Why photograph captive birds?
Great way to practice
Can save on travel to exotic lands to find the same creatures
Gives you access you wouldn’t typically get in the wild
Helps capture close up detail
Helps build sample/portfolio
Okay – sorry, but I have to vent. I haven’t written much in this style lately, and I promise to move on to more positive things in my next post, but I am sick and tired of photographers using click bait by writing stories about what does and does not constitute “real photography.”
When I first tried cameras that relied on EVFs I wasn’t impressed. I was used to big, bright, beautiful, optical viewfinders.
But then something happened – EVF builders listened to the criticism that electronic viewfinders brought and made better EVFs.
“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” – Don McCullin
If I were only allowed to give you ONE tip to improve your bird photography, this would be that tip.
Point your shadow at the bird. Side lighting is cool for landscapes. Rembrandt style lighting is cool for portraits. Simple, straight-on, in your face, front lighting is cool for birds.
Unfortunately, the way Instagram works keeps changing and it’s tough to come up with a strategy to organically improve your interactions there.
But there is ONE thing I have tried that works for me, anyway.
Using the right hashtags and using them in the right place.
The Olympus OM-1 is just a small part of a storied history that many people don’t know about. Olympus is in its 100th year and just released a video that touches on some of this and the philosophy behind their approach to making cameras and lenses.
