Shoot Beautiful Birds In Your Garden
Practical Photography: Lite|April 2017

IF YOU WANT TO TRY your hand at wildlife photography, garden birds are the ideal subject to get you started.

Shoot Beautiful Birds In Your Garden

There are lots of different species to shoot, they’re active during daylight hours, and virtually everyone in the UK has an abundance of them right on their doorstep. What’s more, you don’t necessarily need expensive telephoto lenses as you do when photographing many other types of animal.

The best time of year to photograph garden birds is in the winter and early spring, when food in the wild is at its most scarce. Birds are more likely to visit your garden regularly during this time if you make food available. The easiest option is to a hang a bird feeder from a tree branch or from the roof of a garden shed, although they don’t tend to look particularly good in-shot. It’s better if you can find a gnarly tree stump or log, and place food on that. Keep the food out of shot for the most natural-looking image. Some photographers even drill holes in the wood to hide the food in.

This story is from the April 2017 edition of Practical Photography: Lite.

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This story is from the April 2017 edition of Practical Photography: Lite.

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