This is part eight of a four-part series on composition. And so the composition thing continues. Today, I wanna talk about pushing yourself beyond the obvious. For the last couple of years, I've been telling myself I would never become a bird photographer and certainly never a birder. And then last year, I led a birding trip to Central and South America. And then in August, I found myself in Botswana photographing a whole lot of stinking birds. We saw more than 90 species and I photographed about 84 of them. I got what I thought were pretty good shots of nearly 35. And when I reviewed my images, I had an epiphany and I wanted to share some of the things I learned with you.
For me, a bird sitting on a stick isn't particularly interesting. But getting a sharp photo of a bird on a stick is surprisingly difficult. You see the bird, you find focus, get it in the frame, and then it flies away. Yep. And because it was kind of hard to get that shot, when you do finally get that bird sitting perfectly on that stick, totally sharp, you think to yourself, hot diggity damn, I got it. Then you try photographing a bird in flight, and that's even harder. So the first time, and even the hundredth time you caught that bird coming off the branch with its wings all spread out, you think to yourself, yes, I got it. And I understand that. You even show your friends. They all think it's amazing too. And then you shoot a few hundred more. And the fact is, when I started getting those sharp shots of the birds and especially the ones in flight, I thought I was doing a great job. And then I realized, no, it's still. Just a bird on a stick or it's just a bird flying. So now I'm wondering, how do I make this more interesting? How do I level up? That's where composition comes back into the picture. Look at the light, look at the background, change your position. You have to get beyond the excitement of just getting over the technical challenges of shooting this very difficult subject.
One of the things I'm hearing a lot from birders are some rather arbitrary rules about what constitutes a good bird shot. For instance, the bird has to be completely in the frame. Don't cut off the tail. It has to be facing you. It has to be at a certain angle. It has to be front-lit. I'm going to call BS on all of that. Consider portrait photography. We use silhouettes, shadows, unusual angles, and tight crops all the time. So why can't we do the same thing with birds? Why can't a bird be a silhouette? Why can't you make a high-key photograph where you barely see the details? Why does the bird have to be perfectly lit and looking directly at the camera? Bottom line, it doesn't. Sometimes breaking the expected rules is exactly what makes the photograph interesting. I'll post some examples along with this episode on New York City Photo Safari. And that's the lesson I want to leave you with today.
Once you've gotten the technically good shot, don't stop. Take another look. Move. Change your angle. Look for different light. Try something that might fail. Because that's one of the ways you can help yourself get outside your own box and to get to something really spectacular. So next time you're out shooting and you get a photograph you're happy with, don't immediately move on. Ask yourself, what else can this photograph be? That's it. You don't have to get a better photograph. You don't even have to get a good photograph. Just look for another possibility. That's how you move beyond the obvious and bring your work from good to spectacular. And it's how you start seeing the world differently. And I think that's one of the most wonderful things about photography. I hope that was helpful. Until next time, keep on shooting.