As much as I love seeing and watching birds, I'm also enjoying taking photo's of them to enjoy on my walls.
But being a newbie to Photography, it's all a bit of a hit and miss affair some days.
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So what I was intending with this thread, was for us to share some of our techniques for taking photo's and also if someone had a question about bird photography they could ask here and perhaps someone else may have an helpful answer.
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One thing I've been trying to do a lot of lately, is to get photo's of small birds like Wrens, Robins, Thornbills, Pardalotes, Finches, Honeyeaters etc.
I have noticed when taking photo's of Wren's when they are in a group, is that most of them generally tend to visit the same branches. Being curious fellows, once they get use to you they'll come in for a closer look. What I try and do is watch what branches a couple of birds are favouring, and aim my camera onto that branch and wait for the next bird to jump on it. It's certainly the easier way to do it if you are like me and have digital camera with auto focus and the bird moves quicker than your auto focus does.
I've seen similar behaviour with Robins, Pardalotes, Finchs and some Honeyeaters.
Gelmir, I posted a pic today of red backed fairy wrens found on our front fenceline of our river property. Steve Parish (a well known Australian nature photographer), suggests that you watch the birds and work out their flight path. Birds are territorial and usually fly from the same branch to another, and if you wait long enough, will return to the same spot. I have found this to be true, so I waited for around half an hour for the fairy wren to re-appear on the same branch, and I was all set ready to capture his image. He did a little twitch, a little cleaning and then flew off as quick as he landed, but I had my camera set on multiple frames and caught him. Also, if you are taking pics in a nice sunny position of your birds, you could try upping your shutterspeed to around 500 to capture a crisper image because they flitter and fly away so quickly. This will help to capture a bird in flight rather than a blur of moving wings.
Debbie
Debbie Bray
....oops, forgot to say, that if you have your camera already focused on the branch they're expected to land on, you won't have the delay of an autofocus, if you put your focus on manual.
Also, I find it difficult taking pics in the middle of the day with your camera facing into trees, as the bright light behind the bird dominates the scene, leaving your bird in darkness. I have had success with early morning or late afternoon with the sun on the bird, rather than on the lens.
Debbie
Debbie Bray
Hi Debbie,
I saw your photo. It's great. What you posted in that thread was what prompted me to start this one.
Thanks for the tip about using manual focus, I hadn't thought about that. :^(
The position of the sun is a real bugbear sometimes. I try and make sure that I've got the sun behind me rather than in front.
Backlight is always a problem, this shoot was against a bright sky and auto exposure (AE) would have left the bird just a dark shape,I used the AE lock button after setting the exposure on the grass in-front of the bird (out of picture)and then taking the shoot with the AE lock on. Not the best shoot but OK.
Ed Townsville NQ
3 shoots and not a shot in sight!!
Ed Townsville NQ
I have a digital SLR. The focus is a lot faster than my old compact digital.
It enables me to get focussed shots of birds in flight but I can't control where the sun is!
This one was practically a silouette which I lightened up in Photostudio. Not a great photo but it helped with the ID.
---booshkie---
That's a pretty good shot, considering he was on the wing, Booshkie! There's certainly enough detail there for identification.
Debbie Bray