Few subjects in British wildlife photography are as rewarding as the Atlantic puffin. They are small, characterful and, in the right colony, remarkably tolerant of people, which means you can photograph natural behaviour from close range without a hide or a long lens. That combination makes puffin photography one of the best ways for any photographer to build confidence with birds.
This guide covers everything you need to photograph puffins well: where to find them, when the season peaks, the camera settings that keep a fast-moving seabird sharp, why a telephoto lens matters, and the field tips I've learned from years of leading wildlife photography workshops on the Farne Islands. Whether you're after a clean portrait of a puffin or a shot of one landing with a beak full of sand eels, the fundamentals are the same.
Where to Photograph Puffins in the UK
Britain holds some of the most important puffin colonies in the world, and several of them are genuinely accessible to photographers. Each site has its own character, but they share one thing: the birds return to the same cliffs and grassy slopes every year to breed, so once you know where a colony is, you know where to point the camera.
The finest puffin photography in England. The birds nest in burrows across Inner Farne and are astonishingly tame, often walking within a metre or two. Managed by the National Trust, reached by a licensed boat from Seahouses.
Skomer Island holds one of the largest puffin colonies in southern Britain. The birds nest in burrows right beside the footpaths, and the island is run as a nature reserve by the local Wildlife Trust. Access is by day boat, weather permitting.
A towering chalk cliff colony where puffins nest alongside gannets, guillemots and razorbills. The birds are more distant here, on the cliff face, so a longer telephoto lens is needed to capture them well.
The northern isles hold huge seabird colonies. In midsummer the light barely fades, and photographing puffins in the midnight sun is an experience unlike anywhere else in the UK, though it takes commitment to reach.
For most photographers based in England, the Farne Islands are the obvious starting point. The puffins there have grown used to visitors over decades, so they carry on nesting, preening and delivering food while you work, which is exactly the behaviour you want to capture. It's the reason we base our Farne Islands puffin photography tour there rather than anywhere else.
When to Photograph Puffins
Puffins spend most of the year far out at sea and only come ashore to breed. The season runs from April, when the first birds return to the colony, through to late July, when the young leave the burrow and the adults head back out to the Atlantic. Miss that window and the cliffs are empty.
The peak for photography is late May to early July. By then the colony is in full swing: adults are pairing, tending the nest and, most importantly for photographers, flying in from the sea with beaks full of sand eels to feed the single chick in the burrow. Those food-carrying flights are the classic puffin shot, and they only happen during this narrow part of the season. Our puffin departures are timed for exactly this window, across late May and June.
April: birds return to the colony. Late May to early July: peak activity, sand eel deliveries, best light for portraits and flight. Late July: chicks fledge and the adults leave. There is no puffin photography on these colonies from August to March.
Camera Settings for Puffin Photography
Puffins move fast, both on the wing and on the ground, so your settings need to prioritise a sharp result over everything else. Here is the starting point I set up with on the boat, before we even land.
| Setting | Recommended Value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Shutter speed | 1/1000 sec (standing), 1/2500 sec+ (flight) | A standing puffin is sharp at 1/1000 second, but a bird in flight needs 1/2500 or faster to freeze the fast wingbeats. Shutter speed is your first priority. |
| Aperture | f/5.6 – f/8 | Wide enough to blur the background and lift the bird off it, closed enough to keep the whole puffin sharp from beak to tail. |
| ISO | Auto ISO, capped | Let ISO float to hold your shutter speed. Set an upper limit you're comfortable with. A slightly noisy sharp frame beats a clean blurred one. |
| Autofocus | Continuous AF (AF-C / AI Servo) | Continuous autofocus tracks the bird as it moves. Use animal or bird eye detection if your camera has it. |
| Drive mode | Burst mode, high frames per second | Behaviour happens in a fraction of a second. Burst mode gives you a sequence to choose the peak frame from, wings up and eye sharp. |
| File format | RAW | RAW holds the detail in a puffin's white cheek and dark back, and gives you room to recover highlights on a bright day. |
The single biggest mistake I see is too slow a shutter speed. Photographers set up for a portrait, a puffin suddenly takes off, and the shot is soft. Keep the shutter speed high and let auto ISO do the work, and you'll come home with far more keepers.
The Best Lens: Use a Telephoto Lens
Puffin photography rewards a telephoto lens, but you may need less reach than you think. On a distant cliff colony like Bempton, 400mm or more is genuinely useful. On the Farne Islands, where the birds are within a few metres, a 200mm or 300mm lens is often plenty, and going too long can actually work against you: at very close range a big telephoto lens can't fit the whole bird in, let alone show it in context.
That closeness opens up a second kind of image. Rather than only shooting tight portraits, you can pull back a little and capture the puffin within its environment, standing among the sea campion with the colony and the sea behind it. A shorter telephoto, or even a standard zoom, comes into its own for these wider, storytelling frames. Carrying two bodies, or a versatile zoom around 100-400mm, covers both the portrait and the environmental shot without changing lenses in a stiff coastal wind.
"On the Farnes the challenge isn't getting close enough. It's remembering to step back and photograph the puffin as part of its world, not just its face."
Tips for Photographing Puffins
Good technique gets you a sharp frame. These field habits are what turn a sharp frame into a good photograph, and they come from a lot of hours spent sitting quietly on a windy island.
Get low
The instinct is to shoot down at a bird standing on the grass, but a high angle flattens the image and fills the background with cluttered ground. Get low, ideally down to the puffin's own eye level. Shooting from low down throws the background out of focus, separates the bird cleanly, and gives the portrait an intimacy that a standing shot never has. Your knees and elbows will get muddy. It's worth it.
Let the puffin come to you
Puffins nest in burrows in the ground, so the golden rule is to watch where you walk and never block a bird's path to its burrow. Keep to the marked paths, move slowly, and stay still. Given a few quiet minutes, a puffin will often wander to within a metre of you of its own accord. Working this way means you avoid disturbing the colony and you get relaxed, natural behaviour rather than an alarmed bird.
Wait for the beak full of sand eels
The definitive puffin photograph is a bird coming in to land with a row of silver sand eels hanging from its beak. These deliveries happen throughout the peak season, but they're quick. Pre-focus on a favoured landing spot, keep your shutter speed high, and be ready on the burst the moment a bird banks in from the sea. It takes patience and a few missed attempts, but the shot is worth the wait.
Watch the light
As with any wildlife photography, the best light is early and late in the day, when it's soft, warm and low. A puffin's white face can blow out in harsh midday sun, so overcast conditions are often kinder than bright ones. On a clear evening, try placing the bird against the light for a rim-lit edge or a clean silhouette.
Telephoto lens (200-400mm) · fast shutter speed · continuous AF · burst mode · spare batteries and cards · a beanbag or the ground to get low · waterproof layers · patience. Above all, respect the birds and the burrows underfoot.
Photographing Puffins in Flight
Puffins in flight are the hardest and most satisfying shot of all. They are not graceful fliers: they beat their small wings up to 400 times a minute and come in fast and low, often into a stiff wind. That's actually a gift, because a headwind slows their approach and gives you a fraction longer to lock focus.
Set the fastest shutter speed the light allows, at least 1/2500 second and ideally faster, and use continuous autofocus with the widest tracking area your camera offers. Pick up the bird against the sky or the sea, pan smoothly with it, and fire a burst as it commits to the landing. Most frames will miss. The ones that land, wings raised and a beak full of sand eels catching the light, are the images that make the whole trip.
Photographing Puffins on a Photography Workshop
You can absolutely photograph puffins independently, but a guided photography tour removes the guesswork. On our Farne Islands trip we time the departures for the peak of the season, handle the boat logistics, and are on hand at the colony to help with settings, composition and reading the birds' behaviour so you're ready before the moment happens.
The boat to the Farne Islands is the same licensed vessel used by all visitors, running around two and a half to three hours in total with roughly an hour ashore on Inner Farne. Groups are kept to a maximum of five photographers, so there's real one-to-one time. The tour is compatible with Canon, Nikon and Sony systems, and note that drones are not permitted on Inner Farne. If puffins are on your list, our Farne Islands puffin tour is built around getting you the shots in this guide. Many photographers pair it with our other wildlife trips, such as the Whirling Wader Spectacular at Snettisham, to build a fuller portfolio of British seabirds and shorebirds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best camera setting for photographing puffins?
Use a fast shutter speed of at least 1/1000 second to freeze a standing puffin, and 1/2500 to 1/3200 second for puffins in flight. Set continuous autofocus, use burst mode to capture the peak moment, and open the aperture to around f/5.6 to f/8 to keep the bird sharp while softening the background. Raise ISO as needed to hold that shutter speed.
What lens do I need to photograph puffins?
A telephoto lens in the 200mm to 400mm range is ideal. On the Farne Islands the puffins are unusually confiding, so a 200mm or 300mm lens is often long enough to fill the frame and even capture the bird within its environment. On more distant colonies you will want 400mm or more.
When is the best time to photograph puffins in the UK?
The puffin season runs from April to late July, when the birds return to their breeding colonies to nest. Late May to early July is the peak window, when adults are busy carrying beaks full of sand eels back to the burrow. This is the best time for both portraits and flight shots.
Where can I photograph puffins in the UK?
The best puffin colonies in the UK include the Farne Islands off Northumberland, Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire, Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, and the Shetland and Orkney isles. The Farne Islands are the most accessible and the birds are remarkably tame, which makes them the finest place in England for close puffin photography.
How do I photograph puffins without disturbing them?
Move slowly, stay low, keep to the marked paths and let the birds come to you. Puffins nest in burrows, so watch where you step and never block a bird's route to its burrow. Given time and calm behaviour, puffins will often walk within a couple of metres, which lets you photograph natural behaviour without stress to the bird.
