I get a lot of comments and questions on my wildlife art.  One of the most common ones is "Where do you get your wildlife photos to create your art?"  My answer:  I take all my own photos.  In the beginning, I didn't...when I was just learning, I did use some free photos from others and some stock photos.  It didn't take me long though, to start learning where and how to photograph nature's delightful creatures myself.  It's much more satisfying to me to know I took the subject photo myself.  Plus I get the benefit of the whole nature-experience {which I've found I enjoy immensely!}, and I can easily tell others the story of when and where I photographed the subject, which often interests potential buyers.

I faced two main hurdles when starting to photograph wildlife:  1) Where to find the subjects and 2) What equipment did I need.  In this post, I'm covering topic number one...where to photograph wild animals and birds, as to me, that's a biggie!

I had someone tell me recently they had no birds to photograph where they live.  And I'm sorry, but I just don't believe that!  Birds are everywhere...you just have to know where to look for them!  So let's talk about that...where to find some birds, and other cool critters.

If you just go outside and observe for a while, you will most likely see some birds somewhere around your environment.  Sit quiet, look, and listen.  If you have an area to put up feeders and bird baths, you can draw them in with birdseed, fruit, sugar water {for hummingbirds}, corn, and more.  This is the best way to get a whole host of our fine feathered friends to come to YOU.  Here's some images I've created featuring some of my songbird visitors:

This hummingbird perched on a branch in my bushes.  When creating the art, I merged her with a still life photo I shot indoors, and by adding a variety of textures from The Farmhouse Collection, I was able to create this sweet image.

The above image features another hummingbird photographed in my yard.  I used the photo of this bird flying to work into a composite image featuring a fox I shot in another location, who just happened to have the right pose to appear as if she were looking at a bird.

I happen to have neighbors who were feeding the birds long before I was, and they have been very considerate about allowing me to come into their yards and photograph the birds.  All of the images below were taken in their yards, before I started feeding and watering the birds myself.

Birds don't always perch in trees and bushes.  Often you'll spot them on fences, fence posts, old stumps, electric wires, and even nearby clothes lines!  Scan those areas frequently.  Birds are creatures of habit, too, so if you see them land in a certain place once, they most likely will be back again, as will other birds.  In other words, put those perching places on your "watch list". :)

You'll often find birds in unexpected places, like the bluebird below, perched in the end of a cannon where she had built her nest.

Man has taken over so much of the natural world with new homes, buildings, shopping centers, etc.  But that doesn't mean the wildlife is totally gone!  Often you may see these creatures still around the original areas.

These are some of my raccoons.  I live in a fully developed subdivision.  Yet the wildlife still passes through, stopping sometimes to have a little meal.

Many times, people keep their viewpoint down low, at eye level, and never glance up at the sky to see what may be just overhead.  Check it out sometime...you may be surprised what's flying just above you!

Scanning a tree from bottom to top may often reveal a sweet surprise, whether it be a unique bird or a squirrel taking a nap on a branch.

Birds and butterflies love flowers, especially at certain times of the year.  Keeping an eye on areas which feature flowers may generate some great opportunities!

If you spot fields and crops on your outings, it's pretty much a guarantee wildlife is in the area, too.  Sometimes, I shoot from the moving car as we pass by and I spot something...other times, I'll pull over onto the side of the road and shoot what I see in the fields.  I also will stop and shoot some farm animals from time to time.  Even though they aren't wildlife, I still find them interesting and love to work them into my art.

The hawk below was sitting in tall grass at the edge of a main road.  We were able to pull right up alongside the bird and I got the original photo without ever leaving the car.

Often when stopping to photograph a bird on a pole, the bird will get spooked and fly...be prepared for the flight!

On fast highways, it's not always feasible to pull off the road.  I'll often shoot right through the window.  And even though many of those photos aren't worth squat, sometimes I find a keeper, like the image below shot through the car window as we traveled home from Nashville, TN.  I was shooting with a short lens {my landscape lens} and quickly pointed the camera at the window as we went under the wire.  What interested me was the bird off to itself below all the others.  The photo was basically crap, but I added some textures to help it along and then gave it an interesting title:  Stand Out From The Crowd.  Would you believe this is a bestselling print for me?  :)  And I think it's all because of the title.

At this point, I've learned just about every spot within an hour's drive which may have lakes, ponds, creeks, and river water.  Anywhere there is water, you are practically guaranteed there will be wild animals and birds!  Most of the time the birds and animals start their day with water, and then end it with water, so your best times to find them there are early and late.  I have, however, had my share of mid-day shots by water, too.

The bluebird photo below was just plain luck...we were sitting beside our local lake midday, waiting on something exciting to happen {eagles fish there sometimes}.  A fisherman had propped up his pole by the water and walked away.  This little bluebird landed on it, not once, but THREE TIMES!

Wild animals and birds LOVE parks.  Parks that have a ton of activity will most like draw the scavengers looking for food scraps.  Parks which don't have too much activity from people will draw a huge amount of wildlife.  State parks, federal parks, and an unexpected one is MILITARY parks!  I guess because military parks are quieter, the wildlife feels extremely comfortable there.  We have a pair of nesting bald eagles in our military park about an hour away from us, and another military park about two hours away also has a nesting pair of bald eagles.

You will have to spend some time there, looking and watching, to see the wildlife.  Be prepared to sit for a while and be bored.  LOL!  {you can ask my husband about the boredom...let's just say, he takes a lot of walks...} 

If you drive an hour or more, you'll most likely want to spend quite a bit of the day at a park.  Take water, and take snacks.  Also, sunscreen, if you can't always find a shady spot.  And the most important thing...bug spray!  I tell everyone it's my new perfume. :)

The best times, of course, are early morning and later evening...midday is often a bust, unless it's nesting season {late winter/early spring}, then you can see some midday action.

You may even meet some new friends during your stay at a park...many local photographers know parks are a great place for the wildlife and they will often be around, especially during prime times for shooting.  And most of them love to share what kind of wildlife is in the park and the best time to get photos.

Here's some art created with my photos I shot at a variety of nearby parks:

Yes, the animals and birds in these locations are in captivity, and the shooting is easier and not quite as exciting as being "out in the wild".  But these facilities are a great way to photograph wildlife you may never get to see otherwise.  Sometimes, they even have events where they bring the animals and birds out for educational purposes...any nearby me, I usually attend!

​Here's some works of art I created using photos I took at the zoo, a local safari park, and in some wildlife refuge areas:

I don't worry about the animals and birds being in enclosures.  Most of these places have areas to shoot where nothing is in the way.  With some areas, I may have to work around fencing when shooting.  I don't worry at all about what might be in the background, because by the time I get done with my art, all distractions will be removed.  :)

As I mentioned above, I often will keep an eye out for nearby events featuring wildlife.  These photos below were taken at a Raptor Rehab presentation which was given a couple years ago in a nearby town.  A neighbor and I went to the event together and we learned many interesting facts about the birds.  Not only that, but because you're much closer to the birds at presentations like this, you can get great photos with an easy to use, hand-holdable, smaller lens.  And sometimes they will get the birds to fly from one handler to another, which is quite fun to watch!  So keep an eye open for events in your local area.

Several of our state parks in the area have Raptor Rescue Centers, where they keep injured birds in cages while they heal.  Once healed, the rescue center will re-release the bird into the wild.  Some of the raptor rescues even have "release parties" -- which would be a great time to get a few take off and flight shots!  Sometimes the birds become permanent residents, if they cannot be re-released into the wild due to their injuries.  Here's a couple of the birds I've met at these local facilities:

You will often have to shoot through cage fencing to get good photos of the birds without the enclosure wires.  Telephoto lenses seem to make fencing disappear, but with smaller lenses, you may have to work with your angle a bit to eliminate the fence in the photo.  Some facilities have plexiglass windows to see the birds without cage wires.  Often the glass will have smudges from fingers and noses...if you carry a glass wipe in your camera bag, you can wipe the glass clean before taking your photos.  Tip:  Always shoot at an angle through glass to avoid distortion.

I encourage you to seek out wildlife photographic opportunities around your area.  They are there...you just may have to work a little to find them. 

​And you may even find some very unexpected things happen if you set up some bird feeders and bird baths in your yard.  Check out this adorable photo my good friend Melody Huggins took of a deer at her new bird area she set up in her yard this year:

​Photographing birds is addictive.  That's the only way to explain the urge to keep taking photos of the same kinds of birds in the same places, day after day.  I mean, after all, how many photos of a bird on a branch does someone need?  I've asked myself that many times, and I've come up with excuse after excuse....it's relaxing, the bird may be in a different pose or different light, and I can use those photos in different situations.  The bird may move a certain way, and I'll get a shot I haven't gotten before.  As I look back on these photos, I see so many that are so similar, then I turn around again and ask myself what was I thinking?  I'm telling you, it's an addiction!

Since I obviously can't seem to stop this habit of sitting outside and photographing our fine feathered friends, I've started asking myself, what ELSE can I do with these simple photos?  I've come up with a few ideas, and I thought my fellow bird photography addicts might find these useful.

​Flowers and birds go well together.  Because I have so many photos at different angles on bare branches, it's usually pretty easy to find one which can be composited into a vase with flowers, or onto a branch with flowers which I photographed previously.  I also will place a flying bird in with some flowers...it adds interest and color.

Put the bird with an unexpected object, or in a still life scene.  Once again, due to the variety of angles and poses, it's often easy to find a bird photo I've taken which will fit with an object.

​If you have photos of house windows, barn windows, store windows, etc., the window sill or window opening is great place to put your bird!

I collect fallen bird nests I find, and I photograph them on a plain background so I can easily integrate them in with a new background or interesting texture.  I also have purchased bird nests at the craft stores - some of them look very realistic!

​Put the bird on a stump, rock, or other natural element.  I often will photograph plain stumps, large rocks, leaves, pine cones, etc, and later work a bird into the art with those elements.  It gives them a natural place to perch, yet something different than the standard location where I usually photograph them.

Put multiple images of the same bird into one image.  I often get multiple images at a time of one bird, especially if that bird is active.  It's usually easy to put multiple images into one when the shots are made at the same time, in the same lighting.  And as long as the bird doesn't have some super obvious identifying feature, no one will know the birds in your art are all the same bird!

​And finally, if you really want to get wild with your creation, dress up your bird!  Give the bird a hat or some human clothes to wear.  This creates a more whimsical, fun work of art which will make people smile. :)

This image was quite a challenge, as the eagle was flying out from behind a mass of branches. In order to bring the focus onto her, which was my main goal, I had to do quite a bit of masking.

This original photo was taken in Shiloh, TN, where I go to photograph Hiram and Julia, a pair of bald eagles who have been nesting there for eleven years.

I used multiple textures from The Farmhouse Collection, a couple from the Breathless Collection and a Cloud Overlay to create this bald eagle art.

​In this series, we feature works by a variety of artists who are using the Daily Texture resources in combination with their own photography to create amazing art.  Would you like to be a part of this new series?  Go here to read the submission guidelines and to submit your work!

Around 4am this morning as I enjoyed a hot cup of coffee outside, I heard the calls of the owls in the distance.  Just listening to them inspired me to work with one of my Great Horned Owl photos I got a few days ago, and I decided to video the process of creating this work of art.  I hope you enjoy the video!