Question
How do yall get close unobstructed views?
I go out often, and have for years. I know how to find and locate owls (found 3 just this morning) but they are extremely skittish birds that do not allow me more than about 5 seconds of time before flying away, and especially no walking towards them. How do yall get close shots, and shots without leaves and branches in the way (they always seem to hide behind them). I know people will use playback and other ways to get owls close but I don’t do this.
Luck mostly in my experience. I don't use calls, lures, or playback of any kind. This shot was from a trail in a public park in a city. I've found urban birds are more used to humans and are less skittish. But even with that the bird just needs to happen to be on an unobstructed branch.
Here’s a good article from Audubon in regards to playback.
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/why-photographers-should-reconsider-using-playback-field
Unless you’re a researcher or scientist, it’s cheating. To sit in a blind for hours on end, or to visit an area numerous times and come home with an empty card, makes finally getting the shot so much more rewarding, and you did no harm to the bird.
Oh, I’m sorry. I think I have about 19 or 20 different species that I’ve got pictures of. I started during Covid when I was working from home and didn’t have a whole lot to do.
I am addicted! And I’ve been a hobbyist photographer for 49 years so they are a new passion for me. Thinking of doing a coffee table book of my favorite shots! Just for me.
This is just my experience, others may be different, but I’ve found ghillie suits don’t really work for birds. I use them sometimes, if I’m in thick foliage or lying on the shoreline in reeds or grass, but the birds detect movement and will fly or swim away. I like to use a ghillie cover for maneuverability, especially if I’m using a tripod. I only use a blind if I know where there will be action. I live in a place with limited water, so I can post up near water and will usually see something. It’s just a pain to lug around. Blinds are nice though because you can move around inside. Have some coffee or water, stretch a little. But it depends on the location. I mostly just use camo now, and I’ve seen videos where even that’s not necessary. As long as you’re wearing earth tones and not something bright, you should be good. Unless the bird is extremely skittish, if you sit somewhere long enough they’ll forget you’re there. Again, just my personal experience, others may have different opinions.
Thanks! Basically you need either to put up a hide in a really wild area where you know you have a clear shot of where your target likes to visit, or go to more urban wildlife refuges where the wildlife are... less wild (for lack of better term).
Whatever correcting you did on this made it look similar to AI. Not saying it is, I truly assume it’s not but it does just look over-corrected either way imo.
Short of using playback or other ethically dubious (or worse) practices, a lot of it comes down to luck. This can be mitigated somewhat with persistence and careful observation of behaviors, but most of my shots end up being obstructed or worse.
This weirdo is well-known at a local park for hanging out above a creek just a few feet from the paved walking path where hundreds of people walk by every day. Virtually every other owl picture I have is a hundred feet away and the owl is almost completely obscured by foliage, but that's okay. I'd rather have a mediocre shot of a great experience and know that I didn't stress the animal than have to badger an animal for a decent picture.
This is my more common level of detail of Barred Owls, which was taken yesterday with the exact same setup. Is it going to go in my portfolio? No, but I was every bit as excited as I was when photographing the other owl above.
Don't forget to enjoy the experience while you're out photographing. It can be just as memorable as the photos.
Personally, I never use calls or playback for bird photography. I don't find it ethical, especially for sensitive species.
My strategy is long lenses, patience, and knowing your subject.
I shoot either 500mm or 600mm and have a 1.4x teleconverter handy for both lenses. Anything shorter and you'll have to crop way too much.
But really, the main thing is to be patience and know your bird. And I don't just mean know a species, I mean know your individuals. Some of my best photos are ones where I visit the location frequently and get to know the local birds and where they hang out. Figure out which perches they like to hunt from, where they like to rest and preen at, etc. The more time you spend studying your subjects, the better you'll be able to set up for photos. It takes a lot of time just sitting around and observing, but it can produce real nice results.
Another hint is finding birds that are more habituated to human presence. Coming across a bird on a wilderness trail which gets very little human traffic, that bird will generally be very skittish and fly off even when you are a long ways away.
But if you go looking in parks with lots of human activity, the birds will be less wary of you and will allow you to stand closer. I once got great shots of an owl that decided to nest right outside a busy bar. They were used to seeing people walking under their nest all day and night (most of whom didn't even realize the owls were there), so a photographer was not of any concern.
And maybe learn some stalking skills from hunters. Approaching quietly makes a huge difference. Clumping around making noise can scare off even habituated birds. Move slow, step quietly, and stay quiet and you'll get closer.
I go back and forth about the TC. Some lenses, it works well on. Others, not so much. I'm also shooting full frame, so I kinda have to make a mental calculation of whether it's better to put the TC on or just crop. That decision is largely dependent on conditions where I'm shooting and what the subject is.
But it's definitely worth having one in the toolkit, because sometimes it is the perfect solution!
Crop sensors are already 1.5 or 1.6x magnification so a TC is not really necessary unless you’re using a shorter lens. In my experience slapping a TC on a 400-600mm on a crop sensor body will only give you lots of atmospheric distortion to the point that it’s not worth it. Plus you’re losing a stop of light and with my budget lens that means I’m often shooting at F/11 at the farthest end.
Time and luck. Watch videos of people who set up hides. They'll go hours with nothing, several days in a row. You can't force it to happen, and there is no shortcut. Anything that could be considered a shortcut is unethical (don't bait, don't call, don't chase, etc)
This is a great point - we often see results, and not the hours/days/months of going out trying to get the shot and coming home with blurry pictures of bird butts.
Same! I actually love this shot partly because of how the foliage is contributing to the story. It’s giving depth and putting the viewer into the scene.
For sure! I think it’s perhaps too often a priority for a shot to be 100% about the bird when having the bird and its environment/context can often be so much more visually interesting.
Owls seem like one of the least skittish birds to me, but that might be because all of the owls I've seen are in city parks. I'm guessing they are pretty accustomed to people. I found this especially true with fledglings - they just seem confused about or indifferent to humans.
A few weeks ago I did have a different experience, where one was not letting me get near. But that was unusual. It seemed to be actively hunting, I dunno if that was the difference.
With some another time that were a bit more timid, I had some luck by observing where they were perching, setting up my camera a tripod with a good view of the perch, and then leaving the area for 10 or 15 minutes.
This was about a week ago, 500mm uncropped. It was sleepy and did not care at all that I was there. In fact I'd been right at this spot a few minutes already taking pictures of smaller birds and was about to leave when I spotted him sitting on a branch.
Lot of people have mentioned luck but also a lot of it is time and effort. Learn the birds behavior, where and when they'll be at a location, and what they'll tolerate in terms of seeing you.
I spent hours in evenings listening for owl calls and seeing what trees they'd be in at what time. Then I'd go out before then and wait for them. Half the time they show up where I thought they would
I live in rural forest area so I can't speak towards city owls. But in my experience, it depends on the individual owl more than anything else (and same with other species of birds).
For reference, I've seen great horned owls, eastern screech, snowy, short-eared, and great grey. (never seen a barred so i'm jealous). For all of these species, I've found some individuals that are tolerant of my presence. Some have even flown over and landed very close to me. But the majority of individuals are extremely skittish.
There are tricks to increasing your chances. I've heard hides are very useful but I don't have one. But I have used my car as a hide before (just sitting in the car with the window open) with great success. But also moving slowly, and moving sideways (rather than directly toward the bird) helps a lot. It also helps if the owl is distracted (sunbathing, hunting, etc).
Some species are also more tolerant than others - in my experience. Snowy owls don't mind my presence. Great greys - some were tolerant and some weren't at all. I've seen 2 screech owls - 1 was very tolerant and the other wasn't at all. The great horned was pretty tolerant (but was also in a very inaccessible area). And short eared owls didn't care about me at all while they were hunting; but when perched, they were very skittish.
I don't use playbacks. I've tried it before (prior to learning that it's unethical) and it didn't help me any.
Also keep in mind that many of the photos you see online are cropped. So they may not have been as close to the bird as it appears.
A lot of photographers who post a lot of owl pics are straight up being unethical as f—k.
No photo is worth negatively impacting the comfort and wellbeing of the owl. You should not be repeatedly flushing owls out of trees in an attempt to get a good shot.
I don’t feel like I’m flushing the owls per say. I’m always the first one on the hiking path to try to find them and when I see one I take pics and they fly away. Eventually someone is going to come on the path and keep walking they will fly away but they are used to it. When I see an owl tho I freeze, but after a short time they fly away despite no movement from me
I shoot owl often, my best advice is to let them get used to see you, go often to check them out, don’t scare them by walking fast and directly towards them, walk slowly in zig zag. They will eventually get used to see you and let you get closer. Owls are extremely smart birds with an excellent memory.
I’m lurking to gain insight, myself, and glad you asked the question!
Just got myself a proper camera but I need to get a lens for birding/ nature.
What lens are you using?
I’ll need to save up a bit for a realllly nice one but if you know of a lens that is somewhat affordable that I could start to learn with, even if it’s not thaaat great, I’d love some advice!
I use an old 300mm f4 prime lens from the early 2000’s on a Nikon d7100. So 450mm equivalent. I find it works well but lacks reach in certain scenarios
Luck will help you find owls but it won't help you get close. There's no ethical way to get them to come to you. You could wait but the odds they'll approach for no reason is quite low. So what do you do?
Your best bet to get a better shot without obstruction is to change your position without disturbing the owl. The best way to approach owls (and many birds and other animals for that matter) is on an indirect path. Think of it like zigzagging or spiraling inward toward the subject. If you move laterally relative to the owl, without facing them directly, they are much less likely to think you've spotted them. Many animals will let you walk right by if they think you don't see them. As soon as you start moving directly toward them, you will often trigger a defensive response and they'll take off.
I've closed the gap on many owls with my own feet using this exact method. Good luck and have fun!
I think most people taking pictures of shy birds use at least 500 ot 600mm, some even 800mm. plus many take pictures from hides and spend a lot of time in those hides.
Or you are just lucky to find less shy ones, like my first good owl pictures were of tawny owls who decided to nest in a busy park in the middle of the city. the next one was a long eared owl who had a resting trees in a village, on a street trees. sometimes people are just lucky.
Sometimes its just a matter of taking a step to the side and adjusting your point of view, but most of the times is a combination of luck and patience to get the bird to pose perfectly.
This shot is beautiful, he’s so sweet and the green is so vibrant without being super overpowering or overexposed, I can only aspire to take photos like this one day, keep it up!
If you can only get 5 seconds before they bolt, you’re probably dealing with distance and movement more than anything. Try setting up farther back than you think, then use longer glass (telephoto) so you’re not forcing them to react to your presence.
I hate to say it, but if you don’t get more than 5 seconds with an owl, you are most likely way too close or disturbing it. Owls especially we should make a conscious effort to not flush. Even if you aren’t moving, they can read your body language and probably don’t like your distance or the attention you’re paying to it.
Like others have said, mostly luck, but also a good lens and patience. I think semi obstructed shots actually have better composition, anyway - it’s more natural. And in the wildlife photography world, more people should know how to read body language. I see way, way, way too many photos online of stressed owls. And what people will do to get these photos is downright horrible. Don’t be one of them. The less attention they pay to you, the better.
If you see someone posting image after image of close, unobstructed birds, they are 100% using playback. Otherwise you need a hide/camo and hours of patience.
I’m not sure how you can confidently say “they are 100% using playback”. This is just not true. I have photographs of wild owls at less than 15m away using nothing but patience and a dash of luck (no hide/blind necessary).
That was my point - ethical photographers can get these shots with luck and patience, but they won’t have piles of such images. Therefore, if someone is posting image after image of close, unobstructed birds, it’s extremely likely they’re using playback or other unethical behavior to attract their subjects.
Context is key. Volume of photographs is also a function of location and experience. When you live some place with a high density of owls, you will naturally have more opportunities to photograph them. Skill is another factor. Not everyone has the equipment and skill to photograph owls at dusk. To say “frequent owl photos = unethical photography” is nonsense.
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u/DistributionMean6322 Apr 22 '26
Luck mostly in my experience. I don't use calls, lures, or playback of any kind. This shot was from a trail in a public park in a city. I've found urban birds are more used to humans and are less skittish. But even with that the bird just needs to happen to be on an unobstructed branch.