Bird photography masterclass: part 1 garden birds
How to photograph garden birds
In this bird photography masterclass Emma interviews A Year With My Camera students to find out how they created some of their best bird images. A solid understanding of the effects and interactions of shutter speed, aperture and ISO are needed for effective bird photography so if you need help with these join Emma’s photography workshop, A Year With My Camera, before you start. It’s free by email and will have you confident with the camera controls by week 4:
Tips for beginner’s bird photography
1. Practice your technique close to home and start with garden birds so that when you venture somewhere to photograph rarer birds your camera knowledge won’t let you down. Please take some inspiration from the shots in this blog post. These are all highly effective images that can be created close to home. Part 2 of this masterclass with more advanced techniques will be published in January.
2. Get to know your subject: spend a lot of time watching the bird’s behaviour so you can anticipate where they will go and be able to place yourself without disturbing them. Once you know whether they will perch close to food you can carefully position a photogenic stick.
3. Pay attention to the background. Ideally you would like a background that suggests some context but doesn’t distract from the bird: no bright highlights or red patches. Use a larger aperture (f2.8, f4) to blur the background but make sure you are focussing carefully.
4. Try to show some behaviour. Once you can confidently photograph a basic bird portrait try to capture some element of its behaviour: feeding, grooming, courtship.
Jane Hunter
This image of the young Blue-Tit was taken through an open window early in the morning as I watched the many birds and fledglings that were using the feeding station in our garden. I just love the slightly dishevelled look of the young Blue-tit and his puzzled look that implied that he was unsure about what to do next with his wiggling caterpillar breakfast! I confess it was a very lucky shot.
Nikon Coolpix 610 bridge camera on the Birdwatching setting. ISO 100, 1/320sec, f 5.6 89.6mm.
Maree Vlores
My image is of a Superb Fairy Wren (male) that is living in a tree in my backyard with his female. I was sitting where he and his mate were catching insects and he kept landing on the fence so I positioned myself as close as I could without interrupting them and waited for him to land on the fence.
Patience is the key to any wildlife photography and to observe the animal without directly impacting on them is a must.
Canon 6D Mkii and a Canon 70-300 lens, Manual exposure. f 5.6, 1/320 sec, ISO 100.
Chrissy Kyte
This mistle thrush was taken in the Highlands of Scotland on a very narrow road on our way to Kenmore near Loch Tay. We'd actually stopped the car so I could take photos of sheep that were on the road when my husband spotted this beautiful Mistle Thrush on a wire overhead. He (or she) stayed there long enough for me to take a couple of photos. It was simply a case of being lucky on this occasion.
Canon 2000D EOS using my 75-300 lens at 300mm. f5.6, 1/400, ISO 320.
Pat Ainger
The robin was freely sitting and singing on the fence of one of the back roads here in Great Bromley, Essex. I took a chance and as I have the little camera set on continuous settings, I aimed and took several shots. I edited it in Lightroom and this image had the robin with its beak open - perfect.
My advice to beginners is to always have a camera with you - for that just in case moment.
Canon PowerShot SX740 HS. Aperture priority, f5.6, 1/640, ISO 100, Spot Metering, Auto WB, Focal Length 67.37mm.
Jen Laing
I spent quite a bit of time in the Spring lockdown trying to improve my bird photography and using garden birds was the only real option. Fortunately this family of blue tits nested in an old box on the side of my garage so they were predictable in their movements. I was able to stay fairly well concealed under a nearby tree and spent a couple of weeks watching and photographing them. Initially it was just the adults flying to and from the nest, but as the chicks grew and got bolder, they were much more visible. The day after I took this, they'd all flown the nest.
I used a tripod, and a remote shutter release as the light was quite poor and I needed to keep the shutter speed fairly slow but still fast enough to freeze the birds. Nikon D750, 200-500mm at 500mm, f8, 1/100, ISO 800.
Kimberly Tucker
The bird is a Chipping Sparrow, fairly common in my area (Colonial Heights, VA, USA). I'd watched her/him as it fed on the bugs in the chain length fence. I try to keep my camera on me or at least close by as much as possible. When it landed perfectly in the center of the whole, I just reacted and snapped the picture. One piece of advice I'd offer to another novice photographer is to be patient. I took about a hundred photos that day and just a couple turned out. Animals do not stop and pause in order to get that one image. Also, to be patient with themselves as it is easy to get incredibly frustrated.
Nikon D3400, 70-300mm lens, auto mode.
Kathleen Arnoldi
As a result of Covid and the need to social distance, I spent a lot of time this summer sitting on my deck trying to photograph the hummingbirds that were entertaining my husband and I. My deck is approximately 40 feet away from the hummingbird feeder, so I zoomed in as close as I could. I was able to get shots as they sat feeding, but really wanted to catch one in flight. Despite day after day of trying, I was sadly not quick enough for these fast fliers. Finally I was able to get some shots of this "Ruby Throated Hummingbird” when I learned to use my camera's “Pro Capture” feature. With this feature, I could focus (1/2 press of shutter button), then not fully trigger the shot until after the action occurred (bird flew from the feeder). In the “Pro Capture” mode, the camera “remembers” and prints several frames of what occurred just prior to fully triggering the shot, as well as a few frames after. Love this feature!
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III, Olympus M.Zuiko ED 40-150 F2.8 Pro (provides DSLR equivalent of 80-300mm): zoomed out to 150mm. f/5.6, 1/3200, ISO 2000.
Michael Black
I had noticed over the weeks in June, wrens nesting in the eaves of my garage and as I spend a fair bit of time in that part of the garden, I could observe their route to the nest, which included pausing on the old water feature pump. I did think about disguising my set up but they were so used to me being about the place, I didn’t bother. So I set up my Canon EOS 600D camera and Canon EF 75-300mm lens on my old Velbon tripod inside my garage opposite the open window. The camera was about 10 or 12 feet away from the old pump (lens set at 170mm) and l framed the shot to one side so that there was no foreground and no background that would be in focus. f5, 1/1600, ISO1250.
Karen Bensley
This is an Eastern Bluebird in Maine, a new bird family to my yard that I’ve been enjoying since spring, including their 4 babies. I hope they winter over. I am working from home mostly now, and have my desk set up facing the window to the yard, and have placed a growing group of feeders just outside. As I work, I keep my camera ready to go on my desk, and have been experimenting with different lenses and focal points. On this day, I remember having itchy fingers as I so wanted to catch the birds in this beautiful light (late afternoon sun, oak leaves covering the yard beyond) but couldn’t step away from my zoom meeting. Seems like the bird activity and lighting is always best when I am committed online. Eventually, I just cut the video feed, grabbed my camera and shot a few, then returned to my meeting. I was happy with how this one turned out. I love the colors, the pose, and the expression.
Sony a6000with 210mm lens, f6.3, 1/1250 ISO 3200, no tripod
Erin McCarthy Greene
The photo was taken, handheld, with my Nikon Z50 mirrorless camera and the DX50-250 kit lens in relatively cloudy conditions. I was seated on a bench on my back porch, from which I can observe feeder activity. Black-capped chickadees are regular year-round visitors to my feeders (northern New York). Some might consider them "common," but I find them to be sweet and entertaining. They flit around and that movement can make them difficult to photograph, so the best advice I can give is to have patience, lots of patience...and perhaps to use a slightly higher shutter speed than I used here.
f6.3, 1/80, ISO 200, 250mm
Jo Griggs
I took this photograph of a pair of wood pigeons with my Panasonic G80 micro four thirds sensor camera using a 100-400mm Leica lens. It was shot at 400mm which is equivalent to 800mm on a full frame camera. This was my first weekend with this lens and I was impressed with how the combination of in-body and in-lens stabilisation allowed me to get a sharp shot hand held at a relatively slow shutter speed. These birds were daily visitors to our garden in the spring, so it was just a matter of waiting for them to perch together on my neighbour’s wall where the sky gave a clear background. The late afternoon light showed up the texture and colour of their feathers well. It’s quite a comical pose which turns an everyday garden bird photograph into something a bit different. My advice for new bird photographers is to set your camera to continuous shooting to give yourself the best possible chance to capture a good shot even when the birds are moving fast.
f20, 1/16, ISO 200
Andrea Stanley
It was late on a Sunday afternoon and I was in the garden weeding and generally tidying up when I noticed a robin following me around looking for worms. As I had my camera nearby I thought I would use the opportunity to take some shots. As my macro lens was already on my camera I decided to use that rather than lose the opportunity that had presented itself. I set myself up by laying flat on the grass near where I had been gardening using the ground to support my arms and waited patiently for the Robin to return. I stayed still and quietly waited and I wasn’t disappointed. I was able to take several shots and was able to change the settings to take into account the changing light. The robin moved around me for several minutes posing almost waiting to have its photograph taken.
Canon EOS 750D, Sigma DG macro HSM 105mm 1:2.8. f5.0, 1/160th, ISO 400
Jackie Launders
The photograph was taken in my garden with a Canon 1300D and Tamron 150-600. They are blue tits which I think bred in our camera box. During lockdown we spent a lot of time in our garden watching the birds. We set up this branch especially to take pictures on with a fat ball hanging out of sight above. It’s amazing what can be taken in your garden.
f8, 1/180, ISO 400
Gayle Halstead
Although this photograph was taken several years ago, the swallows return every year to this very same place. This door closes off an underground void by the side of the house, and that is why we put an opening into the door frame for them to easily fly through to their nests, high up on the rock ledges inside this void.
This door is part of an enclosed courtyard, so I am able to easily sit quietly opposite the door on some stone steps.
I can sit here quietly when the baby swallows sit and wait for their parents to return with food. I have lots of different shots telling this story … one with about 6 of them all sitting on top of each other waiting!!
Canon EOS 5D, Canon EF 100-400 mm f4.5 - f5.6 L. f5.6, 1/200, ISO 400.
Beginner’s online camera class
Join A Year With My Camera, written by photographer Emma Davies, to learn how to use your camera instinctively. Step-by-step lessons take you from complete beginner to confident advanced photographer. The email version is entirely free for a year. Join here and get started today:
