birds

On Safari: A Hands-On With the New OM System OM-1 Mark II

With the announcement of the OM SYSTEM OM-1 Mark II and the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 150-600 F5.0-6.3 IS Lens, wildlife photography has never been more accessible. Professional wildlife photographer Andy Rouse recently used both on a wildlife safari in the Masai Mara, and he shares exclusively with PetaPixel his favorite images and initial impressions of the kit's wildlife performance.

5 Unique Photography Experiences to Have in Alaska

Alaska is known as The Last Frontier, and for those that have visited, it’s easy to see why. As Lindblad Expeditions’ former Director of Photography, travel photographer Ralph Lee Hopkins has photographed Alaska dozens of times in his career.

Photographer Captures Gorgeous Bird Photos in Her Own Backyard

During the spring and summer of 2021, I did not do a lot of photography in places other than my backyard. I have always spent some time photographing birds in my yard, with my favorite subject being the blue jay.

Photographing Birds with an iPhone: Leave the 600mm Lens at Home?

One of the most popular photo seminars in the world happens every December, when hundreds of photographers flock to the tiny town of Socorro, New Mexico, to document the migration of some 20,000 birds en route to Mexico.

11 Tips for Great Nature Photos That Stand Out From the Crowd

So, you just bought a fancy new telephoto or macro lens and can’t wait to get in super tight, frame-filling photos on a cool subject of animals or plants set off against a posterboard smooth background. After all, that’s why you spent lots of money on those lenses, right?

Zeiss Lens Families Are Named After Birds

In the past decade, Zeiss has launched a number of new lens lines for DSLR and mirrorless cameras with unusual-sounding names such as Batis, Otus, and Milvus. Perhaps you own one of these lenses, but did you know that each of those lens lines is named after a bird?

Portraits of Birds Photographed like Humans

Australian fine art photographer Leila Jeffreys has been shooting studio portraits of birds since 2008. In addition to capturing the beautiful plumage across various species, Jeffreys also shows how birds can have expressions that are strangely humanlike.

Photographer Captures the Rainbows in Hummingbird Wings

Australian photographer Christian Spencer has spent 19 years living in Brazil's Itatiaia National Park, and one of the things he has focused his camera on is the beautiful sight of sunlight passing through hummingbird wings. His project is titled Winged Prism.

Striking Long Exposures Document Life on a Holy River Though Clouds of Migratory Birds

For Delhi-based photographer Sankar Sridhar, the Yamuna river represents a contradiction that he wanted to capture. Choked by industrial and household waste, it's devoid of aquatic life; and yet, every winter, millions of migratory birds come to the legendary river, which is revered as the only river with the power to grant immortality to humans.

5 Rules for Better Bird Photos, or: It’s All About the Eyes

It’d be cliche to say that the eyes are the window to the soul, but they’re certainly the key to a compelling photograph. This is intuitive when photographing people and pets, but no less true for birds. It’s just that with small, fast-moving subjects, it takes more care and skill.

An Eye-Popping Starling Murmuration Captured in Black and White

In the relatively warm winter between 2014 and 2015, common starlings were found staying in the Netherlands instead of migrating to the south. Photographer and filmmaker Jan van IJken took his camera out and shot this beautiful short film titled "The Art of Flying." It shows thousands upon thousands of birds flying in eye-popping swarms (known as murmurations).

How to Photograph Birds in Flight

Shooting photos of birds in flight can be a difficult challenge in wildlife photography. Here's a 6-minute tutorial by Nature TTL that offers tips on this sub-genre. Considered by some to be one of the hardest forms of wildlife photography, freezing the high-speed action of a bird whizzing past you is rewarding when you succeed.