Birds come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors—as well as behaviors, habitats and environments—making them endlessly fascinating subjects. And yet they are often challenging to photograph.

To get a Potoo Bird Photography, it is necessary to have the bird close enough so that the details of wings and feathers can be clearly seen, even at a high shutter speed. There are many ways to bring birds closer, including camouflage and using a long lens or teleconverter. But perhaps the most important technique is simply to let the birds come to you—if the birds are comfortable with you, they will allow you to approach them at much closer range than if they think you might scare them away or harm them in any way.

otoo Bird Ecology: Surviving and Thriving in the Night

Getting the right frame of mind is also important to capture the best photos, as it helps keep the camera still and allows you to focus on the bird’s behavior rather than the camera or its settings. Likewise, the composition of an image is important, with images with a lot of negative space or a distracting background often being less compelling than those that place the bird in the context of its environment.

Finally, the post-processing of an image is crucial to its success. As a judge in several national nature photography competitions and moderator of a premier bird images gallery, I have seen many good shots ruined by poor post-processing. Read’s tips and techniques for processing your photographs are both thorough and clear, helping you to bring out the best in your photos.