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Many promising photos are let down by a poor or distracting background. Anything in the distance that competes for attention will naturally draw the eye away from the subject and the impact of the shot will instantly be lost.

A common problem is shooting with your subject too close to the background. This means that anything behind the subject appears in partial focus and the subject itself doesn’t stand out. Other potential hazards include photo background distractions such as burnt-out areas, out-of-focus ‘blobs’, competing colours and unwanted intrusions, such as foliage. The good news is that they are all easily avoided. Here’s how…

Step 1: Diffuse the background
Shoot against a background that is some distance behind the subject so it’s thrown out of focus. Use a mid to long telephoto lens and shoot at a wide aperture, like f/4, to reduce depth of field and produce a diffused background.

Step 2: Check the background
Shoot against a neutral coloured background that’s uniform in tone. It’s best to avoid high-contrast or very bright backgrounds. Check around the viewfinder for obvious distractions while composing the shot and move if necessary.

Step 3: Clone out distractions
In Photoshop, select an area of the background close to the area you want to clone out and use the Clone Stamp tool  to ‘cover over’ the distraction. Use a soft-edged brush, set Opacity to around 60-80%, then build up gradually.

Final version

Image copyright Ian Evenden

Are you having trouble taking decent photos of birds in flight? Don’t worry, it’s a common problem and doesn’t mean you’re not a talon-ted photographer (although if you want to see some talon-ted bird photography, we’ve got a great post on that too).

From getting an accurate exposure of your subject against all that bright sky to simply being in the right place at the right time, one of the more challenging genres you’ll ever attempt will be bird photography. Tips and techniques abound, but we’ve put together what we believe are the 10 most fundamental rules you should follow when taking pictures of birds in flight.

Tip 1: Go big
Birds tend to be on the small side, and this, combined with their awkward habit of flying high and fast, means you often have to use a long lens to photograph them. It’s hard to find a lens that’s too long for photographing birds in flight, and 400mm and 500mm lenses, both primes and zooms, are common choices.

Tip 2: Not so wide
A 400mm lens at f/5.6 and a subject 10m away gives a depth of field of 13cm. Using Av mode and stopping down to f/8 will give you an extra 5cm of depth and increase the sharpness of your image, as lenses are rarely at their best when they’re used at maximum aperture.

Tip 3: Speed is of the essence
A shutter speed of 1/800 of a second or faster will help to capture feather detail on moving wings without blurring. A more artistic approach is to deliberately blur the wings using a slower shutter speed, giving an impression of movement, especially if the bird is just taking off.

Tip 4: Set high ISO
Keeping your shutter speed high and maintaining enough depth of field to keep a bird sharply rendered can mean using high ISOs. Don’t be afraid of this, as noise reduction software, including the Digital Photo Professional that came free with your camera, can do an extremely good job.

Tip 5: The raw deal
In order to use this software to its maximum effect, it’s a good idea to shoot in raw. The tweaks you can make to contrast and saturation can make a vast difference to your images, bringing out the intricate patterns of birds’ feathers and the brightness of their eyes.

Tip 6: Captive audience
Captive birds look remarkably similar to their wild counterparts. Shooting at an organised flying display will allow you to get close to species you’d never find in the wild, and they fly lower, slower and more predictably. Better still, some centres hold special photographers’ days.

Tip 7: Use AI Servo mode and centre point focus
AI Servo mode constantly adjusts the focus on a moving target, while using only the centre focus point minimises the chances of focusing on the background by mistake. Keep your central focus point over your target and constantly half-press the shutter button to keep it in focus as it moves.

Image copyright Ian Evenden

Tip 8: Spot meter
To avoid silhouetting against a bright sky, try using the camera’s spot meter. Keeping the bird in the centre of the spot, which usually surrounds the central focus point, ensures that the feathers are properly exposed. For a deliberate silhouette, spot meter off the background and engage exposure lock.

Tip 9: Use a monopod
Handholding a large lens all day can be tiring, but using a tripod is often not practical when trying to photograph something unpredictable and fast-moving. A monopod is a good compromise, supporting the weight but enabling you to pan and follow-focus quickly, and can even be lifted entirely off the ground if needed.

Tip 10: Pick your targets
Know which species of bird to look for and you’re halfway to great photographs. For instance, a peregrine falcon can fly at 242mph, while in a ‘stoop’ dive to catch prey while vultures, geese, woodcocks and owls move at a more camera-friendly pace. Likewise, an eagle’s wings beat much more slowly than a hummingbird’s.

Image copyright Ian Evenden

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Animals are so versatile: you can stroke them, you can eat them, you can take amazing pictures of them. You’ll be doing the latter, if you follow these 10 simple photography tips.

You’ll need to be in the right frame of mind if you’re going to stake it out for the best part of a day to get just one shot

1 Be prepared

Thorough research is a commendable discipline in most avenues of photography, but it’s essential for successful wildlife shots. There’s no point heading out to photograph swallows in January if they’ve all gone to Africa for the winter. The internet is an invaluable resource – you can learn a huge amount about your subject’s habits in a matter of minutes. A Google Images search can turn up lots of examples of the photographic possibilities at specific locations too.

2 Good fieldcraft

Fieldcraft is a term that’s often associated with the military. It essentially adheres to the notion that one should ‘see without being seen’. The benefits of this motto to the wildlife photographer are obvious. When combined with a heightened sensory awareness, an understanding of animal behaviour and an ability to track, many of the skills, such as stealth, camouflage and cunning can make the difference between getting a shot or not. But don’t panic: a few basic skills and some common sense will stand you in good stead.

3 Wildlife photography equipment

For most wildlife photographers, long lenses are essential. With a long focal length such as 500mm you’ll be able to take frame-filling shots without getting too close, disrupting the natural behaviour of your subject or even scaring it off completely. Most 500mm lenses are expensive, so try a tele-converter – a relatively inexpensive device that will increase the focal length of your lens. Although image quality will suffer, a x2 converter will make a 200mm lens perform like a 400mm.

4 Stay local

While going on a wildlife safari in Africa might seem like an attractive option, it will also be expensive. But that doesn’t mean you need to hang up your camera. Local zoos and safari parks offer great opportunities for you to practice your skills. Attitudes to animal welfare have improved over the years, so you’ll often ind the animals in surroundings that are natural and conducive to good photographs. The key here is to decide whether you want the shots to include the zoo environment or just look ‘wild’. If the latter’s your aim, use a long focal length, select a wide aperture and get close to wire fences, in order to blur them out. Always check the background for distractions. Photograph zoo animals before they’re fed, so their faces appear clean. If you’re photographing captive birds that have had one of their wings clipped to prevent them escaping, shoot them from the other side.

5 Maintain eye contact

Photographs of animals should be treated like portraits – images that seek to express something of the subject’s character and personality. If you can get yourself into a position where it’s possible to engage with the animal and establish eye contact you’ll have  a much better chance of getting a great shot.

6 Ditch the beep

Being discrete and blending into the surroundings using measured fieldcraft skills, camouflaged clothing and general all-round cunning are all essential when it comes to wildlife photography. But don’t go to all that effort and then blow your chances with a beeping camera alert or mobile ringtone. Make sure everything’s switched off before you start!

7 Hide

As well as keeping warm and dry, think about making yourself less visible. Camouflage clothing will help you to blend into the background, so you’re less likely to scare away unsuspecting wildlife. You can also buy camouflage lens wraps to hide your sparkly gear. A camouflage hide is the ultimate in luxury and especially popular with bird photographers.

8 Shutter speeds

Most wildlife shooting scenarios will benefit from a fast shutter speed, especially if you’re trying to capture an animal in action. As a general rule of thumb, try not to use a shutter speed slower than the focal length of the lens you’re using. For example, if you’re using a 200mm lens, keep above 1/200sec. That said, don’t be afraid to experiment – motion blur or movement might actually add to your shot.

9 Be careful where you crop

Don’t zoom into an animal so tightly that you end up cropping its legs at the knees or ankles – frame the shot above or below the joints. If you’re shooting a portrait, give the animal more space to ‘look’ into in the frame than behind it. The same ‘rule’ is good for action shots – allow more room in the frame for the subject to move into. When composing a bird portrait, consider leaving enough room in the frame to capture the full extent of flapping wings.

10 Be patient – and persistent

Some of the greatest wildlife pictures have taken days and sometimes weeks of enduring patience to capture. Even though most of us don’t have the luxury of this much time, patience is still an essential discipline and you’ll need to be in the right frame of mind if you’re going to stake it out for the best part of a day to get just one shot.

Photographing birds in flight is one of the most demanding areas of wildlife photography, but once you’ve mastered the technique, the results can be spectacular. You’ll need to find a good wide scene, and shooting large numbers of birds is always easier than capturing a single target. Don’t forget to break out your telephoto lens either, and take some care when planning your exposure settings.

Go large for great results

Swans and geese are not fast flyers and make ideal subjects on which you can hone your skills.

Choose a location such as a park, where the birds will be used to people and therefore easier to approach. Photographing birds flying straight towards the camera is easiest, as you won‘t need to pan to keep your moving subject in the frame.

Flocks of birds such as waders or geese can also create spectacular images – shooting large numbers of birds is easier than trying to capture a single subject.

Although you can get away without panning, it does limit your pictures. It pays to learn the correct technique, and this should be done before you attempt any flight photography. Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart in a solid stance. Then, by keeping your elbows firmly tucked into your side, rotate your upper body from the waist.

Follow your subject through the lens and try to keep it steady within the frame. To maximise your chances of capturing a successful shot, fire a sequence of images by using the fastest drive mode on your camera.

Set the focusing to predictive auto-focus (AI Servo on Canon) - the lens will track the moving subject, keeping it in focus at all times.

Composing for moving subjects

Composing flight images is tricky, as your subject is constantly moving. It‘s best to frame the bird so that it has space to fly into.

I‘m constantly changing the focusing dot on the back of my camera depending on the direction my subject is travelling in, so I can keep it exactly where I want it and ensure the focus is locked on at all times.

Where possible, I aim to shoot images that show the subject as part of its habitat. I usually place it in a corner of the frame, so that the environment becomes a large part of the image. Pictures like this have a completely different feel to them and help to tell a story.

Exposure issues

Dawn and dusk are the best times to photograph wildlife, and birds in flight are no exception.

Head out when the sky is red and the sun is low enough to light the underside of your subject, rendering more feather detail.

When shooting birds against a bright sky, you‘ll need to increase the exposure using your compensation dial in order to keep the image bright. The amount will vary depending on your subject, so check the histogram as often as possible. If you‘re shooting against distant hills or trees, it‘s better to take a meter reading from a midtone and dial it in manually.

Owning state-of-the-art equipment won‘t guarantee great shots, but it will increase your chance of success. Faster lenses are preferable because they enable quicker shutter speeds. But lenses that open up to f/2.8 and f/4 are expensive and much heavier - try increasing the ISO to achieve the shutter speed you need to freeze the action instead.

The crop factor of the smaller sensors in most SLRs also means you don‘t need a huge telephoto lens. Ultimately, though, knowledge of your subject‘s behaviour, perseverance and personal vision will be the deciding factors of your success.

It’s often the case that the common sense approach can solve most of your problems, but sometimes it falls prey to overthinking. If you’ve got yourself a hide, then this simple set of steps will have you well prepared for getting great nature shots.

1. Shut up, keep still

Prevent your subject from seeing and hearing you. Keep the noise and movement from you and your SLR to a minimum.

2. Stay out of the sun

Make sure the sun‘s behind or to the side of you as shooting directly into the sun can result in underexposed images.

3. Leave it a while

Position your hide a few days before you intend to use it as this will enable wildlife time to become accustomed to its presence.

4. Blend your barrel

Try to disguise your lens barrel with some camouflage netting and vegetation to make it less obtrusive.

5. Keep your distance

A 300mm lens is probably the minimum focal length for wildlife photography in order to achieve good-sized images.

Getting good garden wildlife shots can be made a lot simpler with a few basic tips. By using the right kind of feeder and a bit of a bit of fruit you’ll be able to attract more life to your garden images. We show you not only what to feed birds and butterflies, but how to present their food for the best possible pictures.

Feed birds with a flat wire feeder

These are better than tube feeders because they enable more birds to feed at once and are also completely squirrel-proof. Terry makes his, which cost less than £5, from a sheet of small gauge-wire mesh measuring 100x50cm.

The mesh is folded in half and crimped along the side edges. He fills it with peanuts and folds over the top. As well as birds that come to feed, the shower of broken peanut pieces on the floor will attract the odd badger.

Put bird food mix into bark

Feeding from drilled holes in an old tree trunk or a log is a good idea, as youíll have a natural-looking backdrop. Terry makes his feed, which camouflages in with the bark, using 500g of lard, 700g of bird peanuts and 100g of wholemeal flour blitzed together in a food processor to make a paste.

Usual diners include tits, woodpeckers, magpies, jays and nuthatch, and wood and yellow-necked mice at night.

Attract butterflies with plums

Fermenting plums are useful attractants for butterflies, particularly red admirals. As well as moths, including our most beautiful, the red underwing, which can be seen flying in September. They like to get quite merry on the alcoholic plum juice.