professional photo techniques for all photographers

video: episode 11 , bird photography 101

19 May 2008 11 Comments

My friend and fellow photographer, Tom Uhlman, is an accomplished nature and sports photographer. I was only able to spend a few hours with Tom in his backyard one morning but I learned a whole lot about photographing birds.

Tom explains it in a way that makes me feel like I can head out into my own backyard and start making nice bird photos right away. Here is our conversation, preserved on video:

Subscribers view video here

Tom has a great love for all animals and stresses being considerate to the animals you’re photographing. One of the techniques used in the video, playing a recorded bird call, is something he says should be used minimally, so that the birds aren’t unduly distracted from protecting their territory and feeding their young.

View more of Tom’s stock bird photography on Alamy or search his other nature photographs. He and his wife, Mary Kay Carson, work as a writer / photographer team on educational children’s books. This might also be the incentive Tom needs to update his website (how about it, Tom?).

He also recommends Arthur Morris’s Birds as Art as the authority for additional learning.

11 Comments »

Craig Lee said:

A very different kind of video this week. It was interesting to see how someone gets the birds somewhere he can pre-focus. I’ve tried some bird photography, and gotten a few shots I like. However, those buggers are fast and skitish.

# 19 May 2008 at 12:15 pm

David Bump said:

I really enjoyed the video; some great info, and I’m excited to try out some of the ideas and tricks.

# 19 May 2008 at 9:51 pm

Bill Rhodes said:

Great video, thanks for bringing it out. Good solid tips, too.

# 19 May 2008 at 9:56 pm

robgr85 said:

Thanks for good tips… but where can I find apropriate sound tracks with voices of certain birds?

# 20 May 2008 at 5:59 am

Tom Uhlman said:

In response to finding sound tracks – I did a google search for Peterson bird recording and found this interesting site which lists a number of CDs – http://www.birdwatching.com/tips/birdsongs.html

Also try you public library, They may have the cd that you can check out…

# 20 May 2008 at 8:54 am

John Brainard said:

Thank you for hosting this video! I love birds and have shot some in my back yard. I’m looking forward to being able to try out some of these tips to get a wider variety of birds to shoot.

And thanks, Tom, for the link.

# 20 May 2008 at 12:57 pm

Latrice Fowler said:

I love this video…thanks so much for sharing!

# 1 June 2008 at 2:25 pm

Peter said:

These are absolutely fantastic tips, thank you so much! That photo with the bird on the icy branches is simply amazing! I’d really love to see more of that kind of stuff in the future.

# 6 June 2008 at 4:22 pm

Carol Bradfield said:

I truly enjoyed this video on taking photos of birds. I can’t find any other video’s on taking picture’s of birds or wild animals.
If you have any other video’s on how to take picture’s of wild animals would you please let me know? Thank you so much for sharing what you have with other’s. God Bless You and your family
Carol

# 22 October 2008 at 11:50 pm