Serene Green: Making Impact in Bird Photography

• By Gaurav Mittal
• No Comments

Birds by far are one of the most popular subjects in wildlife photography; every minute thousands of images are uploaded online showing birds in flight or behavioral activity. However, amongst the thousands only a few are attention catching. The problem lies in the fact that very little thought process is involved in the creativity, the composition and accurate post processing of the image.

While photographing the Purple Herons in Bharatpur recently, I wanted to capture it’s hunting behavior and include the surroundings, the challenge was to come up with an image which would be different and engaging . While this sounds rather simple and most photographers are aware of the basic rules in bird photography, many images lack the power to keep the viewer engaged. For the image of the Purple Heron above, I waited till it was in an area where the foreground and the background had a consistent and harmonious look, I then moved around and got a little lower to further place the bird in the frame where it seems to appear out of the marsh leaves.

Leaving more space in front of the bird allows the viewer to feel it’s movement in that direction. The serene green marsh leaves allows for a sense of isolation, calmness and a personal connection with the bird, which in turn keeps us engaged with the entire scene.

You can learn more about exposure and composition at my workshop in Bharatpur early next year. For more information click here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags | 600mm, Action & Behavior, Bharatpur, Purple Heron