Photographing Puffins in Ireland
- Albert Dros
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
Ever since seeing puffins for the first time in Iceland one summer many years ago, I wanted to spend some proper time really capturing good photos of them. It was always in the back of my head. Then, while giving a talk at the Explore Light conference in Ireland in 2025, I met photographer Chris van Twisk, a Dutch photographer living in Ireland. We got talking and he casually mentioned that he goes to the Saltee Islands in Ireland every year to photograph puffins. ‘Do you want to join?’
A year later, a fun group of photographers and I spent three days on the island photographing these cute little seabirds. Now, I am not a wildlife photographer, but that does not matter. I just love nature and animals, and I happily spend time doing something ‘new’. Special thanks also to my friend and fellow Sony Ambassador Gustav Kiburg for explaining the behaviour of the puffins and for helping me capture them in flight, which proved to be not so easy.
I love to have my own ideas and style when it comes to photos, so on the first afternoon on the island I simply started to observe the little birds. These were unusually warm and sunny days, and the harsh light was challenging for photography anyway. I noticed they hung around on the cliffs much more later in the afternoon, as it cooled down. I observed their behaviour and often sat in one spot for quite some time. I also noticed how they slowly got used to me, and sometimes a cheeky one would come over to see what I was doing.
These photos (see them all below) were taken over three days. In this photo series I looked for the following things (which can also be considered tips):
• Light: The single most important thing, and not only in landscape photography. As you can see in these photos, I was often working with backlight. This gave the birds an amazing contrast against the often darker backgrounds of the sea or the cliffs. I underexposed a lot, so that the highlights were not blown out.
• Originality / Versatility: There are countless photos of puffins online. I always aim for something that at least stands out a little. Now, I don’t know if these photos do, but at least I try :) Things like extreme close-ups and wide-angle shots were mixed in with the more casual portraits. For me, a photo series always needs some versatility. I love to mix in different perspectives.
• Emotion: I would look for moments with emotion. The first photo in the series is one of the best examples of that: two puffins that look like they’re in love. The look in their eyes, combined with the backlight, says it all. When you really spend time with animals, you get to experience these rare moments. Moments of emotion are, in my opinion, the most powerful photos.
• Wide angle: And that brings me to the wide-angle shots. I consider these original, as you don’t see them that often. For this, I was often sitting quite close to the puffins, and in general they did not mind. As I mentioned earlier, I would often sit on a nice, photogenic spot where I would occasionally see puffins. I would sit there, more and more would come, and they would often get curious, allowing me to get close-ups. Another trick is to simply place the camera down and trigger it from a little distance with a remote (your phone, for example, so that you can still see what you’re shooting). Wide-angle shots give a great sense of just how small these birds are. From all the portraits, you would probably think they’re bigger. They are not: they’re tiny :)
• Getting low: I always do this, and say it, in landscape photography, and in wildlife it’s no different. Getting low lets you photograph animals at eye height, and it often gives you a beautiful foreground blur as well. As you can see in my photos, I often use this out-of-focus foreground as a compositional element.
• Flying shots: As you’ll notice, there is only one photo of a flying puffin in this series. I definitely had more, but somehow they felt too ‘simple’ and generic to me: standard backgrounds, no spectacular light. They were nice on their own, but did not really stand out for me. I did spend a long time trying to capture good ones though. Even with a shutter speed of around 1/4000s and bird AF, it was still quite difficult. These birds are fast.
This photo series is a combination of everything: emotion, light, different perspectives, and a tribute to this little bird. I hope you enjoy it!
If you want to learn how I edit these kinds of photo, check out my Lightroom Course (has a free lecture as well). It covers my entire postprocessing workflow in Lightroom.
Thanks for reading!
Gear used on this trip:
