6 Tips to Help Your Bird Photos Take Flight

Rick Lieder offers insight into capturing eye-catching ornithological images with the Tamron SP 150-600mm VC lens.

Article by Jenn Gidman

Images by Rick Lieder

Rick Lieder is known for his mesmerizing, ethereal pictures of spiders, bees, fireflies-even man's summertime nemesis, the mosquito. For the past year, however, the Detroit-based photographer has been paying special attention to bird photography, which will be prominently featured in his next book, Sweep Up the Sun. To help him capture his soaring subjects, Rick has headed out into the field with the new Tamron SP 150-600mm VC lens. The high-performance zoom offers him the versatile focal-length range and superb image quality he needs for exceptional avian imagery.

"I've only had the 150-600 for a couple of months, but I love it," he says. "The focal-length range is great, especially because I might be photographing a bird up close and then see another bird I want to zoom in on in the distance. I try to do most of my photography on a tripod (actually, a stand I made myself out of 2x4s-I make a lot of my own equipment), but when I'm not using a tripod, the 150-600's Vibration Compensation (VC) feature helps eliminate camera shake and keep my images supersharp."

Rick offers his top tips below for taking aesthetically pleasing images of our feathered friends, whether it's a heron gliding through the skies or a tiny wren perched on a fencepost.

Learn about the birds and their environment-and find the right light.
Spend a lot of time around the birds so you can observe and absorb. The more you know about their behavior, the easier it's going to be to anticipate what they're going to do so you can get your photos. Each species is a little different, so what works for one bird might not work for another.

This will also encourage you to experiment working in manual mode. I sometimes shoot in Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority-there are times when I want the right aperture or need to lock in a certain shutter speed to prevent the wings from blurring, for instance. However, I prefer shooting in manual. If you're going to the same locations over and over and really getting to know both the birds you're photographing and their environment, you'll start to get a handle on the lighting conditions. And once you know the lighting you're working with, you can lock in your exposure and not worry about it anymore.

Because different birds have different habits at different times of the day, there's no one particular time when I always head out. But I've generally found that earlier in the morning is usually one of the prime times to capture a lot of activity.

I also try to photograph on sunny days whenever I can. I need to let in as much light as possible, especially when I'm capturing birds in flight. Just like with the other macro images I take, I use the sunlight reflected off of whatever surfaces will bounce it back. I've also started experimenting with fill flash, even though in most cases the birds are too far away for it to be useful. I used fill flash for my photo of a wren, however, and I don't think I could have captured that picture without that extra light.

Compose an image with spatial balance and compelling backgrounds.
One of my main tips for people trying to photograph birds in flight is to visually lead the viewer according to the direction of the bird's path. It's always better to compose the shot so that you have a little more space in front of where the bird is flying rather than behind it. It looks more balanced that way.

Just as important is trying to find an interesting background. Sometimes you don't have much of a choice when you're capturing a bird in flight-you may just get it against a blank, blue sky, which can still make for a really nice image. But to me, that can get boring after a while. I like to put the birds in context and show a little bit more in their environment.

That's what I was going for with my picture of the wren. The bird was hiding from me in dense underbrush. It was a little bit of work, but I used that to my advantage. It was a sunny day, so there were a lot of highlights and reflections of the sun off of the leaves, which turned the greenery in back of the bird into a more creative background.

Take bird photos from different angles.
Because I'm usually trying to capture birds in flight, I'm obviously often taking pictures from underneath the bird. However, if a bird is on a perch that's closer to the ground, for instance, you can photograph it from above. Or you can capture a bird at eye level, depending on the height of the perch or how low it's flying (the image of the gull, for instance, was taken at eye level). You can get closer to the bird's eye level if you time it just right and photograph it taking off or landing.

Even when you're doing the standard shot from below, you never know what image might be possible. When I was photographing the mallard shown here, I was below it, but because of the way it was maneuvering as it tried to land, I was able to get a great image with its wings and legs at a pleasing angle, with the tree branches showing in the background. It was a totally different perspective than I originally expected.

Take advantage of the 150-600's longer focal lengths so you don't miss rare photo opportunities.
I've seen such a variety of birds since I started photographing them, but I'm always scouting for unique species to add to my birding portfolio. I don't see a lot of bluebirds around where I live, but I was recently out taking pictures and saw a quick flash of blue in the distance-I knew it had to be a bluebird. Luckily, I had the 150-600 with me. Without that longer focal length, I wouldn't have been able to get close enough to capture this image from so far. Plus, you can often fill the frame with your subject with the 150-600 for a pleasing visual, even when there's quite a distance between you and the bird.

Practice your picture-taking technique frequently-bird photography isn't easy!
Whether you focus on birds at rest or birds in flight, the most important thing you can do to get better at bird photography is to take pictures as often as you can-every day, if possible. It's a difficult type of wildlife photography to master: The birds aren't predictable, and you can't tell them what to do or where to go to get into the best light or in front of the best background.

Even experienced bird photographers miss great photo opps and get many blurry photos. My own success rate with bird photography can be pretty low, but I keep plugging away and eventually get a few nice images out of the bunch. You're learning every time you take a picture. When people see a good photo you've taken, they don't even have to know about all the other images you may have discarded!

To see more of Rick Lieder's work, go to www.bugdreams.com or http://cloudboxer.com. His children's nature picturebook, Step Gently Out, was published in 2012.