Lessons
Class Introduction
00:25 2Location Scouting
12:54 3Gear
07:43 4Camera Settings
05:54 5Four Tips for Bird Photography
02:09 6Composition
01:51 7Lighting for Bird Photography
01:43 8Setting Photo Goals - Lewis's Woodpecker
08:03Lesson Info
Framing Your Shot - Ruddy Ducks
So there's this really cool scene right now with all the bugs on this lake. We're shooting into the sun to get them highlighted and there's a family of ruddy ducks swimming right across in a perfect line. So I've got the mom in the front with a couple of chicks following. Got all the bugs highlighted and I've got them haloed, looks really, really pretty. So all I'm doing is I'm actually underexposing slightly because I want kind of the center bodies to be really dark and I want that halo to really pop. So we're underexposing and then also making sure that you don't cut any of the babies off, so you wanna keep everything in the frame, but you also wanna leave enough room on the left, they're swimming to the left. You wanna need enough room on the left to crop it so that they're not swimming out of the frame. That's really important. So it's kind of this balancing act between how many babies to include. I actually cut one baby out of the frame completely because I needed to keep the mom ...
in the middle so that she could be swimming into the frame. But it's a really cool photo op. They're really far away, but when you include the entire scene, it becomes an image instead of of just a tiny little bird in a picture.
Ratings and Reviews
Cynthia
I liked this class. It gives beginners a great place to start photographing birds. I especially liked his lesson on post-processing. Too many classes skip that part. The use of bird calls is what it is. To be competitive in bird photography you probably have to use them. I personally won't; it's just not worth it to me. So nice to see a young person active in this field!
Colleen Church
This class is wonderful. Ben give you some very helpful information to starting your photo birding adventures. The apps he suggested are very helpful. The tips for scouting and what to look get you going. I will definitely be watching it again.
a Creativelive Student
I really enjoyed this course. The instructor doesn't beat around the bush. He gives you useful information that you can implement. I especially loved that he talks about apps on your phone that could be used to make your experience more fruitful. The only thing I didn't like was the advertisement for Olympus, but you can just skip that part.