Bird Photography

[Darren Rowse]

I've just posted Leisa's tutorial on Backyard Bird Photography (http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/backyard-bird-photography-tips/) over at the blog and thought it might be good to have a thread here on the forums for questions, tips.

Looking forward to see what you've got to add to what Leisa's learned in her own bird photography.

[inkista]

Here's what I've learned, chasing raptors in my local canyons:

They deliberately fly so that they'll be backlit. It's nothing personal (although it sure feels personal), but they want to have the sun at their backs so they can see prey. Pay attention to the direction of the light.
Birds in flight: keep both eyes open. It'll help you track and get the bird in frame that much faster.
Go for the best, longest lens you can afford. You can never get close enough for birding.
Teleconverters are nice, but sometimes they're not worth the autofocus hassle. Do research before buying one--do not assume all lenses will work with them or have full functionality. Learn about taping pins.
Know about camera shake vs. focal length, and the shutter speeds you'll need and how to get them.
Learn your autofocus system's quirks. Single-point, servo vs. non-servo mode, using the focus-limiting switch on your lens, etc.
Always have your camera out and ready to shoot BEFORE you start hiking to your birding spot. I can't tell you the number of red-tailed hawk shots I've missed to teach me this lesson. The readiness is all, when you've got half a second to get a shot.
Good handholding technique and monopods are things you want.
A car makes a good blind.
Learn to post-process. You will crop. You will sharpen.
If you don't have one, and you live in North America, get a copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds (http://www.amazon.com/Sibley-Guide-Birds-David-Allen/dp/0679451226/). It makes everything a lot more fun.

[NaturesPixel]

Brilliant Tips :) i try and get out along the 401 here in ontario.. they sit along sides of roads.. but you can also get ya self killed from the maniac drivers here... :(

thats is the birding book of all books!!! tho when i went to get mine they didnt have it in and im impatient.. so i settled for National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Field-Guide-America/dp/0792253140/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8173640-8164830?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1172920482&sr=1-1)

one more tip.. if you do take your book along... its best to take photos of the bird and ID him later...lol i see a few people trying to ID the bird.. and then look up with Camera and he is gone ....lol

[inkista]

Brilliant Tips :) i try and get out along the 401 here in ontario.. they sit along sides of roads.. but you can also get ya self killed from the maniac drivers here... :(
What I really hate is how the raptors locally here completely ignore cars, so they tend to fly much much closer to me while I'm, say, driving onto the freeway onramp, then when I'm on foot.
thats is the birding book of all books!!! tho when i went to get mine they didnt have it in and im impatient.. so i settled for National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Field-Guide-America/dp/0792253140/)I still can't believe that one person could have painted all those pictures. Sibley (http://www.sibleyguides.com/) is simply amazing. I despair, however, of ever identifying seagulls correctly. They're hard! I just give up and tag them as "seagull" in Flickr. (sigh).
... one more tip.. if you do take your book along... its best to take photos of the bird and ID him later...lol i see a few people trying to ID the bird.. and then look up with Camera and he is gone ....lolOhman. Yeah, I can see how someone would think it really is a field guide, since it says so on the cover. :D But it's too honking big for that. Actually, though, I started out taking the pictures just because I would need it to ID a bird later.

If you're coming at it from the photography side, without birding experience (like me), google is your friend. It can lead you to local Audubon society information--you can leech off their experience and information to find good birding spots, good birding/conservation practices, and what species are "in town" and when. The thing is that this is a dual-sided-thing. You have to learn about birds and birding to get good bird photos. And birders are crazy fun people who appreciate great optics and the crazy fun of photographers (although they usually prefer to attach a camera to a scope, rather than a mere lens). ;)

Two people whose websites I like to go to for inspiration would be Daniella on the dpreview boards, whose pbase gallery (http://www.pbase.com/zylen/) is stunning (and not just for the bird photos), and the Bird Chick's blog (http://www.birdchick.com/blog.html).

[CindyChris]

I am about ready to quit using my teleconverter completely. I absolutely cannot get things focused with it, not automatically, not manually. Perhaps it is an inferior model, my husband purchased it for me, so I'm not sure how much he paid for it. But I'm not impressed. I thought I had everything set right, camera on the monopod, etc. but this is the best shot I got.

[NaturesPixel]

Cindy.. what lens are you using this on?? also what camera ???

[CindyChris]

Leisa,
I have a Konica Minolta DiMage A200, 8.0 megapixel, a DSLR wannabe. Great camera but it does not have interchangeable lenses. It's like a hybrid with many SLR features. The lens is a 28-200 zoom lens, 7x optical zoom. I put a 2x digital telephoto converter lens on it. I am really into digital, but am still trying to get the hang of it. Sometimes I wish I hadn't sold my 35mm with all the lenses.

[Chico]

I have been an avid bird-watcher going on near 13 years now.
I have taken numerous shots and as well experimented with digi-scoping which produced some amazing shots...if the light was perfect.
As far as hawks are concerned for me I find them very skiddish. I also found out that my Manfrotto tripod gives me away like a red-neck loon will give itself away in winter on a nice sunny day. The reflections from the tripod make me stand out like that loon on water.
I agree wholeheartedly with the tips given here as I practice most of them. Another book I'd like to recommend, which is rather phenomenal is Bird Life and Behaviour...another great book from Sibley.

[NaturesPixel]

Leisa,
I have a Konica Minolta DiMage A200, 8.0 megapixel, a DSLR wannabe. Great camera but it does not have interchangeable lenses. It's like a hybrid with many SLR features. The lens is a 28-200 zoom lens, 7x optical zoom. I put a 2x digital telephoto converter lens on it. I am really into digital, but am still trying to get the hang of it. Sometimes I wish I hadn't sold my 35mm with all the lenses.

its the converter then there is nothing you can do about it I'm afraid.. most attachment converters for P&S are chit...

save hard for a DSLR :)

[JJthethird]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjthethird/493989200/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/201/493989200_cade74e244.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Coot" /></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjthethird/494018597/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/231/494018597_01efc5d09f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Barnacle Goose" /></a>

I'm fairly new to this but I love nature, birds in particular. These are a couple of shots that I took while out and about last week. Any advice and criticism would be most welcome.

Cheers, John.:)

[image-y]

Hi all

I just posted "8 steps to Perfect Bird Shots" on my blog and thought I would share it with you guys... There are some other great tips here as well!
-----------

I’m an animal lover. That’s one of the reasons we moved out to the country last year. And since then, I’ve been blessed by having the best neighbors in the world: animals! Of course my camera’s been going crazy shooting anything that moves around here. I’ve often been asked, “Yanik, how do you get those lovely bird shots?” and I thought I would share with you a few tips to help you shoot birds or any other critter from a distance. Here we go.

1 - Patience. Yes, that’s right! Patience. These aren’t models in your studio that you can just direct… “move a little more to the left”, “tilt your head to the right”…. you have to wait for them. And once they’re there, you have to wait for the right pose, the right branch, the right light. I can take hundreds for chickadee shots a day but only have 2 or 3 that I really like. Patience also means being in the same spot for a while, so have a seat and get comfortable. :)

2 - Get out of town! Yes, some will argue that you can get some great urban bird shots and I agree (like my black bird nest in a brick wall) but, for me, there’s nothing like shooting them in nature. You’ll probably end up seeing more varieties as well. And what’s not to like about a lovely nature hike to clear the mind.

3- Try to blend in. Mornings here are still a bit chilly and the other day I went outside, camera in hand, to shoot a beautiful pair of geese on the river. Usually not too skittish, they’re easy to shoot but this time they started panicking and making loud sounds and flew away. Now, what got them all excited? I looked around to see if there was a predator and could not see one and they really seemed to be looking at me. So I looked at me…. and there I was in a bright red fleece! I stuck out like a sore thumb. They must have thought I was some sort of evil alien hunter.

4 - Get a long lens. Yes, some birds might get close enough for you to shoot them with your 10-20mm or your 50mm but they are the exception. So what’s left to do? Pimp up your gear! :) If you have a point and shoot, make sure it has a good zoom (at least 300mm on the long end) with some sort of image stabilization in the camera. If you have a DSLR, you have many options depending on how much you want to spend. If you use Nikon like me and if you have money to burn then the Nikkor 600mm VR is for you! ;) I have the Nikkor 80-400mm VR and it’s a joy to work with because of the zoom range. You could also combine a 70-200mm with a 1.7 teleconverter to give you up to 340mm. For a less expensive option, I recommend the Nikkor 70-300mm VR.

5 - Keep your camera close. How many times have we missed out on some amazing shots because we left the camera in the car or didn’t bother to bring it along? More often than I’d like to remember! As humans, we’re just lazy by nature so we don,t always want to bring our gear along.. and then we regret it. When I first moved in to our country home, I kept my camera in my studio… in the basement. After running down a few dozen times just to get back up to take that perfect shot of…. the one that got away, I now keep my D300 with my trusty 80-400mm lens close to the living room window.

6 - Be a rock. One of the reasons I recommend point and shoots or lenses with image stabilization technology is that it allows you to shoot at a slower speed without having movement blur. Remember that the longer the lens, the faster speed you’ll need to get that crisp shot. For example, when I’m at 400mm, I know that even with image stabilization, my shutter speed needs to be at a minimum of 1/250 sec. I know some that can get sharp images at a lower speed but not me (never woulda been a surgeon!). So what do I do if I need a slower speed to get the shot? I bring a tripod and my trusty remote cord trigger. For weight reasons, I always bring my plastic tripod so that’s why I hook up my remote trigger since the camera could move if I press the on-camera trigger. If you don’t have a tripod, find anything that will stabilize your camera. Find a rock, lean it against a tree… Once you’re all set, be the rock! Take in a deep breath and slowly exhale… and take the shot.

7 - Preselect your camera settings. There’s nothing more frustrating than grabbing your camera in a hurry and getting that perfect shot…. until you see that you were at ISO 1600, f22, 1/30 sec. Crap! If you know you’re going out to shoot birds, make sure you settings are set before you leave. Here are my default settings: ISO 400, Aperture priority set wide open (lowest f-stop #), -1 EV. These settings are to ensure that I have the highest shutter speed possible. With those settings, all I need to play with after that is my ISO depending on Mother Nature’s mood.

8 - Build it and they will come. If you can’t get to the birds, brings the birds to you! Get a bird feeder or two. I recommend getting a bird book of your region to know which birds live around you. That way you can get the right food to attract them. Once that’s done, follow step #1. :)

[dognutmom]

7 - Preselect your camera settings. There’s nothing more frustrating than grabbing your camera in a hurry and getting that perfect shot…. until you see that you were at ISO 1600, f22, 1/30 sec. Crap! If you know you’re going out to shoot birds, make sure you settings are set before you leave. Here are my default settings: ISO 400, Aperture priority set wide open (lowest f-stop #), -1 EV. These settings are to ensure that I have the highest shutter speed possible. With those settings, all I need to play with after that is my ISO depending on Mother Nature’s mood.



Oh boy, is this ever true. I have lots of trees around my house, so we have never had bluebirds here until this year! I sat out there on a bench and finally got some shots. ISO was set at 3200 from some indoor, low light stuff from last week which is when I had my camera out last :eek: