Bird Photography: Insights and Inspiration

Mike Milicia gave a great presentation on bird photography (about which he knows more than a little) at our April 25 meeting. He was not scheduled to present but very graciously stepped in when the original presenter was forced to cancel with just a few days notice. We are grateful both for his dedication and his expertise.

Mike addressed a question that he often gets when he is out running bird photography workshops - "Why doesn't MY shot look like that?" (in comparison of course to Mike's own shots). He went through a lot of the things he has learned in his many years of bird photography - knowing where to be to find subjects; getting out at the right time of day and paying attention to sun altitude and azimuth; shooting angle (especially getting down to eye level); burst mode to capture small changes in position; camera settings; use of longer lenses; focus techniques; and more. Mike talked about features that differentiate a great shot from a good shot. Things like small differences in the way the bird's head is turned; capturing behavior; catch light in the eyes ... . All of these were illustrated with photographs that really showed how each little thing made a big difference. 

The meeting was well attended by members of the Photo Group, and there were several non-members who came because they knew Mike would be presenting. If you want to see more of Mike's work (and you should), check out his web siteFacebook, and Instagram