Here are 10 quick tips for bird photography. Print these tips for your next birding trip and let us know how they worked.
- Shutter Speed – Choose a shutter speed between 1/1600 and 1/4000th.
- Watch Your Backgrounds – Stop shooting all your BIF photos against blue or white skies!
- F/stops – Most BIF shots will fall between f/4 and f/8.
- Finding Good Targets – The best way to get flight shots is to find birds that are engaged in predictable, repeatable behavior.
- Exposure Modes – Make sure you pick the correct metering patterns and combination of manual/auto exposure modes to get the shot every time.
- Wind Considerations – Remember: Birds take off and land into the wind. Use this fact to plan your framing.
- AF Settings – Always use AF-C, and use the smallest AF Area Mode that you can successfully keep on the bird.
- Nail Takeoff Shots – Look for signs that a bird is about to take off (turning into the wind, defecating, etc) and increase your shutter speed.
- Other Quick Gear Tips – Turn off IS, use the focus range limiter on your lens, and use the highest framerate that doesn’t compromise tracking or image quality.
- Tracking Tips – There is no substitute for practice. Hone your technique and experience by tracking birds you don’t really care about.
Find some great photographic gear for birding on our retail site.
Tips for bird photography credit to PetaPixel and Steve Perry
Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash