Bird Photography Tips: Beginner to Pro!

Professional photographers Tony & Chelsea Northrup share their 35 years of combined bird photography experience in this wildlife photography tutorial to bring you from a beginner to an advanced amateur and finally to the professional photographer level!

Beginner camera body recommendations:

Beginner lens recommendations:

Advanced camera recommendations:

Professional camera recommendations:

0:00 Introduction
0:17 KEH
0:37 Level 1: Beginning Birder
3:22 Level 2: Advanced Amateur
7:17 Level 3: Professional Bird Photographer
11:54 Summary

[MarkSmithphotography]

Thank you so much for the kind words and showing my book! That was awesome of you two!!!

[toddleech]

i got to admit, this is probably the best video you have made. i truly enjoyed this one. thanks for posting.

[Rickyp]

Yesss! Native plants. So beneficial for so many reasons. So important.

[myrtle.martyn]

Your advice on using backlit subjects was so well shown with the golden light shining through Chelsea’s hair! 📸

[jeroenschoondergang]

Great video guys. I would like to add two pointers: if you have the room in your garden, add two specific features: water (an accessible small pond) and sand. All birds drink and most passerine birds like to take a sand bath. Not only will these features draw in birds, they will also provide you with opportunities to get some cool shots of birds spraying up water or flapping their winds in sand clouds.
My second pointer would be: learn the lay of the land of your favourite spots, especially when you use designated bird huts or viewing points. My favourite lake only allows me to take photos westward, which means that in the evening I have the sun in my face. So sunrise is the best best for spectacular golden hour shots there. Google maps is your friend.

[randoper]

They do such an amazing service to the photo community

[Topgunphoto]

Back Button Focus makes bird photography much easier, also for bigger birds like snowy owls and osprey's, stand up wind as most large birds are like planes and fly into the wind for lift. This way they're coming at you for the head on shots.

[thayerbigelow]

Great review. Loved using shutter priority. Hadn’t done that before. Also pleased that you referenced Mark Smith’s Osprey book. A wonderful book. And a fun workshop leader

[natolinaturephotography]

Great content and delivery today. Nicely done. I agree about learning the behaviour of subjects. That’s the fun part - understanding their behaviour, anticipating what the species might do next and then capturing that moment in time. ❤

[RetrieverTrainingAlone]

EXCELLENT! I am a newbie in Montana. There is a wonderful seasonal pulse of birds I like to focus on...early spring waterfowl at the peak of their breeding plumage, then songbirds singing in their territories, waterfowl then are in dull eclipse plumage, but hawks and owls have fledged so the opportunity for close up shots of young hawks and owls peak in late July, in August pelicans and Canada Geese in large flocks give the opportunity for in-flight photos. I am retired and naturally wake up a couple hours before sunrise so getting set up in the dark before the dawn is what I found works best for me.

[skipcampbell]

I bought a R7 today from Milford people very helpful....

[DeadeyeJoe]

Love this! Need another one of these videos for landscape photography and other genres.

[toneian]

You two are legit. Bought your books years ago and still the quality is amazing. Keep up the great work!

[LarryMarvin]

Thank you very much for this one. A great intro for me and now I know which lens I'm going for!

[alexburke]

Love the video those were some great tips for all kinds of photographers. It really helped me with choosing which photographer I am and which gear I should get. 📸

[Badonicus]

Passing off a KEH ad as a tutorial for bird photography. Clever.

[pistons]

Wildlife photography is way more than just going out there with your gears. It is as Chelsea said....learning about the animals and their habitats. Great video Tony & Chelsea.

[HeadlessChickenTO]

I just started practicing some of these myself. I have a bird feeder in my backyard and my Sigma 150-600 C on a tripod (or at the very least ready to mount). I also went to my nearby parking lot where pigeons and guls hang, managed to get some decent shots there. Not much happening in my nearby parks other then some ducks, squirrels, and chipmunks. The salmon run is on, I wanna see if I can grab something interesting at a local stream where I know salmon travels and jumps. I'm not much of an editor though, I've played around with some free software.

[donstravelsandrants.]

Great tips. Great image quality on your video. Amazing production.👍😊🇮🇪🇺🇲

[gewglesux]

Thanks you two!!! great stuff in this one