About Jason Polak

Jason Polak is a bird and wildlife photographer from Ottawa, Canada. He has been interested in photography ever since he received a disposable film camera as a small child. His career as a mathematician led him to move to Australia in 2016, where he started seeing colorful parrots. A few casual shots with a lens completely unsuitable for birds got him hooked, and now wildlife photography is his biggest passion. Jason loves to show the beauty of animals to the world through photography, and one of his lifelong goals is to photograph five thousand species of birds. You can see more of Jason's work on his website or on his YouTube channel.

Post Archive By Jason Polak

Noise Reduction Algorithms vs Capturing More Light

Today’s noise reduction software is capable of incredible results. Images that couldn’t be salvaged in the past can be made quite clean with modern denoise algorithms. But what is the real benefit of these tools compared to capturing more light in the first place?

OM SYSTEM Announces the OM-3 and Updated Lenses

OM SYSTEM has just announced a new camera: the OM-3. Unlike the OM-1 and OM-1 Mark II, the OM-3 is a very different beast with a retro design. Even so, it's still got a stacked sensor and shares many capabilities with the OM-I Mark II. And together with this new...

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.2 S Announced

Nikon has just announced what is destined to become a classic environmental portrait lens for the Nikon Z mount: the Nikon NIKKOR Z 35mm f/1.2 S. This beautiful high-end prime lens completes the holy trinity of f/1.2 primes, joining the Nikon 50mm f/1.2 S and the Nikon 85mm f/1.2 S....

Nikon COOLPIX P1100 Announced

In 2018, Nikon released the COOLPIX P1000, a superzoom with a massive equivalent focal length range of 24-3000mm. Today, Nikon has just announced its successor, the Nikon P1100. What can users expect with the Nikon COOLPIX P1100? Users of the P1000 will find that the P1100 has very similar specifications...

Five Easy Things to Avoid in Bird Photography

Bird photography seems simple. You see a bird, you take its photo. But birds don’t just move - they can be in different environments and can have endless varieties of light shone upon them. All of a sudden, bird photography starts to get more complex. And in some ways, it...

Small Adjustments Can Lead to Big Changes in a Photo

In photography, you compose shots by moving your camera to a physical position in space and time. That's obvious. But what isn't so obvious is that very slight changes in space and time can substantially alter a composition. As a wildlife photographer, I know it's tempting to take shots immediately...

“How Is AI Different From Autofocus?”

There was a time not long ago when I spent time on photography forums. I joined quite a few debates about artificial intelligence, and in these debates, some people compared new AI tools with other automated camera features. “How is AI any different from autofocus?” is a question I saw in various forms.

Getting Closer in Wildlife Photography

Wildlife photography has a difficulty that most other genres lack: It's hard to get close to your subject. Animals are typically wary and will fly or run away if you just walk too close to them - that's why most wildlife photographers carry long lenses in the 400-800mm range and...

Using Panoramas for Wildlife Photography

If you use a prime lens for wildlife photography, the biggest problem is that you can’t zoom out to get the entire animal in the frame when you’re too close. But is there a solution to this problem that doesn’t involve using a different lens? One possibility is to use panoramas!