Songbird Photography

Songbird photography can be a lot of fun looking for these very colorful birds.  These birds have a lot of rich color and move fast which makes the photography a little more difficult.  They are birds of habit, so I have found just sitting and watching them teaches me how they act.  They are very active in the early morning or late in the day.  Songbirds can be found anytime of the day but tend to hide in the brush midday. 

Planning My Day

When I am planning to do photograph songbirds, I do usually pick a sunny nice day and leave early in the morning.  I set my camera on high-speed shooting with continuous auto focus.   The camera has animal tracking feature and eye detection does work very well as long as the bird is not in dense brush.  

When I focus on birds sitting on a branch, single shot shooting is turned on, and I sit down waiting for the birds to come by.   Side views of the bird with the eye showing well make good photos.  I set the depth of field wide enough to get the entire bird focus but keep the background soft to not be distracting. 

Birds in flight can be more difficult because these birds move fast.  Using a very fast shutter speed and the tracking that is in my camera, I do manage to get some nice shots.   I avoid shooting a bird against the blue sky because I want to capture some of the environment in the area.