Owl Photography: Top Tips for Taking Captivating Photos

Owls are intriguing and seem to hold mysteries that attract us to learn more about them. Owl photography helps us showcase owls in ways that exhibit their captivating characteristics, beauty, and grace, which only adds to our fascination with them.

With some understanding of owl habitats and behaviours, people can improve their chances of seeing an owl and coming away from the experience with enchanting photographs.

Read more: Wildlife Photography – Understanding Animal Behaviour for Better Images

How to find owls

Owls live all over the world in many habitat types, such as forests, plains, deserts, canyons, tundra, wetlands, and even in densely populated cities. Owls can be seen during all seasons.

Some owl species can thrive in multiple habitat types, while other species are confined to a specific habitat, and still others migrate to different habitats depending on the season.

This is good news for photographers, as owls will likely be accessible and could be living close to home.

The first step to finding owls is to know which owl species live in your area. You will likely be surprised to learn about the diversity of owls that can be found near you.

There are many free resources available online and in libraries that you can use to learn about your local owl species. Research their relative abundance so you know how easy or difficult it might be to find an owl.

However, abundance doesn’t always translate into ease of finding an owl. Other factors, such as feeding habits, day and night activity, seasonal migration, camouflage, and breeding behaviour, also play a role.

For example, great horned owls are a relatively large species and common throughout North and Central America, but they can easily blend in with their environment, making them almost invisible to a passerby.

Tawny owls live across Europe, but due to their size and secretive nature, they are hard to find.

Equip yourself with the knowledge that will increase your chances of successfully finding and photographing your target owl species.

Although most owls are generally nocturnal, many of them become more active at sunset. A valuable aid to finding them is listening for their calls or hoots at sunset or shortly thereafter.

If you frequently go out to listen for them, you will begin to hear them if they are near. Look up into the trees and concentrate on trying to identify any odd shape that doesn’t look like part of the tree.

Eventually, you’ll train your eye and mind to instinctively focus on possible owl shapes in the trees.

If the light is low, look for silhouettes of owls against the sky. Search close to the main trunk of the tree on larger branches. Owls tend to roost at least halfway up the tree but not usually in the treetops. They also tend to move out to the edges of trees as the light fades in the evening.

This, of course, can vary by species, so be sure to know the resting and feeding habits of your target species. With practice, you will be able to scan trees quickly and cover a large area.

In an area where you have heard owls, focus your search in the same general location during return visits. Owls that you hear at the start of the night will likely have only flown a short distance from their normal daytime roosts.

If an owl’s food supply is plentiful in a certain area, it may roost in the same tree, even on the same branch, for multiple days or even weeks. Return to the same area during the day and search the trees, particularly in those that offer cover from above and in the denser areas of the stand.

However, caution should be taken not to disturb owls during the day when they are resting and sleeping. It is best to back away from the owl’s location and use a long telephoto lens, rather than standing under the owl and pointing your camera straight up.

Pressuring an owl to leave its daily roosting location will often cause the owl to completely leave the area, which isn’t good for the photographer or the owl.

Owls that live near people are often the easiest to find and photograph. These owls might be more visible during the day and are often less fearful of people. Make listening for them a part of your daily routine, even if you don’t intend to photograph them every day.

Look for whitewash on branches and on the ground around trees where birds have defecated. This is a very noticeable habit for long-eared owls, for example, since they congregate during the winter, and several will use the same tree for daytime roosting.

Also, look for owl pellets on the ground. Owl pellets are made of undigested portions of food that the owls have recently eaten and then regurgitated through their beaks. If an owl has a daily roost location, you may find a small scattering of owl pellets on the surrounding ground.

You might get lucky and see an owl perched above your head.

A few owl species are active during the day, such as the burrowing owl, northern hawk owl, little owl, pearl-spotted owlet, and many of the pygmy owls. Species that mostly rely on their eyesight to hunt will regularly hunt during the day.

You may see them out in the open, usually perched and scanning the landscape for prey.

Other owl species that rely on both their eyesight and hearing to hunt may still be somewhat active during the day but might hunt more around dawn and dusk. This is where your knowledge of species behaviour will be of value.

You can focus your time and energy on the correct time of day to maximise your chances of capturing intriguing images of different types of behaviour.

Do not be dismayed if you still can’t find an owl to photograph. It is not uncommon to take a full year to find them and then more time to get good photographs. Your knowledge of owl behaviour will certainly shorten the time needed.

If you still struggle with finding owls, an efficient way to find them is to hire a local wildlife guide. Research the local guide companies and find out which ones excel at wildlife photography.

They will likely know of any recent owl sightings and will understand your needs as a wildlife photographer.

Be sure to learn if the owl species you want to see typically migrates. Owl migration is often caused by the availability of food at their home location, snow depth, owl populations, and possibly other climatic factors.

Read more: Photographing a Species In-depth

Equipment for owl photography

There is photography equipment that is better suited for photographing owls, both for perching images and for birds-in-flight shots.

For most situations, perched owls will usually be comfortable if the photographer stays 75 to 100 feet away. However, if the owl makes nervous movements, the photographer is too close and should back away.

Because of this, a long telephoto lens, such as a 300mm lens up to a 600mm lens, is often needed to ensure the owl is the primary subject in the frame.

Because owls will usually perch higher up than the photographer, this distance and lens combination have the advantage of being able to create images that make it appear as though the photographer is at eye level with the owl.

This produces a much better photographic result than pointing the lens up a tree at a steep angle if the photographer is too close to the owl.

Lenses with wide apertures are also important since owl photography is often done during low-light situations after sunset, especially if there is a desire for flight shots.

A lens with an aperture of f/2.8 is ideal, but these are expensive. Lenses with maximum apertures of f/4 and f/5.6 will work.

When photographing owls, set your lens to the widest aperture to maximise the light-gathering capabilities of your lens so that the shutter speed can be as fast as possible in low-light situations.

You can then begin to stop down the lens to a smaller aperture to increase the depth of field if needed, provided there is adequate lighting.

Tripods aren’t completely necessary, but they are helpful in many situations when photographing owls. Owls typically don’t move much when not actively hunting.

Having a tripod to support the camera and lens for long periods of time will increase your chances of capturing the owl doing something unique as it passes time at its perch.

Alternatively, a monopod could serve the same purpose. Handholding a heavy camera and lens for extended periods of time is difficult. If the camera and lens are at your side, you won’t be ready for any unique movements made by the owl.

A tripod will allow you to keep the lens at the ready.

One downside to tripods is that they make it more difficult to capture an owl in flight. Personally, I use a tripod most of the time to get unique images of a perched owl. Once I feel that the owl is likely to fly and hunt, I detach the camera from the tripod to be ready for the flight shot.

Another piece of equipment to consider for low-light owl photography is a remote shutter release device, either with a cable or as a wireless transmitter/receiver. Low-light situations after sunset create the need for slow shutter speeds.

A remote shutter release used on a camera that is mounted to a tripod will remove any camera shake caused by pressing the shutter release button or otherwise handling the camera.

Read more: What’s the Best Lens for Wildlife Photography?

Unique photographic opportunities

Owls are from a unique order of birds and have very distinctive characteristics and habits compared to most other birds.

These characteristics add to the inherently mysterious nature of owls and provide opportunities to create intriguing bird photographs that are not entirely possible with other types of birds.

Most owls have relatively large facial discs that are used to enhance their hearing. The facial disc acts as a frame around the owl’s face and eyes.

This creates a strong central point of interest for most owl portraits and as a secondary point of interest in behavioural images.

An owl’s eyes are usually in the same focal plane as the facial disc area, making it easy to get the owl’s whole face in focus. Take advantage of the facial disc and eyes of the owl when making photographs.

Realise they will be a very strong feature in your images and place them in the frame where they can provide balance to other notable features in your shot.

Another interesting feature that takes us by surprise is the long legs of many owls. Short-eared owls and many other owls have long legs hidden under their plumage, much longer than expected.

It is somewhat comical and surprising when an owl’s legs are exposed during flight. When you are observing an owl out hunting, be sure to watch for the legs becoming visible. It doesn’t last long, so be ready to capture a series of photos.

Showing how an owl’s legs and talons are used will significantly add interest to your images.

Owls have wingspans that are quite wide compared to their bodies. When you are getting flight shots, be sure to capture those moments when the wings are stretched wide and exhibiting their power.

Look for opportunities for backlighting to shine through the outstretched wings.

Read more: 7 Ways to Capture Character in Bird Photography

Perching and portrait situations

An owl perched in the forest or an open landscape will create multiple photographic opportunities. Although the scene is static, dynamic compositional elements can be included in the photo to add interest.

Many owls take advantage of the seclusion offered by the forest. This gives them time to relax and sleep. If you find an owl in a secluded area, do not disturb it from its rest. Capture a few creative images of the scene by repositioning yourself to get a better line of sight to the owl.

The forest will often make the background confusing and will take interest away from the main subject. Find the best angle that gives you a clear view of the owl and one that has a smooth and non-distracting background.

This is often a compromise, but take photos from different vantage points to see what works best. Also, consider your foreground, either as a compositional element or to create a smooth blur that hides distracting features further into your scene.

As soon as you capture sufficient images of a resting owl, back away to assess the situation and determine if the owl might begin to hunt. Moving away from the owl will allow it to make this decision.

Another technique is to make the owl small in the scene. A broader forest scene with an owl perched in the frame, almost as an accent, can make an intriguing photograph.

However, the forest scene must be pleasing on its own in these situations and be free of harsh highlights and excessive visual clutter. A shorter telephoto lens will work for these situations, such as a 70-200mm zoom lens.

Owls don’t always perch high up in trees. Many will perch just a few feet above the ground, up to about ten feet, which is common for long-eared owls. Owls perched low at eye level offer the best vantage point.

However, many owls that perch low are also more skittish and will usually fly away quickly. Owls also tend to stay on the ground after catching their prey.

They feel vulnerable at this point, and photographers should stay quiet and avoid moving toward the owl to prevent it from losing its prey. Be sure to give low-perched owls more space to rest and act naturally, and you will be rewarded.

Think about your scene and envision ways for the owl to stand out against the background. Often, a lighter-toned owl will be against a dark, forested background. Set your camera controls to achieve a correct exposure for the highlights so they are not blown out but still appear bright white.

This will often allow the background to be very dark and featureless. The resulting image will be striking and will need very little exposure adjustment in post-processing.

Reposition your camera frame to include or exclude any supporting compositional elements. This might be a prominent branch or other feature on one side of the frame to provide balance to the owl on the other side.

This technique is especially useful when the background is busy and more distracting than supportive of the main subject.

Think about how other elements in the frame will lead the viewer’s eye to the owl while not overly distracting attention from it. Slight adjustments in your position can turn a distracting element into a supporting one.

Read more: The Essential Guide to Composition in Bird Photography

Owls in flight

To capture flight shots, photographers need to wait patiently for owls to begin hunting. If owls are found around sunset, you can anticipate that they will fly as they begin their nightly hunt.

Take advantage of your telephoto lens and back up further away from the owl. An owl’s wingspan is much wider than expected, so you will need more space to avoid clipping the wings out of the frame.

More space will also enable the owl to feel more comfortable with your presence, and it may even fly toward you.

Never use baiting techniques to attract an owl or cause it to hunt unnaturally. This unethical practice creates bad habits for the owl and results in images that do not showcase natural behavior.

Learn about their hunting behaviors so you can spend time with the owl in more dynamic situations, such as when they come to the edge of the forest to hunt open fields.

When owls are actively hunting, they generally stay on perches for several minutes, so there is no need to rush toward them or run to a new vantage point. Simply reposition yourself slowly to find an unobstructed view of the owl with a less distracting background.

Owls typically fly from one tree to the next while searching for prey, allowing you to predict where they might go next. This positions you to capture flight shots and, with luck, photos of the owl catching prey.

Larger owls fly relatively slowly and are somewhat predictable in their direction of travel. For flight shots, a fast shutter speed of 1/1600 of a second is recommended for reliable sharpness, though slower shutter speeds may work with practice.

Various owl species hunt differently. Great grey owls rely on quick drops from their perched locations to capture prey on the ground, while short-eared owls fly slowly and gracefully over fields until they spot prey below.

Knowing the hunting behavior of your target owl species will help you anticipate how and when it will fly.

When the owl is in flight, keep shooting as it flies perpendicular to you or toward you. Owls can be erratic in the air, creating interesting wing and body positions, especially when changing directions.

Read more: 4 Essential Tips for Photographing Birds in Flight

Image orientation

An important decision to make in the field is the image orientation. Ask yourself if the scene would be better represented in a horizontal or vertical orientation.

One way to think about this is to decide how the energy flows in the scene.

If the owl is flying from left to right, a horizontal orientation is likely best. If the owl is perched and standing tall, a vertical orientation might work, especially if interesting compositional elements are present above or below the owl.

A square orientation is often appropriate for images of owls facing the camera straight on, where everything is symmetrical. If you have time, try different orientations in the field and experiment with compositional cropping in your photo processing software.

Read more: Landscape vs Portrait Orientation in Nature Photography

In Conclusion

Appreciate the time spent searching for owls. The search is a key ingredient of your eventual experience with an owl. Photographing them is often secondary to the amazing experience of being in their hunting grounds.

Although they are relatively hard to find compared to most birds, once you come across an owl, you’ll enjoy some outstanding photographic opportunities.

If you approach them with respect for the space and silence they need, they will reward you with unique photo opportunities that you will always remember.