Photographing Your Beauties...

Does anyone have tips for photograping poultry?

I often see beautiful photos that look sooooo nice of people's flocks or individual birds.

However, when I try, they just don't seem to look as good. Someone walks right infront of the bird I'm trying to photograph, or the subject bird shakes and looks like a blurry, seizuring bird, etc.

What do you do to take nice, quality photos of your birds that shows off their conformation?

I PMd you some of the birds in the pics I just posted are from you.

I have an old SLR camera that I took a lot of great pictures. In this digital age it is too slow, but our new digital camera just does not take good photos.

i feed mine to get them all close then after they are done eating they hang around me then i just keep snapping pics...sometimes i take 100 and only a handfull are decent...

You have to start training your birds when they are chicks to stand a pose LOL. A good camera with a fast shutter speed and high resolution then you down size them in the editer,

I find it is space as well. When a bird is further away they are more calm and you get better pictures. So a good Zoom lense is essential. Unfortunately when birds are in a pen it is the hardest, and right now that is where all my birds are so good shots are very difficult. I too take a tonne of pictures, pick out the best of them and then resize as pops says if needed.
But even at that, most of the time when you have one specific bird to get a picture of, they are the ones that do the best hiding, ducking, or plane just butt to the camera.

Yes a good zoom is a must, all the pictures I posted today in I took today,

We also train horses, and I've worked with a couple of women who did professional equine photography. Some of the tricks probably cross over well. Often to get an alert expression on a horse we would jingle something to catch their attention, keys, oats ect. My Wyndottes seem to have quite an interest in whistling.

One of the other major issues is lighting. I would think especially with a bird that has any irridecence in its feathers. One thing that was recomended to me was to take a plastic horse (or chicken!) and set it on the deck or in the location you'll be photographing (ie, the coop?) and take pictures of it at different times of the day. A stationary object will give you a better idea of how the shadows and intensity of light will affect the appearance of the animal. You could also use a shed tailfeather to get an idea of the best lighting to show off irridecence.

A higher shutter speed is generally a good idea when photographing any kind of animal, it helps eleminate the blur you get when they move. I beleive a lot of digital cameras have them nowdays. However, higher shutter speeds often require brighter light to get a good exposure or your pictures may turn out too dark.

Hope that helps a bit!

Good question. I love taking pictures of my birds (and make you all suffer looking at them ). I go out with lots of time and sit on the bucket I usually sit on and watch like I usually do. When they start to get comfortable and not all wanting to come and look at me to close, I start taking pictures. I find that I am better not to zoom to much, as any movement can make the picture more blurry, but crop the picture later to get the bird I want. Some times I end up with more than one good bird in one picture and I just save the crops separately.
I think the best pictures are just of the birds with not to much other distraction in them.
The other secret that others have said already is take TONS of pictures! You may only get one good shot of the bird you like, but sometimes that is what it takes.
I also use the noise trick that Swamp Hen talks about. You just have to find a noise that gets their attention, but doesn`t stretch their necks so much that they all look like game birds!
You have gotten lots of good tips, I look forward to seeing all your amazing pictures now.

LOL! No pressure, hey?

I think my problem is that I don't take enough photos. There are a few of my birds that are too shy to photograph well, so they will have to wait until they are in breeding pens I suppose. The other problem I have is that some of them are so nosey they have to be at/on my feet, looking up. That doesn't make for good photos, either!

I will try all the suggestions and see if I can't get the photo editor working, I haven't used it before so we'll see.

When the rain lets up I'll try for more photos! The pen that my youngsters are in for winter is mostly under tree cover, so it will be hard to get good quality lighting for the next few months, but good opportunity to try!

Oh ya, totally agree, you have to take LOTS of pictures. A day that does not have really bright sunshine is good. I like to have my back to the sun if it is a sunny day, but in the waning sunlight, you have to be careful of the shadow of yourself. Compared to when the sun is high in the sky and the shadow is not so easy to get. Winter is hard in that way. Do not use a flash unless it is a dark day. I never have my flash on, only if I am inside and it is dark. A fast shutter speed is good too, but as said, it requires more light. I don't know a lot about photography, but have a very nice pocket style Sony camera that takes absolutely marvelous pictures. It has a fast speed too. When I take a picture, it takes it that very second, not the delay that I had experienced before. Like when I pushed the button and it took like 1 to 2 seconds to take a picture. That was very annoying and I lost a lot of time, whilst something moved, sigh. A bad picture result. I think you can get cards to enhance speed of the shutter too, if I am not mistaken.

I have an excellent macro too, which is very nice for taking those close up shots. Calm birds help, smiling. Anything you can do to keep your birds calm. I like to, as many people do, get down and dirty with the birds. Rarely will I take a picture from a standing up position, unless it is something that can be taken standing up, like a picture of a thing that is not at ground's level. Sitting on a bucket, sitting on a milk crate, or plain and simply on my knees or squatting are the best shots. Right at the same level as the bird or other object.

You have had some excellent tips, and I am listening to these tips too. I really need to get out there and get some pictures of all my birds. Something I really want to get a picture of is the two buff orpington flocks of birds. They are in a pen side by side and there really is a difference between the hatchery stock and the breeder stock. When I get those pictures it will sure be a teller of that tale. Good picture taking, now get out there and get the pictures done, and show us what ya got!!!

Have a most wonderful and beautiful day, CynthiaM.