Behind the Scenes of Bird Photography in the Jungle With Great Tips

Bird photography is tremendously difficult and so is photographing in a jungle. So, it follows that photographing birds in a jungle will require a lot of skill in patience. Watch as two veteran wildlife photographers go through recent shots and offer some tips and mistakes to avoid.

My first time properly photographing birds and my first time photographing in a jungle were the same shoot and I learned an awful lot. There is so much wisdom that can be passed down from veterans of the niche and you will still make a plethora of mistakes. I am far from a bird photographer, so I'll leave those tips to Jan Wegener and Glenn Bartley, but I do have experience shooting in testing conditions.

Shooting in high heat and high humidity comes with a number of difficulties. I imagined my biggest issue would be fogging of the lenses, but if you're careful, this isn't a problem. What was the biggest issue for me is one that's mentioned in this video: light. The midday sun is brutal for bird photography and unless you can find shade within the canopy, you're in for a rough time. Dappled light and vastly different exposures necessary in small spaces rarely make for pleasing, balanced images.

This video offers some excellent wisdom and actionable tips for any bird photographer as well as anyone shooting in a jungle for the first time.

Rob Baggs's picture

Robert K Baggs is a professional portrait and commercial photographer, educator, and consultant from England. Robert has a First-Class degree in Philosophy and a Master's by Research. In 2015 Robert's work on plagiarism in photography was published as part of several universities' photography degree syllabuses.

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