September Monthly Meeting: "The Elements of Bird Photography"

The Elements of Bird Photography
with Tina McManus
(www.TinaMcManusPhotography.com)

Bird photography can be rewarding, but it isn’t easy. In this program, Tina shares her tips for taking compelling bird images. This includes fieldcraft – where to find birds and how to approach them, what makes a dynamic wildlife photograph, and what gear you’ll need in order to capture them. Tina will also discuss the elements that make a winning nature photograph in competition. Anyone with the desire, knowledge, and patience can make beautiful photographs of our feathered friends.

With Tina it has always been about the animals. Having grown up in Lake George in the Adirondacks as a “free-range” child, there was nothing better she liked to do than roam the nearby woods and streams. In 2011, she bought her first digital SLR, a Canon 7D. With a 70-200mm lens, birds and wildlife still looked like tiny dots. When Tamron came out with their 150-600mm lens around 2014, it finally gave her the means to start photographing wildlife and birds, and that’s when the fire really lit. She enjoys learning both fieldcraft – the art of finding, getting close to, and not disturbing the animal, and the technical side of capturing their story with a camera. Her preferred lens is now a Canon 500mm f4. She gets her greatest enjoyment when making images that capture the personality of her subject or that convey a sense of the subject and its habitat that makes the viewer care about nature and the need to preserve it.

In 2015 Tina joined the Greater Lynn Photographic Society. In 2018 she finished first overall in Class A in the annual competition, and her photo won the Class A Image of the Year. Tina currently competes in the Masters Class.

If you have any questions, contact meeting chair Chris Keeley at 
chris@chriskeeleyphotography.com.