Wildlife photographers deploy a range of tactics when attempting to capture birds, and those which are very easily scared and move incredibly quickly offer a particular challenge. This video shows you some tactics to deploy in order to get some fantastic photos.
Wildlife photographer Trond Westby clearly has a lot of experience of photographing the goldcrests flitting around the forests of Norway. At just 0.2 oz (6 g), the goldcrest is Europe’s smallest bird and is found in throughout almost all of the northern hemisphere outside of North America. Rather distinguished in appearance, its scientific name, R. regulus, means knight or king. They certainly do not sit still for very long.
In addition to the techniques shown in this video, Westby has two other tactics: a lot of patience that couples with a good understanding of how the goldcrests behave. Knowing their feeding habits and movement patterns is fundamental to getting the best results.
Obviously, Westby has a serious amount of gear for capturing these images, and you might be intrigued by his tripod. Westby is using a gimbal head to make it easier to manipulate his huge telephoto lens, and like any good tripod head, one of these does not come cheap.
What other tips would you add? Let us know in the comments below.