There are a LOT of articles out there regarding bird and wildlife photography that are very gear heavy – buy this lens, get this camera body, you need this gimble, etc, etc. While I am the first one to admit that great equipment helps make great images, I’ve found that gear is only a portion of the equation that is getting great bird images.

Assuming that you are reading this because you already have some sort of gear to photograph birds and the desire to get better, there are things you can do to improve your images before you plunk down thousands of hard-earned dollars on more equipment.

This is part one of two in this series. I originally intended this to be one post but then it just became way too long! And the info is hard-learned for me, so I had to find a way to make it digestible in two posts versus cutting out stuff. Where possible I have images to illustrate my points. In this first part I cover the things to do while you are shooting in regard to composition, action, and time of day.

Let’s get started.

YOU DON’T ALWAYS NEED TO FILL THE FRAME WITH THE BIRD – Just because you may not be close to the bird or have an effective 1050mm at your disposal, the “wider” or more “environmental” shots are a great way to capture birds AND show them where they live, the weather conditions, etc. Do it right and you can create a great image.

This Canada Goose at dawn was a striking scene to see in person and shows that you don’t have to fill the frame with a bird to make a good image. Lighting, drama, time of day, environment, etc all can come together to make a good image.

COMPOSITION - Generally, the rules of good composition still apply to bird photography. Birds add an additional layer as they are a moving, living being. A good example is a bird perching on a single, vertical-ish branch. If he’s looking left, then placement of the bird in the frame tends to lend itself to being in the right half of the frame. But if he turns and looks right, he’s better off in the left half. Birds in flight generally need a little more space in the direction they are flying if you capture them at a 90 degree angle from the side. I could go on and on but you get the point. Just putting the bird in the middle of your frame may make the most sense as most of your camera’s focus points are there, but artistically its boring.

Eastern Bluebird - his gaze the left and the arrangement of dried wildflowers made for a perfect composition with him on the right looking to the left. Had I put him in the middle of the frame it would have still been a “good” image as it would be sharp, properly, exposed, etc. But not “great”.

GET THERE EARLY, AND/OR STAY LATE – Most birds are the most active just after dawn and just before sunset. PLUS, you get the bonus of great golden, diffused light. I’m an early riser, so mornings are my time. Plus there’s something magical about hearing the birds come alive in the morning and filling the air with their music.

Great Egret at Dawn - The low, direct, and diffused light made for a great image with its golden glow. White birds are hard enough to photograph as it is, but the diffused and golden morning light made this a much easier image to make. I think the light filtering through his wing feathers showing the bend in his neck makes the image. This wouldn’t be possible in a mid-day image. Get up early and get out there. You won’t regret it.

CAPTURE INTERESTING ACTIVITY OR BEHAVIOUR – A bird in a bush or on a tree is fine, but as Art Wolfe has said, a bird flying, fighting, feeding, or fu….err….. “mating” is more interesting. I often go out with the idea of just capturing behavior, especially during the off-season when its just the “local” birds in town.

Local Green Heron getting in some sushi for breakfast.

BACKGROUNDS, BACKGROUNDS, BACKGROUNDS – This one is a common mistake that took me years to train myself to watch out for. When you get your subject in front of you, pay attention to what’s in the background. Would that background be less messy and cleaner if you moved a little bit to the left or right? Are you shooting wide open or close to that so that you can blow out the background into a dreamy look? By all means, if it’s a rare bird that’s gonna be in position for about 1 second, get that shot. And if he’s still there, think about what your next few shots might be to improve on it.

Great image, but distracting background. Compounded by bad angle of view.

Another Sparrow image, but this time a MUCH better background. Angle of view is better as well - I wasn’t standing above him but at eye level.

LEVEL-UP – Another common mistake. Everyone sees birds either way above their head if in flight, or below them if down on the water. Take a quick moment to try to get on the bird’s eye level. Not only does it create an image that’s more interesting, you are putting more of your focus area on the bird and less of it on the background and foreground.

American White Pelican - I was laying on the rocks at water level to get this shot. Was it worth it? It’s certainly more interesting and compelling than standing high upon the shore and shooting down at the bird.

STOP TAKING IMAGES OF BIRDS FROM BEHIND – Stop it. Just stop. I don’t care how amazed you are at seeing a bird, don’t take images of it from behind and post them as your finished work. It’s a rookie move, one that we’ve all made. But grow out of it. Once the bird moves away from you and shows you its backside, stop firing the shutter.

MAN-MADE OBJECTS IN THE IMAGE = NOT GOOD – Enter any of your work in strict wildlife competitions and you quickly learn that man-made images in the shot like poles, wires, bird-houses, etc will get you DQ’d or judged harshly. I still will sometimes take an image of a rare bird on something man-made as a record shot, but its nothing that’s going into my portfolio.

Good, but no cigar for you. Clearly “man” , or Lowes, was involved in the bird’s perch.

BE FLEXIBLE – WITH YOUR SETTINGS – It’s not always possible to shoot in great light with 100 ISO. And sometimes birds like to move around quickly. So its always a compromise in terms of shutter speed and noise from high ISO. There’s a wildlife photography saying that goes something like “I’d rather have a noisy, sharp image than a clean blurry one”. Shoot the shutter speed you need to freeze the action and get feather details. There are plenty of good noise reduction programs out there to help you mitigate any noise.

This Great Blue Heron was sitting still by the bank for a bit and I captured some images of him at a low shutter speed to get optimum low ISO. When it was clear that he was going to strike the water, I bumped up the shutter speed to 1/2500th to capture the action. The ISO creeped up to 1200, but with ON1’s NoNoise program I was able to clean up the image.

TELL A STORY – Often putting the bird in context with its surroundings, weather, etch goes a long way to engaging the viewer of your image. If you do it right, the viewer feels like they are there. And they are more likely to want to know more about birds.