How to photograph birds in the wild by Simon Roy

Tuesday 14 May 2019, 22:44 by Michelle Peeters | 5,172 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Practical Photography joins wildlife specialist Simon Roy in a nature reserve in Yorkshire to find out how he shoots his incredible images of blue tits, great tits and robins.

Simon Roy explains how he gets his pin-sharp images of birds, with beautifully blurred backgrounds and the twig they are sitting on looking natural and attractive.

He collects lots of dead branches in winter, hollows them out and fills them with nuts to attract birds. He often positions the branch next to a cycle path. The birds know that food can often be found there, thrown away by cyclists or walkers, and passing cyclists no longer scare them off.

If there are tall trees nearby, they often provide a good starting point for the birds to land and check whether everything is safe.

For your own position as a photographer, it is important to set yourself up so that you cannot see the hole with the nuts and you have a nice, even background.

Simon uses a single focus point and focuses on the twig in advance. He makes sure he focuses on the head as soon as the bird lands. He often wears black gloves so the birds are not easily frightened when he has to raise his hand to operate the camera.

He only takes the shot when the bird has already taken a few bites of the nuts and raises its head to check whether it is safe. Once the food is gone, they fly away, but they always come back to the same branch once more, as standard. You can then also take some lovely photos without food in the beak.

For your composition, make sure there is enough space for the bird to look into. Diagonal branches across the frame work well too. Also make sure you have good lighting, with no harsh shadows, and that you know the behaviour well. Then half the work is already done.

Bird photography course

If you want to learn more about photographing birds well, the bird photography course on Photofacts Academy might be for you.

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