Shooting bald eagles (photographing)

Shooting bald eagles?

Shooting bald eagles!?! If you were standing near a group of photographers you may hear them say “I shoot wildlife, what do you shoot?” “I shoot kids” “I shoot weddings” Shoot, obviously, means something different to photographers – a photo shoot. Photo shoots take time to plan and execute.

Prior to the shoot

At this point, you already know how to use your camera gear and have a long lens (55-200mm, 100-400mm or longer). Before heading out study up a bit. You need to know the characteristics and nature of the bald eagle, the more you know the better your photography will be. Check out Scott Bourne’s site for more information, he has some amazing bird shots.

During

Once you’ve arrived at your location, settle in and get comfortable…it could be a while. Takes a bit of patience at time to wait for the shot. By studying, you’ve found that you want to be with the sun to your back – that means the bird will be in direct sunlight. Having the sun lower in the sky will better light their wings, if the sun is too high the underside of their wings will be in shadow. Wind also should be at your back, birds tend to take off and land into the wind. Having the wind at your back means they are most likely to fly towards you when taking off.

Settings

You will want to shoot at a minimal of 1/1000, better to be at 1/1500 or 1/2000 or higher in order to freeze the flight motion. Shoot at the lowest ISO possible to lessen the noise (more on noise below). Aperture should allow for the entire eagle to be in focus.

Post

Back from the field and at your computer – time to check out the fruits of your labor. After culling your images and selecting the keepers, it’s time to touch them up. Don’t be afraid to crop your image. Most of the time you’ll want to make sure the star of your photograph takes up at least 75% of the image. If you notice “noise” in your shot, check out NoNoise AI from ON1. It does an amazing job at cleaning up luminance noise that could distract from your final edit.

Shooting bald eagles

Study, prepare, and get out there. Knowing your subject and your equipment will set you up for success when it comes to photographing bald eagles, or any other subjects. Take the time to get the shot, patience pays off.

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