The Trekkie's Forum

The general rule is 3rds; if the bird fills most of the frame, then obvioulsy the rule can't apply...as for the bird taking up at least 50% of the frame, neh, not necessary...a great shot can have the bird as just a small focal point in its surroundings...in fact you will find that these are the next favourites of publishers!

One of the difficult things to learn about composition is actually not to always crop right into almost filling the frame with the bird; they call this "documentation". Birds in flight should always have "space to fly" in front of them, it makes for better composition, that being said, BIF close-up, especially flying "in to" the lens, can also be very striking!

I think where photography is concerned, and most of life really hehe, is learn the rules REALLY well then set about breaking them properly, that's usually when photography will start becoming art

Imax, I am no expert at this but I always like to have my subjects looking into the photo and as Jay mentioned about BIF shots and having the birds fly into an area, that is the way I like to compose my shots.
The truth however is depending on the photo and the background it isn't always possible to use one of the thirds without it looking silly. This I have especially realised since getting CS5, which splits your cropping area into thirds making it easier to compose your shot.
I suppose at the end of the day you have to look at shots that really appeal to you and see what the photographer did with the photo that makes it so appealing.

Niall, I agree that at times people overdo the thirds rule and leave way too much space on one side of the photo, and if this open space is cluttered and busy with branches, weeds, grass etc, then it defeats the whole purpose of using thirds.

Last edited by Safari Ranger (02-02-2012 12:59:04)

p.s. ideally I would have liked just a little more "head space" above the bird, just a touch.

Thanx, Naill, LOL!

Imax wrote:

What are the principles for good bird photography?

The rule of thirds are applied in composure of most photos, yet when looking at a lot of publised bird photos the bird often sits smack in the middle of the photo.

The rule absolutely works, just look at the cover of the lastest ABB and the same bee eater shot in the magazine, the composure with the bird on one of the 3rds lines just works.

Somehere I read an article of one of our well know bird photographers where it was stated that in a good bird photo, the bird needs to take up at least 50% of the poto, but thats where I battle with composure in relation to the thirds.

Id like to hear some views.

Hi Imax,
The rule of thirds has a lot to do with balance. Too much empty space (which can even be twigs or leaves) let the "scale tip over" If you can understand what I mean. But if the subject illustrated is so dramatic that it will hold the eye and interest it doesn't matter, even if it is in the middle, this is why competitions like BBC wildlife sometimes choose exactly that images to carry the message over.

I think most of our photo bird books are more about illustrating the birds and there ID features rather than about high quality beautiful photographs of birds. I think the new "Big book" is going to chance that, looking forward seeing the end result!

Imax, my mom is friends with a world famous photographer (from SA) who told her that most photo contests "are nonsense" and it is not any judge of good photography ...I think the best advice is practice, practice, practice; look at the best photographers in the world's work and after a while you will notice your style emerges, then evolves (constantly albeit it slowly) and one day when we are old and grey some of us MAY even be famous photographers too