Painted Stork closeup photo

Bird photography is tricky

Birds don’t give a damn that you’re trying to click a beautiful photo of theirs and hope to get 100s of likes on facebook. They don’t care to pose for you. So we need to wait with patience for that one good shot.

Birds don't trust humans. Of all the living creatures humans are probably least trusted ones by other species (and within too). This means birds won't come closer to you so that you can take better photo. We need to use telephoto lens and bigger ones at that. Even 300mm is usually not adequate. 

Birds are hyperactive and won't stay still. What this means is we need to be fast. Birds won't wait till I take the camera out, fix the lens, set up tripod, position, focus and click. Most of the time camera takes a second or two to focus and in that critical moment, birds move away and a potential good shot is lost.

Hence in order to photograph birds, one needs to be either extremely lucky (all the above works in our favor) or one should have lots of time and patience to wait for hours and get a good shot. Being weekend traveler, I don't have luxury of time and I usually rely on the former- luck.

Why I said all these is because of below shot. While exploring birds at Vedanthangal, I accidentally managed to click the below. A painted stork flew relatively close and I managed to click this. I feel it is the closest bird in flight I've clicked properly so far.

Two other close up photos (nothing unique about them)- First one is Black headed Ibis and other one is Pelican

 View more bird photos: Birds at our village Set 1 * Set 2 * Birds at Bheemeshwari * Birds on a powerline * Birds at Karanji Lake, Mysore * Macaw and other birds, KL *