Wildlife

9 Tips For Photographing Perched Birds

by Steve Berardi

Black-throated Sparrow / Photo by Steve Berardi

We’ve talked about bird photography fairly often here on PhotoNaturalist, including posts on how to photograph birds in flight and how to photograph hummingbirds in the wild. Well, today’s topic is photographing perched birds, like in the photo above of a black-throated sparrow.

Bird photography can be frustrating at times, and it may seem like you always need a longer lens, but with a little patience and a few little tricks, you’ll be coming home with good bird photos in no time. So, here are a few tips to get you started: [read more…]

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How to Keep Your Camera Ready For Action

by Steve Berardi

Photo by Steve Berardi

It’s probably happened to you before: you’re hiking down this trail, and all of a sudden you notice a bird or any kind of wildlife that doesn’t seem to mind your presence. You’re presented with a perfect photo opportunity, but then you remember, “Oh wait, my camera is tucked all the way into my backpack! And, worse: I think my wide-angle lens is on there!”

By the time you get out your camera, put on a longer lens and find the right exposure, that bird or dragonfly is probably in another zip code.

That’s why it’s a good idea to always keep your camera ready for action as you’re hiking down a trail. Always keep it by your side and ready to photograph a distant subject that may only be there for a second or two. Here are a few tips for making your camera ready to go: [read more…]

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Keys to Getting Sharp Photos of Birds in Flight

by Steve Berardi

Photo by Steve Berardi

Last year, my dad wrote a great post about how to get sharp photos of birds in flight. Since then, I’ve occasionally tried to photograph a hawk in flight, but never really dedicated a whole lot of time to it, so I was never able to get a sharp photo.

Well, a few weeks ago I went out to photograph bald eagles with my dad, and I came back with my first acceptably sharp photo of a bird in flight, yay!

So, I’d like to share what I think are the two biggest reasons I finally got a decent shot: [read more…]

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Quick Tip for Getting a Faster Autofocus

by Steve Berardi

Sometimes autofocus can be really annoying: it’ll search and search for an object to focus on, and either never find it, or go through multiple cycles until it finally finds the right object to focus on. And by that time, you may have already missed the shot–especially if you’re photographing a quick moving subject like birds.

In previous posts, I’ve talked about a few ways you can get better control of your autofocus. But, there’s also a little switch on your lens that can help it focus faster. [read more…]

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What a TV Show Can Teach You About Photography

by Steve Berardi

Photo by Michael Pereckas / Used under the CC-Attr license

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to have one of my favorite TV shows (Dexter) filmed right outside my apartment building. They filmed a scene in the alley of my building, and I was able to watch the whole thing from my porch! If you’re a fan of the show, pay close attention to that scene in the alley of Episode 4 in Season 5–that’s my alley!

Anyway, I watched them film the scene for a few hours and actually learned a couple of things about photography: [read more…]

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