Roseate spoonbill landing, Florida. Soft light, before the sun rose high enough to light the bird, brought out the beautiful, subtle colors in this spoonbill’s feathers. The background is out-of-focus water reflecting blue sky. 305mm, 1/500 sec. at f/5.6, ISO 8000.

Back in March, on our trip to Florida for the Out of Merritt Island bird photography conference, we had some wonderful opportunities to photograph roseate spoonbills in flight. The spoonbills’ repeated forays ashore to gather nesting material allowed us to catch them flying with varying wing positions, light, and backgrounds.

Like so many Florida birds, the spoonbills weren’t particularly afraid of people, which made things easier. But it was still a challenge to track and frame these fast-moving subjects, keep them in focus, and photograph them with good light against the right background.

One lesson I’ve learned the hard way about photographing birds in flight is to use a wider focal length than you think you need. If you’re zoomed in too tight it’s all too easy to cut off a bird’s wingtips or feet when it swerves in an unexpected direction. It’s better to zoom out a bit (just a bit!), and crop if necessary, than to cut off something important.

And, unless you’re deliberately trying to make a panned, blurred photograph, you’ll need a fast shutter speed to freeze the bird’s motion, plus continuous focus to track the bird’s flight, and continuous high-speed shooting mode to try to catch the perfect pose and wing position. And of course you’ll need some practice, patience, persistence, and a little luck.

You also need to pay attention to the wind direction. With rare exceptions, birds take off and land facing into the wind. The wind had a big influence on the flight paths of these spoonbills, which in turn influenced where I positioned myself to get the best views and put the birds in the right position, with the right light, against the right background.

For these photos I tried to catch the spoonbills with their wings spread as they came in for a landing. Patches of open water behind the birds provided a nice, clean, undistracting background, but those patches were relatively small. If I pointed the camera higher I’d see some of the darker far shoreline behind the bird (as in the photo below). If I pointed down, vegetation from the near shore would poke up into the bottom of the frame. To the left and right were other pieces of land, or their reflections. So I positioned myself carefully, taking into account the birds’ typical flight paths with the wind at that moment, to give myself the best chance of catching them in the right spot against the right background.

This photo shows a less-than-ideal background. The distant shoreline is distracting, and also bisects the bird, with part of the spoonbill against a light background and part against a dark background. 224mm, 1/750 sec. at f/5.6, ISO 1000.

I’d rather place the bird against an entirely dark or entirely light background. Here, reflections of trees created a dark background, and a light-against-dark juxtaposition. This was still soft light, with no direct sunlight; the natural tonal difference between the lighter bird and darker background created the contrast. 226mm, 1/750 sec. at f/5.6, ISO 800.

I loved this beautiful blue background, with out-of-focus water reflecting blue sky, creating a pink-and-blue color palette. The light here was soft, with no direct sunlight, which brought out the subtle colors in the bird’s feathers. (The light and background here are similar to the photograph at the top of this post.) 244mm, 1/750 sec. at f/5.6, ISO 8000.

With the water reflecting clouds, rather than blue sky, the background turned white. I decided to use that white background to create a high-key look for this image. 247mm, 1/1500 sec. at f/5.6, ISO 1000.

I didn’t want the camera to be too high off the ground, looking down on the spoonbills. I’d rather be at their eye level, or at least as close to eye level as possible, creating a more direct and intimate connection between the viewer and the animal. But if I got down too low the window of open water behind the birds shrunk, increasing the odds that the background would include something distracting. So I tried to find the sweet spot – not too high, and not too low. I also adjusted my position from left-to-right so that the birds would be more likely to spread their wings against a larger patch of open water.

On these mornings the sun rose behind me, front-lighting the spoonbills. But early on, before the sun got high enough to reach the birds, they were in soft light.

All the previous photos were made in soft light, but this image is front-lit. When the sun hit these birds the color of their feathers changed from pink to a striking red-orange. But shadows created by the sun could be distracting if they fell across the bird’s feathers in an awkward way, so I tried to position myself so the birds were as directly front-lit as possible, minimizing shadows. (Note how the shadow of the spoonbill’s bill is right below the bill itself, indicating that the sun was directly behind and above me.) 229mm, 1/1500 sec. at f/8, ISO 800.

Sunlight on the spoonbills it was visually striking to the naked eye, turning their feathers a vivid red-orange color. I’m usually not a fan of direct front-light for most subjects, but it can work well for showing colorful bird feathers. Reviewing my photos later, however, I often preferred the earlier, softer light. The sunlight created shadows, which could be distracting if the shadow of a spoonbill’s beak fell awkwardly across its body. (Because of that I tried to position myself so that the birds were as directly front-lit as possible, minimizing shadows.) Soft light, on the other hand, brought out the beautiful, subtle shades of pink in the spoonbills’ feathers. The quantity of light in those earlier, softly-lit photographs was less, so I had to push the ISO higher to get a fast enough shutter speed. But the quality of light was wonderful.

Out of Merritt Island 2027

It was a challenge to photograph these spoonbills, but also great fun. And this was just one of the many wonderful opportunities we had to photograph the beautiful, cooperative Florida birds. Ever since that trip I’ve wanted to go back, and luckily I’ll get that chance, as I’ll be one of the instructors at the next edition of the Out of Merritt Island bird photography conference in March of 2027. I know this next iteration will be just as much fun as the first one, so I’m really looking forward to doing it again!

I’ll be teaching alongside an amazing group of instructors, including Ray Hennessey, Lisa Langell, David Akoubian, Alyce Bender, Isaac Grant, John Putnam, and Jennifer King – 16 instructors in all. And I know the Out-of-Chicago team will do a great job of organizing this event and making it a wonderful experience for everyone. Can’t wait!

If you’d like to join us next March you can use the code FRYEMI500 to get $500 off the deposit for the conference. But this code expires soon – July 28th – so don’t hesitate! You can learn more and sign up here:

Out of Merritt Island Bird Photography Conference, March 15-19, 2027

I hope to see you there!

— Michael Frye

Roseate spoonbill with nesting material, Florida. Clouds created soft light, but soft light usually has some direction. Here it’s coming more from the top, from the clouds, while in earlier photos it was coming from behind me (soft front-light). I prefer soft front-light for showing off colorful subjects like this, but any kind of soft light can work. On this day a stiff breeze made the water choppy, giving the background a bit more texture.

Related Posts: Florida Birds; North Coast Wildlife

Michael Frye is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He lives near Yosemite National Park in California, but travels extensively to photograph natural landscapes in the American West and throughout the world.

Michael uses light, weather, and design to make photographs that capture the mood of the landscape, and convey the beauty, power, and mystery of nature. His work has received numerous awards, including the North American Nature Photography Association’s 2023 award for Fine Art in Nature Photography. Michael’s photographs have appeared in publications around the world, and he’s the author and/or principal photographer of several books, including Digital Landscape Photography: In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters, and The Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite.

Michael loves to share his knowledge of photography through articles, books, workshops, online courses, and his blog. He’s taught over 200 workshops focused on landscape photography, night photography, digital image processing, and printing.