If you’re shooting a fast-moving bird, including a bird in flight, you should choose a shutter speed of at least 1/2000s. If the bird is flying at high speeds, then 1/2500s, 1/3200s, or even 1/4000s is even better.

Tip #4 - Use the lowest ISO setting you can afford.

This Tip is relevant to your camera age and model.

Older cameras really require a careful evaluation of your ISO setting. Newer cameras, especially full-frame models, handle digital electronic noise better than their predecessors.

Set the ISO to Auto for newer cameras. Use Auto ISO for older cameras, but with a maximum parameter between ISO 800 and 1600.

You may need to do some testing to determine where your camera model begins to generate objectionable noise, especially in low light.

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!)