Episode 21: Photographing Bald Eagles and why Manual Makes Everything Easier

Highlights

• Photographing birds in flight happens one of two ways: incidentally or purposefully. If you are serious about creating these types of photographs, then you need to set yourself up for success first.

• Eagles come together in huge aggregations based around the two primary driving forces on Earth: food and sex.

• It’s these aggregations that give us the best opportunity for photographing eagles, especially in flight.

• To be successful at photographing birds in flight, we need to simplify everything we are doing.

• Using exposure settings like aperture priority or auto-ISO sets us up for failure with birds in flight.

• Manual exposure makes everything easier.

 

In Episode 21, Jared and Annalise discuss photographing one of the most iconic species of birds across North America: the bald eagle. Large, majestic, and one of the most acrobatic species of raptors in the Western Hemisphere, bald eagles spill out of the northern latitudes in the fall and winter as they follow their food sources south across the continent. Come late winter, the whole process happens in reverse. As such, bald eagles often arrive in mass aggregations that can total hundreds, if not thousands of these birds in different places. And one particular area of Alaska plays home to the second largest concentration of eagles in North America.

After spending ten days photographing eagles on the wing, creating nearly 150,000 photographs each, your hosts discuss what it takes to return home with such high success rates with birds in flight. Cutting through all the confusion about best practices, Jared explains his methodology for simplifying the process to set yourself up for success.

Want to Go Further? 

Manual Makes Everything Easier

The Best Lens for Birds in Flight

 

Want to join us on a workshop to photograph eagles? 

Epic Eagles of Alaska

 

Mastering Birds in Flight

In the upcoming Spring 2024 issue of PhotoWILD Magazine, we start our series of feature articles on Mastering Birds in Flight. From breaking down the best autofocus settings to field techniques that are guaranteed to significantly improve your success rate, this series will be a tour de force of all things birds in flight. 

Learn More