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One of the most popular aspects of animal photography is bird photography. Taking perfect pictures of birds in the wild can be very challenging, but you can create many wonderful photo opportunities in your own backyard.

How to Set Up Your Backyard Photo Shoot

The biggest challenge isn't actually attracting birds to your yard. Once feeders are out and discovered, word will get around fast! The biggest challenge is getting the birds to perch where you want them. So before setting up your feeding stations and birdbaths, consider the locations carefully.  

Choose locations that won't make the birds easy prey for cats and other predators, and at the same time that will provide you with the opportunity to photograph them with nice backgrounds and good angles.  

Remember that if you set feeders out in the winter only give them quality seed so your feathery friends aren't filling up on food (like bread) that won't provide them the energy needed to keep warm at night.  

Birdbaths also make great places for photos and help encourage birds to visit your yard regularly.

If you are trying to attract certain bird species, check with The Audubon Society to see what types of seeds or plants are best for them. You can also find good tips at the National Wildlife Federation's “Gardening for Wildlife” pages.

You also don't want to limit your bird photos to just bird feeders and baths. You can also take pictures of birds in your yard that perch on tree limbs and fences nearby so make sure to look for these areas too.

How to Set Your Camera for Bird Photos

Have you ever noticed that birds are constantly moving? When eating, their little heads are bobbing up and down, and when they are on the ground they are always looking this way and that for predators. With so much movement you want a higher shutter speed for bird photos, so use the Sports mode or set your shutter speed to at least 1/250.

If you have an optical zoom on your compact digital or a telephoto lens on an SLR, this will make taking pictures a whole lot easier. An optical zoom of 6x, depending on the camera, can  give you about the same magnification as a 200mm lens, meaning a photograph taken from about 10 feet away could look like a close up.

Some of the “bridge cameras” offer zooms from 10-20 feet but not all produce quality results so do a little investigating before purchasing. You may also need a tripod or other camera stabilizer when using the high range zooms, and as always, opt for optical.

Given a long enough lens, you can get some wonderful pictures of birds in flight or perched high up in trees too. Professional nature photographers often use a 600 lens to get photos with good detail.

Large telephoto lenses of this size are very expensive, but there is another way to take bird photos far away. It's called digiscoping. With this method, you combine the birder's spotting scope with a digital camera. Here is one of many good articles online introducing the digiscoping method to bird photographers: Birdwatchers Digest: Photography.

Blue skies are best for pictures of birds in flight. And the bluest sky of the day is usually the hour after dawn. Also, look for times of the day when you have flocks of birds around your house or flying over. Or, if you want to photograph birds of prey, such as osprey, go to a lake or river early in the evening when they fish. This is also a perfect time for soft, warm and even lighting.

And once you get a great bird picture, don't forget to share it and display it in a quality picture frame. Although there is a huge selection of frames available, you should choose a frame that has simple, clean lines like a thin metal picture frame or a natural wood picture frame as it won't compete with your photograph.
Hopefully by using these tips, you'll not only attract more birds to your yard for more bird photo opportunities but capture some fantastic pictures that you'll be proud to display.