Bird Photography Techniques - How to Choose the Best Pose - Does It Make A Difference?

g'day and welcome to the channel do you ever wonder why you like one photo over another often it's just an instant immediate feeling we either like it or we don't do you like this pink robin photo if so why what is it that you like perhaps it's the color maybe it's the lovely mossy perch or is it the pose and the eye contact which draw you in and hold your attention i believe it's a combination of reasons but i believe the eye contact and the pose creates an intimate connection between the viewer and the subject and that's ultimately what we're going for with photography so in today's video i'm going to discuss the importance of eye contact and pose in creating great wildlife photos i'll explain exactly what i believe to be good eye contact and what good poses are show you good and bad i'll also explain how i select an image after a session in last week's video i asked if you could spot the difference between affordable gear and expensive gear you did a good job of identifying which image was which but what was interesting about that exercise is i got a lot of comments of people saying i like the 7d image i like the way that it looks got me thinking why why do people prefer the 7d image to the 5d image one's obviously worth a lot more and the other one's a lot cheaper so a lot of it comes down to the pose habitat and composition the type of camera you have doesn't choose those things the photographer does in the bird plays its part as well this was confirmed when i got a really good comment from royal scanlon i think it is so he said i realized how much the overall composition and the pose of the main subject in an image influences me so he realized that it's actually the pose which influenced him more than the gear and that's really important and that's so true and i totally agree with him if we were to analyze the photos that we like and asked why i believe a lot of time it will come down to composition pose eye contact and setting those things largely dictate whether you like an image or not all right let's actually define what i mean by eye contact or good eye contact basically we want the bird's eye looking into the camera we want to feel like the birds looking at us and we're looking at the bird that creates an intimate connection and that's what eye contact is all about let's do a quick test i've put up two images on the screen of a pair of rainbow beaders same photographer same gear same perch same light the only difference is really the pose and the eye contact which image do you prefer maybe think why what does the better photo have that the other one doesn't i'm assuming that the vast majority of people actually prefer the image on the left and that's the one i prefer and i'll tell you why it's got good eye contact from both birds that is they're looking at us they're both looking the same way i quite like the pose and the composition it just works whereas the image on the right the birds aren't quite looking at the camera not giving us the best eye contact and they're looking in different directions for me it just doesn't work and it's just these small differences that can really make the difference between a good image and a great image so it's up to us as photographers to figure out what works and what doesn't when it comes to eye contact and poses sometimes the only difference between images is the actual pose of the bird you've got the eye contact sorted now we need to sort out the pose look at this black wing stilt i took a number of shots at the same location of this bird all with good eye contact but all three have different poses which do you prefer and maybe think why my least favorite is the one on the left the bird is just a little bit static and boring it's a nice pose but it just doesn't do a lot for me the image in the middle has some great action it's got its wings up and it's walking and i really do like this image and that was the one i selected first but then the image on the right has grown on me there's just something about it something about the pose sort of made the bird elegant and it's looking over its shoulder and when you look at the full image the composition just seems to work and i really do like this image it was actually my wife that spotted this image she have to be looking over my shoulders oh i really like that and i hadn't given it too much thought but it's definitely grown on me over time so what these three examples show is that you can capture a lot of different poses in a very short amount of time just using a burst rate and high fps far increases your odds of getting a pose that you like the more photos you take and it's often that simple this is a good time just to say this is just my opinion what i think makes a good image may not necessarily be what you think and that's fine we have to have diversity in photography i'm just letting you know what i like when it comes to head angles and poses and you may be able to implement some of these things in your own photography but you don't have to have good eye contact and best pose to create interesting images take a look at the sharewater image for example and i really like the cement you've got the sort of the sun coming through the clouds you've got all the birds migrating in the same direction you've got the water just the overall scene works for me and really you've got no eye contact because the birds are so far away i also really like the sharp tailed sandpiper shot we have zero eye contact because its eyes are closed and its head's going into the water the feeding behaviour and the reflection are extremely strong and they really help make this image a good one so i'll be honest i often get so caught up in trying to create technically excellent images that i miss more creative and interesting shots and that's something i've been working on so for example i often used to overlook birds that had another bird behind them that were out of focus because i thought they were too distracting you know i'd always wait for the perfect pose and perfect eye contact and often i would just miss images i actually learnt a lot by going out with another photographer my dear friend matt and i used to spend a lot of time together and we'd go to these locations and we'd have a session photographing the same birds and at the end of the session he would have these really interesting compositions and amazing photos and i'd think i was there i didn't see these things but with his trained eye he was able to spot these amazing compositions and he wasn't overlooking things that i was so i've had to train myself and try to look at the bigger picture and just take lots more photos and try to be a little bit more creative and by doing that i've definitely learned a lot and i can thank matt for that so say look at this purple swamping image i took recently in a video i really like that out-of-focus birth it sort of adds some balance some context to the image and this is probably an image i would have overlooked once upon a time but for the majority of the shots that i take if you look at my gallery nearly all of them will have really good eye contact and a really good pose and that's because i like those sorts of images and they work for me and people seem to like them as well if we have a look at the specific golden plover we've got really good eye contact it's looking at us a great walking pose so there's some movement a side profile it's well lit nice low angle and overall the image does work for me these are the images i'm trying to capture so let's take a look at nine images i've taken of a hooded robin we can see all nine shots have some sort of eye contact we can see the eye in the birds but some are definitely stronger than others perhaps have a look and see which one most appeals to you there's two images i ultimately kept and processed can you guess which ones they are all right let's start by maybe eliminating the images first so images one and four are instant deletes for me the the bird's looking away it's not even looking at the camera so i wouldn't even keep these images so image number seven the eye is actually the head's turned inwards we've got shadow over the eye we can't make out the eye another one i would delete number three it's not too bad but generally i find the song birds and some perch birds the front on view is often the weakest one and a side on one is much better number two it's getting better isn't it the bird's slightly turning its head towards us and we've definitely got some sort of eye contact but it's just not there the bird's head is still away from the sensor and the birds looking somewhere else that leaves us with five six eight and nine these four are definitely the strongest four in my opinion but if we have a look at number five and nine they're almost identical and that's because they're only taken seconds apart but again we've got some eye contact but it's just not right we're just missing that slight head turn that'll make all the difference so that leaves me with number six and number eight these two are the ones i ended up keeping and these two have what i would believe is good eye contact that is it feels like you're the bird's looking at you you've got a intimate contact the head angle is good so generally what we want is the head parallel to the sensor so side on and just turning in ever so slightly so the bird's just looking towards the camera i find that makes the best connection and that's what number six and eight give me and here is the final image of number eight which is what i consider to be great contact did you also pick number eight perhaps let me know in the comments below here's another little test for you to try out this time of a rainbow beader so all three shots were taken within seconds of each other so the same perch same light same photographer everything's the same the only difference is the slight hit angle and the eye contact which of these three do you prefer obviously if we have a look at the one on the left that's no good that's an instant delete the heads are turning away from the sensor we don't have eye contact the middle image that's pretty good that's kind of a field id shot it's almost perfectly parallel to the sensor and it's it's not bad but it's not the best if we have a look at the one on the right that one's just turning in ever so slightly and it makes more of a connection in my opinion and that's the image i ultimately went with so very subtle differences but they are differences and that can make a difference and that's what we're trying to achieve when we're out in the field capturing lots of images so we can get just that right head turn and eye contact i've kind of alluded to it but how do we get these good hair angles well basically you just have to take a lot of photos birds will naturally move around a lot when you're photographing them they move from front to back side to side up and down all over the place so you just have to try and predict which is going to be the best pose and which has the best eye contact often the shutter will be enough for the bird to slightly turn its head towards you because it wants to know what that noise is but don't think for a minute that every time i go out i get perfect head angle and eye contact it's just simply not the case sometimes the bird's only there for a split second and what you get is what you get but ultimately trying to get that right eye contact is the goal and what we strive for but it's not always achievable and sometimes you might get a bird that's more intent on sleeping than actually opening its eyes like this little red cat plover and it really wasn't bothered by me at all so i just had to wait until the bird was finished dozing and it got up and went for a walk and i was able to get some other types of shots before i move on to a pose i don't want you to think you have to have a side profile with the head this way to get a good shot that's not the case at all you can definitely get good eye contact with birds say coming towards you like this chestnut teal the head's slightly turned but we've definitely got eye contact you've got owls many raptors a lot of these different species actually look really good from the front and they deliver good eye contact if we have a look at these two black shoulder kite shots the one on the left definitely has eye contact it's almost piercing you almost feel like this bird is staring straight into you and that's a really good connection but the image on the right i like too and it doesn't really have any eye contact at all we can see the eye but it's obvious the bird's not looking at us and that's because the bird is doing what raptors do it's sitting on a perch scanning the ground looking for mice and other things and as a viewer i think we understand that and we know that that's what raptors do and it's expected behaviour so it just works we make a connection because we believe we're watching the bird hunting and that's a type of behaviour which is what we're after so that works for me as well so don't be afraid to try lots of different things and just see what you prefer and what you like that's what it's all about so sometimes due to the light angle you'll get shadows on the bird's eye that's generally if the sun's from your right or from your left it'll cast shadows like on this jacky winter and there's not a lot you can do you can lift the shadows but it just doesn't look as good as actual direct sunlight so just be sure that the sun is coming over your shoulder and you're pointing your own shadow towards the bird and you're far less likely to get shadows on the bird's face all right now that we've got eye contact sorted let's move on to the pose of the bird there's a myriad of different poses and it'd be almost impossible for me to show you all the different poses so i just want to focus on the poses that reveal the bird's best features what makes the bird look the best one way we can figure that out is to look in the field guide or any bird art artists seem to have a really great way of identifying which poses bring out the best in a bird the most common is the side profile shot that you can see in these two beautiful paintings from the 1800s you can also notice the great eye contact so even painters were aware you needed eye contact i think we can learn a lot from art and many of these birds poses can be recreated in photographs and here's an example of a hooded plover photograph imitating art as you can see a side profile shot is a great way of capturing the details of the species alright i've put on the screen the four most common poses for perch birds those being side profile with the tail in front and behind the perch the back and the front view most poses will be a variation of these four and it can depend on the species for which pose suits what bird and that's up to you to figure out some birds will have red on their belly or red on their back or they have something distinctive that you really need to capture so here's a few examples of side profiles that i really like the first ones of a mallee ring neck the tail is in front of the perch and we can get a lot of detail from the back the wings the tail the head and just overall the bird to me looks really good and is a good representation of the bird's features so this female fairy rain is also captured with a side profile and it's got its tail up which is indicative of the species i really like this pose and i believe it captures the fairy end really well so the side profile is also very common for birds that spend their time on the ground so say ducks and shorebirds and that sort of thing if we have a look at this pink air duck which is an unusual duck we have here in australia you can really see the distinctive features of that pink ear and the zebra type stripes when we have a side profile if it was coming straight at you you might not see the pink and the stripes just as well and waders are also another great species to capture sight on you can see these redneck davis sets you get to see their beautiful head and that amazing upturned build which is very unique in that species so if we looked at them front on we might not get that upturn which is very important in capturing this bird so some species have very special characteristics that if you don't capture them kind of lets down the photo have a look at this major mitchell cockatoo shot it's not a bad photo but it's a little bit boring you can see the pink wash on its chest and on its head but this bird has some stunning features that just aren't shown in this shot if we compare that to this next shot which i've taken now that shot really pops you can see the crest and its full glory with all that color and even that magic color under the wings we just didn't get that in the first shot but the second pose allowed us to sort of enjoy everything this bird has to offer and that's up to us as photographers to capture that so it's pretty amazing the difference between these two shots simply two different poses creates two dramatically different looking images and that's ultimately what a lot of it comes down to when you're capturing bird images it's the pose behavior the action it's just something different that makes the photo interesting so another example is the beautiful redcap robin it's got amazing red on its head and on its chest and these are important features for this bird if we look at the photo on the screen i captured both these images in the same session so if we look at the pose on the left we would miss out on showing that incredible chest it's still a keeper for me because i want to keep different poses the photo on the right captures the chest and in my opinion is a much stronger image so some birds are really well known for their singing and it's great to be able to capture a bird singing so superb fairy ren the male will often find the highest perch and he'll sing defending his territory and just letting all the other birds know where he is so of course i like to capture that behaviour and i've got a few photos of the birds singing so i've been talking about perch birds and birds on the ground many of you probably really enjoy birds and flight whilst it's not my strongest type of photography i've taken a number of shots over the years and there's certain poses which i believe work well for birds and flight i've put six of them up on the screen at the moment and these are probably the most common shots you'll get for a bird and flight so let's have a look at them number one is flying towards you and that's a really interesting image because we've got the feet down and the tail up and number four is not too bad it's sort of the horizontal it's interesting because it's just above the water so two and five are probably the weakest images of the six they're just lacking a little bit in my opinion number three and number six i really like the banking type poses where the wings are stretched the birds tilted towards the camera the light is even across the bird i just really like these images but they can be tough to get because one of the hardest things in bird and flight is the shadows of the bird's wings you have to be aware of where the sun's coming from and where you need to stand to try and eliminate those shadows in the pose one thing i want to mention is that good photos are often more than just a good pose they often have to have that something different maybe some sort of behavior and often that behavior trumps the pose so if you can capture really good behavior it often doesn't matter what pose the birds doing because the behaviour is so interesting take a look at these two sacred kingfisher shots on the screen i much prefer the pose on the right because we get to see the beautiful blue back we see the tail just overall it's quite a technically strong image however the image on the left just has that something extra it has a giant spider in the bird's mouth and people are just drawn to that because it's unusual and it's different we don't really care so much that the tail's hidden and it's just the front on view that spider really makes the difference would i like the bird on the right to have the spider 100 i'd much prefer to have a really good pose with the spider that's what i'm striving for to get in my photos and that's a challenge for me going forward all right so we've looked at eye contact we've looked at poses let's try and put that all together and see how we actually select an image once we've been in the field i'll share with you the process that i go through and you might learn something from that so a few videos ago i photographed a lot of birds at f11 and i photographed a female flame robin on a purr this is the photo that i actually showed in the video i really like the eye contact and i really like that pose with the tail up sort of a side profile i just think this was a nice image so why and how did i select this image i selected this because i believe it had the strongest eye contact and pose of all the photos that i took i actually ended up taking 129 different shots of this bird on a perch that gave me lots of different poses to choose from i actually go through all my images on the back of the camera and assign star ratings to the ones that i want to keep this isn't for everyone but it works for me so i went through all 129 images and only the images that were sharp had a good pose had good eye contact would i even consider keeping and of those 129 i ended up only keeping 15. and then i load those 15 onto the computer and i have a look at which ones i rated the best so just in lightroom and it becomes obvious to me which poses are the strongest and i ultimately pick two images so of those 129 i only use two and process two images and these two were slightly different from one another so they were both worth processing so i hope you found this video interesting and it gave you insight into how i choose my images and what i think is good eye contact and a pose of course you don't need to follow this to the letter you can obviously try lots of creative things and different things and that's a really exciting part of photography but understanding the fundamentals of how to achieve a good image will definitely help you in the long run so if you've hung around this long thank you very much i just thought i'd let you know that i've actually put up a new website and on that website i'm actually selling christmas cards and gift cards i sell these at markets and they do really well and i've also put up some digital art and digital photos for sale that you can download yourself and print i'll be adding to these as time goes on but if you're interested in supporting the channel and supporting me i would greatly appreciate it if you had the time to check out my website all right thanks for watching if you like this content give it a thumbs up subscribe if you haven't already of course leave comments below i love the community that we've built and i love answering all your questions so keep that going but until next time bye for now and we'll see you in the next video so sort of suits the composition on that branch the pose isn't too bad the tail you can see mosquitoes so the par i quite like the pose and the images so we can get just that right head turn and eye contact better take a drink too much talking

Channel: Duade Paton

Views: 19,733

Keywords: bird photography tips, bird photography, nature photography, bird photography tutorial, Canon 500 f4 lens, Canon 5dmkIV, Wildlife Photography fundamentals, Canon Lenses, Sony Lenses, Australian Birds, Eye Contact In Wildlife Photography, Best Poses For Wildlife Photography, Bird Photography Techniques, Bird In Flight Poses, How to Choose your best photos, Best Poses & Eye Contact for Engaging Wildlife Photos

Id: YlkCbMZrX4E

Length: 20min 23sec (1223 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 04 2020