10 Tips for Capturing Incredible Photos of Birds
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Loading... - Senja Hautala
- 08 Jul 2022
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Knoot is a nature photographer and OM SYSTEM Ambassador whose passion for wildlife photography was born from his love of birds. The 26-year-old has traveled the world to document avian life with his OM SYSTEM OM-1 camera and shares his tips for capturing this fast moving and often unpredictable wildlife.
Know Your Camera And Make It Work For You
The most important aspect of capturing sharp, action packed photos of birds actually happens before you leave home, Knoot says. With any form of photography, knowing the ins and outs of the camera is helpful to photographers, but this might be most important for bird photographers. “With bird photography, having the ability to capture an image in the blink of an eye is crucial,” Knoot explains. “You may only have a half a second to capture the perfect shot, so knowing how to make lightning fast adjustments on your camera is a necessity. Often, I need to be able to adjust my shutter speed, aperture and ISO very quickly in order to capture the well lit bird with a clean background before it flies away.”
Knoot says that the more practice a photographer can have in challenging situations, the better. However, the adjustments made before you even arrive at your shooting locations can give you an immediate advantage.
“Every photographer finds certain buttons and dials on their camera easier to access than others,” Knoot says. “Knowing which ones you are most comfortable with allows you to customize those buttons and dials to be the settings you will need in a pinch. Considering that I shoot all of my bird photography in the OM-1’s manual mode, the two most important adjustments for me are shutter speed and ISO. I have the shutter speed set to the back dial, so I can quickly make the needed adjustments with my thumb at almost the same time as my forefinger engages the shutter. I have customized my ISO to be on the dial right in front of the shutter button. The placement of this dial in close proximity to the shutter button allows me to quickly adjust the ISO in between photos.”
Knoot says that customizing your camera to be able to adjust focus points and focus settings quickly is just as important as knowing how to adjust shutter speed and ISO. “It doesn’t matter if you have the correct shutter speed if the bird isn’t in focus. I have customized my OM-1 to move the focus area using the joystick. It takes practice, but being able to change your focus area without removing your eye from the viewfinder will lead to better photos. I recommend mapping this to a place you feel comfortable adjusting without having to look at the back of your camera.”
“Additionally, on my OM-1, I have the ability to apply four different custom function modes to the dial, and I can assign those custom function modes to buttons,” Knoot explains. “If I want to access either of the ‘Pro Capture’ modes, High Res Shot, or my custom Flight Mode, I know I have four buttons set on the back of my camera to easily access these without having to enter any menus.” Read More...
