Drawing Birds from Photos

How zoom photography changes form

While I was watching a lesson on perspective, I had a lightbulb moment about drawing birds. The instructor was explaining the difference between zoom and near-to-the-camera objects. He was using landscapes and buildings for his lesson but my subjects have feathers.

Not having a live bird handy to photograph from close range, I grabbed the next best thing: a wood carving that some friends gave us. Look what happens when you look at the carving from a distance, through zoom (left), and then how the bill and body proportions change with close proximity (right).

For me, this was an ah-hah moment. And once I saw the difference between zoom and proximity, I couldn’t unsee it.

What follows in this post moves from reflection into something closer to a lesson. It draws on access, resources, and experiments that took time to arrange and a lot of careful looking to understand. I’ve chosen to share that part of the work with my paying subscribers, where I can teach it more fully and thoughtfully.