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Photo Masterclass part 17: Bird behaviour
To improve your photography of birds, download the pdf at the bottom of the page.
Watching the birdie is not as simple as it sounds. Solid fieldcraft, endless patience, lightning-fast reflexes and a deep understanding of your subjects’ lifestyles and habits are vital if you want to capture inspiring images of bird behaviour.
We see birds every day, yet they can be surprisingly tricky to photograph. The smaller ones appear tiny, even through a telephoto lens, and few of them stop moving for more than a millisecond.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that, for many years, most bird photography was rather lacklustre. Mundane, unimaginatively composed, illustrative portraits were the norm until the early 1980s.
But the bar has been raised and the challenge now is to provide an intimate glimpse into our birds’ action-packed private lives. Images of them singing, yawning, fighting, preening, stretching, swimming or even staring at their toes (as gulls often do) are far more interesting than pictures of birds doing nothing much at all.
All the usual photographic ‘rules’ apply: focus on the eye, keep the background simple, and think about composition and light, for example – pictures of bird behaviour must have aesthetic appeal as well as interest value. But the most important ingredient is drama.
Capture the moment
This usually happens very quickly and is easy to miss. Experience, anticipation and quick reflexes can make the most of such unpredictability, but there is no time to be surprised or spellbound. Quite simply, you have to focus on the picture-taking and enjoy the experience later.
So this month we’ll be looking at how to capture that ‘decisive moment’ – the term coined by pioneering lensman Henri Cartier-Bresson to define the serendipitous instant when a photographer captures a whole world, an entire event, in a single click of the shutter.
Meet the photography expert: Kevin Schafer, USA
Award-winning photographer and author of Penguin Planet, Seattle-based Kevin Schafer is a founding Fellow of the International League of Conservation Photographers.
Kevin Schafer is highly respected for his photos – and for his strict code of ethics. “Any power a photograph possesses is directly tied to the belief that it represents a real event,” he insists. “Take that away and all you have left is an illustration, a digital trick.”
Unfortunately, these days, it is all too easy to resort to trickery. “Trust is particularly important when photographing bird behaviour,” Kevin emphasises. “You have to represent a true moment in time.” And this inevitably means longer hours in the field.
Patience is a virtue
“People sometimes think wildlife photographers are inherently patient,” Kevin laughs. “But I think it’s just that we’re willing to put up with more discomfort, frustration and boredom than the average person. It’s not the same thing at all.”
Capturing bird behaviour often requires long periods of waiting for just the right shot. “I once spent four hours on a beach in the Falkland Islands,” Kevin recalls. “I was lying on my belly, with the wind blowing sand into my eyes and camera, and flies landing on my head, hoping a penguin would stop in the right spot and do something interesting.
Most of the penguins emerging from the sea stood in the wrong place, turned their backs or wandered off. But one stopped and lifted his foot to scratch his head. That was the shot I’d waited for.”
The patience to wait for that ‘decisive moment’ is crucial. But practice is equally important. “Get out there and search for unusual perspectives, subtle compositions and beautiful light,” says Kevin. “The more pictures you take, the more you’ll learn to see.”
KEVIN'S TOP BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS
Never walk past a picture
- Kevin came across these wandering albatrosses moments after stepping ashore on Bird Island, South Georgia – in the rain. It would have been easy to leave his camera in the bag and assume he’d see dancing wanderers again. Fortunately, he stopped and took pictures. It was the only time he saw this behaviour in five days.
Keep an open mind
- It’s important to be flexible. Kevin went to Staffa, off the west coast of Scotland, to photograph its distinctive basalt columns. But when he found a delightful colony of puffins, he changed his plans. The males were fighting so fiercely that both birds rolled off the cliff together, separating in mid-air just before hitting the water.
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