Bird Whisperer

Meet Jan Wegener

German-born and now living on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, I have had a keen interest in birds from a young age, with a particular fascination for parrots.


As long as I can remember, I have been drawn to old bird paintings and illustrations, depicting birds on beautiful perches with just a hint of habitat fading into nothingness. When I started bird photography, I was immediately captivated by images with smooth, out-of-focus backgrounds and attractive perches.

Since then, I have spent countless hours creating my own vision and artworks, inspired by these old masters, but with my camera instead of a paintbrush. It’s my attempt to blend art with simple photography.


After graduating from university with a Bachelor's in Finance, I decided to take a completely different route and become a full-time photographer. I first started out as a freelance real estate photographer, quickly succeeding and eventually leading a team of 25 photographers. After years of working in this high-intensity and time-consuming job, I realized that my true passion, bird photography, had taken a backseat to my “day job,” and that I needed to focus on what really matters in life. So, I quit in 2017!


In the following years, I continued to photograph some high-end real estate on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, before finally hanging up the real estate boots and fully focusing on bird photography and my YouTube channel.

It’s been an exciting journey ever since. I have not regretted my decision for a second and enjoy focusing on what I love and sharing it with others. YouTube, in particular, has allowed me to share my passion and help other photographers in their journey, whether it’s creating great bird photos, finding the right gear for the job, or transforming their RAW files into stunning final images with my masterclasses.

What Some of Jan's Customers Say!

With 4,000 customers and thousands of reviews, here are a few highlights showcasing the high satisfaction

and impact of Jan's bird photography courses.

Easily the best instructional video I have seen

Jan has a natural relaxed presentation style that makes for easy viewing.

I've been photographing birds for a number of years and I regret that I didn't get to see this video years ago, as it would have improved my setups a lot sooner.

This instructional video stands out as an exceptional resource, offering an unparalleled blend of practical advice and insightful tips. It's not just the best instructional video I've seen, it's a comprehensive guide that has significantly influenced my photography journey. .

Gerard Satherley

gerardsatherleyphotography.com

The video you wish you had access to when you started

Jan gives you the video you wish you had access to when you started asking yourself some of those difficult photo questions.

It presents bleeding edge bird photography in an easy to understand, informative style & shows that it’s not the camera or computer equipment but these simple steps and a little bit of creative thinking that will get you where you want to be.

Even if your a walk & stalk kinda guy or girl there are so many transferable skills included here it would be ridiculous not to have it as reference.

Karl Seddon

(IG: @karlseddon)

Anyone wanting to advance their skills in bird photography will absolutely benefit from this

This is a highly informative documentary of exactly how Jan gets those amazing shots.

This honest approach in sharing techniques and skills he has learned and developed over ten years of bird photography is invaluable. Each and every process is clearly explained (not just what he did... but why he does it!).

Having watched this several times now, I highly recommend it. I believe anyone wanting to advance their skills in bird photography will absolutely benefit from this."

Brian Kowald

(IG: @briankowald)

Good Afternoon Jan,

I purchased a copy of your Masterclass - Editing Your Bird Images To Perfection" and have just completed watching it. It was very very interesting to watch and enjoyed the detail you went into to explaining all the settings and adjustments made in RAW and Photoshop. It has without a doubt help me understand even more the intricacies of RAW and Photoshop and I am sure will help me to improve my processing all round and take it to another level.

I just watched your video. It is really good. Your workflow is perfect and you explain it very well without making it confusing to understand. I was never happy with my Baudin's Black-Cockatoo shots, as my processing was crap I couldn't get rid of that yellow look effectively. I will reprocess them now.

I have used Photoshop for over 8 years, I wish I had watched this video when I started. I have learnt lots of new

techniques that will improve

my bird processing work flow.

Wow, so good! This is a brilliant tutorial that showcases not only the power of Photoshop, but also Jan's amazing editing skills. Easy to understand, this masterclass caters for everyone from novice to those with more advanced photography and editing skills. I think absolutely everyone would gain from this, and it would be the best thing a novice could do for

themselves to get not just an understanding, but more importantly the skills needed to edit images correctly. I can't recommend this highly enough and I will be going back over it again and again to get everything I can out of it.

Well done Jan.

Hi Jan,

Wow, just wow, I don't really know what else to say?

I can tell you that I have paid big money in the past for other people's so called Masterclasses and for me to learn about all the stuff that you covered, I would have to buy two, maybe three, different courses.


I have many courses for PS editing and he makes it very difficult by jumping from mountains to portraits to animals, all over the place and it becomes a very

jumbled mess in your head when you try to put all his information into my chosen subject of Bird Photography.

Hi Jan, good day. I purchased your perched episode 1 + the master class editing videos. Firstly thanks heaps for the 50% discount hahah. The content if flawless and I'm really satisfied. I do have a question, in the video perched, you have used ball head clamps to attach some perches. Could you please let me know where you brought them or how can I aquire some? I tried looking for the over the internet but I can't find any similar one's like you have.! Thanks a lot for your time. Cheers

Ok, this is fantastic, Jan! Just wanted to say that as a beginner, I found this tutorial to be a revelation, showing me the true capabilities of Photoshop and seeingJan's remarkable editing skills inspred me no end. It's so easy to follow, which helped me progress and i’m just starting out.


This masterclass is something I believe everyone can benefit from if I can and for a beginner like me, it’s probably gonna be an invaluable resource. I got pretty good results but most importantly it equips me with the skills I need to edit images properly and even get better. I can't praise this enough and I already know I'll be revisiting it over and over again to absorb as much as possible.

Thanks

Watching a magician reveal the secrets to his tricks

Perched is a beautifully produced lesson on how to capture crisp, colorful bird images.

It felt like I was watching a magician reveal the secrets to his tricks, but rather than ruining the magic, it made it even more fun.

There was enough content in the episode to give me new techniques to practice for months or years to come.

Marcus

(IG: @marcusbirding)

This is the definitive "how to" on bird photography

o much cheaper than a workshop but you can watch it over and over again.

Everything is explained clearly and I found it easy to follow along.


This is the definitive "how to" on bird photography. I can't recommend this highly enough!

Adam Hunter

(IG: @wildlife_kununurra)

I don't photograph birds but i just like this style so much I wanted to learn

I kept coming across Jan's work online, and I was really drawn to the the artistic nature of the photos he produces. I wanted to understand what he was doing in terms of editing. I wasn't disappointed. At the end of the day, learning from the master is always worthwhile because it can be applied to any genre.

Joe Best

(IG: @briankowald)

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