Bird Photography

If bird photography was easy, everyone would do it. Whether flying through the air or perched on a tree branch, birds have an allure to nature and wildlife photographers which gives them their own category. The challenge of capturing creative and interesting images of birds can turn into an obsession for many photographers.  Often, it takes years to begin to master bird photography. Thankfully, the Visual Wilderness team has a myriad of information to have your bird photography flying high in no time.

Learning what to look for in camera bodies, lenses, and accessories is valuable for bird photography. Often, longer and faster lenses are preferred. However, short focal lengths shouldn’t be overlooked when paired with the right camera body. Along with the body and lenses, our articles showcase accessories such as extension tubes, teleconverters, remote releases, and tripods and gimbals to complete any bird photography gear setup.

Some of the best wildlife photographers are former researchers and biologists. Understanding bird themselves, their habitats, as well as their behavioral cues helps put the photographer in the right location at the right time.  This allows a bird photographer to predict when a bird is about to fly or sing. Thus, it gives the photographer the strongest opportunity to capture a bird in action.  Our articles will empower nature photographers to safely and effectively interact and engage many bird varieties.

The first step in capturing an eye-catching bird images is learning to compose the image. However, developing the ability to use different types of light can make an image go from eye-catching to jaw-dropping. The pro photographers at Visual Wilderness illustrate how to compose using shadows, backlighting, and colors. Similarly, the team will explain various focusing techniques, such as learning to blur the wings or pan to blur the background giving your photograph an artistic flare.

Post-processing can present its own set of challenges for the aviation wonders.  Bird photographers can come home with thousands of images from one outing.  A streamlined workflow can help cull and finalize those chosen bird images efficiently. Furthermore, learning to apply noise reduction to backgrounds without losing details in the bird’s feathers is just one of many tools and techniques to elevate the image.

All in all, bird photographers are in a world and league of their own. With the Visual Wilderness articles and a little practice, you can spread your wings and have your photography fly to new heights.