How to photograph wild birds with Simon Roy




Practical Photography joins wildlife expert Simon Roy at a Yorkshire nature reserve to find out how he shoots incredible images of blue tits, great tits and robins.

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44 responses to “How to photograph wild birds with Simon Roy”

  1. No exposure settings, no tripod, gimbal, camera or lens details, just the incessant babbling, for 10 min., of the sidekick guy about how to tie a stick and when to press the shutter. Really????? The title of the video should be "How to make a really annoying bird photography video."

  2. Not really the kind of tips I’m looking for. I found a spot where someone filled a hollow stump w seeds and got 4 different bird types in about 2 mins. You get great shots but it was too easy. Like fishing by dropping m80’s in the water. My bird photography style of searching and waiting is more fulfilling but to each their own I guess

  3. Great Video for taking pictures of Tame birds , I would not try it with Birds of prey though, some settings information would be great too!! Nice tip on the glove wearing, I always wondered why they flew off just as I reach for the camera. !!!!

  4. Great video. I sort of do this, but I tend to use existing bird tables at a local country park. The birds there are incredibly tame. My approach is slightly different, in that I personally prefer to capture an image of a bird with food in it's beak. I also prefer to capture them as they are about to land or are leaving the feeding station and are in mid – air. I always use my Olympus EM1 mark II set to ProCapture with my Olympus 12 – 100mm f4 lens. I find it better than my Oly 300mm f4 because of the wider field of view. Though my D500 is a brilliant camera, in my hands it cannot compete with my EM1.2 in this type of scenario. If you wish to make a bird table appear a little more natural, you can disguise the edges with lichen and moss – the birds won't mind. I also use ProCapture when photographing birds approaching/leaving hanging feeders, cropping the feeder out in LR. What I discovered early on, is that you cannot just choose a random location, put food out and expect birds to flock in. If you choose somewhere off the beaten track, you need to visit a few times and put food out, so the birds know where to find it and get used to visiting your chosen location.

  5. Nice video with some good tips. What I do not understand is why you are hoping that the birds do not have food in their beaks? I would have thought that a picture of a robin with some nesting material in its mouth would make a lovely photo.

  6. I usually push a few sticks in the ground under my bird feeder. Reason being the feed drops to ground and birds that get pushed out go to the ground to eat instead. So they perch waiting their turn and that's when they look normal out in woods.

  7. Loved your set up, is it possible for you to tell me what settings you used on that day please, and what lens as the other chappie had a much different lens, whilst yours was enormous and on a gimbal, his what much smaller on a different type of head.

  8. Thanks for the trips. I shoot black & white urban photography. Yet in need of a larger zoom so looks less invasive when shooting people out and about. Could you please recommend several good lens the would be suitable for using at a distance? that aren't too expensive.

  9. Birds in your area seemed very friendly they play along even when you're near. I tried putting bird seeds in one corner of our rooftop and waited in vain but no birds seemed to care. I even put once a remote motion detector device to trigger my DSLR from distance, but no bird seem to approach the setup. I just realized birds here in my area are too shy to be photographed. I have more success in shoot birds from afar and in the trees using long telephoto than with a bird feeder.

  10. This is only a good idea when taking photos of tamed birds (those that are used to being fed). Luring birds like owls with mice in an open field is significantly frowned upon in the birding and scientific community as it conditions them to be significantly reliant on humans for food, creating an independence towards humans making them less resilient.

  11. Camera setting are f stop that gives you enough light at the fast shutter speed your using. Remember lens will lay a part are ypu using 600mm 2.5 or 5.6 are you using a 70 to 200 1.4 or 5.6… manual or shutter priority. So asking camera setting are not going to help. Will say you need fast shutter speed f stop for distance on focus. Tripod and iso to help get speed.

  12. I shoot birds on a feeder at home, when I go out to shoot wild birds that’s what I want but my other great passion is birding. It’s not a right or wrong thing and I can see this being a great starting point until you learn where birds will naturally be and at what times. Tits and robins are also great birds to start with until you become more proficient.

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