Wildlife Photography Behind the Shot: Tawny Owls in Sweden (Plus tips for taking pictures of owls)

This behind the scenes wildlife photography video is all about owls and owl photography. In the video, I’ll show you how I found a beautiful Tawny Owl in a forest outside Stockholm, Sweden and give you tips for how to find and photograph wild owls in nature. This includes the setup and settings I use when I take pictures of owls.
When it comes to photographing owls, you’ll often be shooting in low-light conditions and this makes it much more difficult to get sharp and well-exposed images with low ISO. Luckily I can teach you a few simple techniques that will make owl photography easier and much more fun. But obviously, even the best gear and techniques doesn’t matter if you can’t find any owls to take pictures of in the first place. In the video I’ll also give you some pointers on what to look for when your out, but the best advice is to keep you eyes open, your senses sharp and to arm yourself with lots of patience. And remember to turn off your phone so you're you can be fully present in the moment! I always miss shots when I fall for the temptation to check my phone - and I always regret it afterwards.
For the images and featured in this video, I used my Nikon D500, Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8, Sirui Tripod and Manfrotto Video Head.
If you have any questions after watching the video, please let me know by posting a comment. I’d be glad to answer any questions you might have in relation to wildlife photography and owls.
The video was recorded in early October, 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden.
If you’d like to see more of my work follow me here on TH-cam or visit my website michaelaagaard... or my Instagram: / michaelaagaardphoto

[@Daniel_Oberg]

So many lovely clips and photos! Loved seeing this! 🦉🤎 Greetings from a Swedish youtuber! 🇸🇪

[@lennartoberg292]

Wonderful shots !! I have had tawnies nesting on my property since 1970, when we put up 2 boxes.

[@kerrykestrowl6785]

I am so glad you found her she is winking at you beautiful shots If you look on the ground you might see pellets

[@NomadByFate]

LOVELY ! WELL DONE PAL

[@jonathansmithies]

So cool

[@JoseManuelHiniesto]

Wow owls are amazing mysterious creatures..great footage, loved this
Keep up the good work.
new follower 43

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you so much Jose I really appreciate it!

[@knutfugl]

Great caught. Beautiful work. Interesting to see how you work.
Subscribed.
Greets.

[@emilpoulsennatur]

I just found a tawny owl too on my channel haha!!! They are so beautifuuuuuuul. Great video btw

[@AndreaAndresArt]

Didn't know you were in Canada. I was just trying to find some owl videos to illustrate/draw for my children's book. Thanks for sharing all your wonderful photos.

[@YabannPenceresi]

Really perfect... good Job...

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you so much - it means a lot to me!

[@cintulator2]

Oh my gosh MAWP, you found the beauty queen!

[@hellochigasakiASMR]

Awesome! It has gentle eyes

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you very much! Owls do have incredible eyes - especially the ones with yellow or orange ones :)

[@MikSwePhoto]

I am happy that you finally found an owl. It is not the easiest just to walk out and find one. To bad I couldn't join you, but I was in a different part of Sweden at that time. The result of that is coming next week on my channel :-). BTW I love your music, do you think it is possible for me to use it in my videos?

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Hi Mik - thank you very much! Too bad we couldn't hang out, but I'm looking forward to seeing you video! Thanks for the compliment on the music. It is actually me playing the guitar and it is an original song of mine :)

[@MikSwePhoto]

@@michaelaagaardphoto I know and that is why I asked ;-)

[@cintulator2]

Great!
I found a gooood owl-freak!
Greetings from Finland!

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Ha ha ha - thanks Cintu! Yep total owl freak here :)

[@petrvokurek2286]

Beautiful video, thanks for sharing! I love owls, too, and tawnies are my favourites. I´ve made lots and lots of nesting boxes for them over the years as they have few nesting opportunities in our woods. You were realy lucky to have found one and even luckier that she let you film her :) They´re normally pretty shy and fly away or disappear in the cavity. Great work! Btw, what lens were you using that goes down to f4..?

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you so much Petr! Wow that's so cool! I haven't built any nest boxes myself yet, but it is definitely on my to-do-list. I photograph a lot of owls so I think I've gotten better at approaching them without scaring them off. I was using a Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 for this. For some of the shots I was using a 1.4 converter that makes the camera go to f/4. Unfortunately I broke the lens a few weeks after making this video. Thanks for your comment man, I appreciate it!

[@ReverseSenescence]

nice video...I will star a similar channel too. Keep doing this:)

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you Andrei! Looking forward to seeing your vids!

[@CharlesNatPix]

Waw great video too !! love your quality

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you so much Charles! I'm glad you liked it :)

[@ToToWildlife]

Nice job, thank you 🙏

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you very much for the kind words!

[@peiter8467]

Awesome video!👌🏼

[@michaelaagaardphoto]

Thank you very much!