Sunday, June 23, 2013

"The Handbook of Bird Photography," or...where's my new lens?





Even if you aren't interested in photographing birds, this book has gorgeous photos of hundreds of birds. The authors, Markus Varesvuo, Jari Peltomaki and Bence Mate are three amazing award winning photographers from Europe(could you tell by the names they weren't from Cleveland?) I have to thank the folks at Rocky Nook for sending this to me, though it has made me a little depressed...

This book covers everything you need to know about photographing birds from what gear you need(or lust after!,) exposure, focus, light and more technical information. But what really sets this one apart from all of the other bird photo books on the market is it's detailed hints about learning bird behavior and migration patterns. That is what you really need to know to shoot birds!

They also cover ways to attract birds with perching branches, water features and blinds. Then my favorite chapters...pages and pages of birds photographed by these tremendous men from all over Europe, Asia, the middles east and the Americas. The patience it takes to get the shots is something I need to work on...not to mention getting a 500mm lens...maybe Canon will send me one to review...
 A fine example of the photography you'll find in this book.
Definitely not an example of the...uh...photography you'll find in my blog.
 I didn't know that Parrots were such party birds!
You could learn that if you owned this book...
This is, by far, my favorite photo.
Now, I need to learn to sit still, focus, get a longer lens...and there's something else...
Oh yeah, take photos from the FRONT of a bird!