Photographing Birds, any tips please.

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alltaken

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Steven
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I haven't really tried to take bird pics in any serious manner until today, and I got a bit of a mixed bag, the best of which are included below.

The camera set up is:

Nikon 70-300mm
Shutter Priority
Centre Weighted Metering
Exposure Compensation +1.0 (as the birds kept on coming out underexposed in SP mode)
Single Point Focusing (I tried to aim the focus point on their eye)

Are there any tips for getting the best out of bird photography camera settings wise, or is it about choosing a likely spot, metering the camera with trial and error, and having a bit of patience?

Any tips, or advice would be very much appreciated, as I don't really know what I'm doing. :bang:


Blue Tit by alltaken2012, on Flickr


Chaffinch by alltaken2012, on Flickr


Sparrow by alltaken2012, on Flickr


Blackbird by alltaken2012, on Flickr
 
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get them used to being fed at a certain location, and remember to take lots of seed when you go ;)
 
It can be worth setting up a chair with a dummy where you plan to sit. Once the birds are comfortable with the things being there, they won't notice when the dummy starts to breathe and move gently.

As Ian's pointed out, your bird IDs might need revising.
 
The biggest factor that makes a great bird shot applies to 99% of photography is the quality of light on the subject.
Compare image 1 to image 2, 1 has the light on it's back so shows very little detail of the bird, 2 has lots of twigs in the way but has much more feather detail because the light is coming from over your shoulder.
Get the light right and it makes things a whole lot easier (y)
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. Richard, I've had a look at your tutorial and there are some good helpful tips there which I'll try and implement into my photography.

Where the light falls on a subject is one thing I hadn't thought of, though now it has been pointed out to me, I can see how important it it.

Looks like I need practice, practice, practice. :)
 
Nod said:
It can be worth setting up a chair with a dummy where you plan to sit.
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Do Rich or Brash live nearby? Either would be perfect.
 
alltaken said:
Any tips, or advice would be very much appreciated, as I don't really know what I'm doing. :bang:
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Hi Steve

A clean shot of the eye
Subject roughly level with the camera
Clean, clear background
No obstruction in front of the bird
 
As previously mentioned, your ID is wrong - number two is labelled as a chaffinch but is a female house sparrow and number three is labelled as a sparrow but is a dunnock (couldn't tell you if it's a boy or a girl though :D).
 
Not bad, he fourth, IMHO is the best. Nos 1 & 2 are good, especially as small active birds like tits are always a challenge, as mentioned ptiy about the twigs in frount.

Try this site http://mikeatkinson.net/tutorials.htm

It is not just a question of taking pictures of birds. Study individual species behaviour, if you can anticipate what a bird may do can give you an edge.

Birds have a "circle of fear" regarding human prescense, some such as robins it is almost non existant, while other species are highly intolerant and readily fly away.

I find it better to sit still in anticipation of a bird moving in a certain direction, eg wagtails or Turnstones foraging alongside a stream

If you keep still and move slowly inside, many birds are tolerant of a car, I've obtained several shots of wagtails and moorhens by this means by my local lake

Lastly, good luck. bird photography is challenging due to the speed and unpredictability of the subject, especially in flight, where even some species of duck can get to nearly 80mph
 
You just need to find a better position when it comes to bird photography. Birds are sensible, you must be aware of it as well.
 
fracster said:
Do Rich or Brash live nearby? Either would be perfect.
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It would have to be me Ade, you know how useless that other git is :LOL:

A good set for starters Stephen and some sound advice has been given to you from others. It does have a lot to do with most if not all of what you asked about. The only thing I would add, is once you have a good spot to take any bird pictures from on a regular basis, be that a hide in the woods somewhere or a feeding station setup in your garden, spend a little time studying the behaviour patterns of the regular visitors. Some like the Marsh tits will just come tearing in stop briefly on a nearby perch you may have set up and then go straight for a bit of food before heading straight off again. Others will come down stop to look about for a few seconds before casualy picking out a seed and then go back on the perch to peck away at it. By all means in between attempt to take pictures. After a bit of studying you will be able to anticipate 99% of the time what your subject will do and you will not be panicking to take the shot.
 
As already suggested if you have a garden try setting up some feeders.

Sunflower hearts are not the cheapest seeds but I find they are liked by lots of birds and very little is wasted.

If you want some birds (eg great tits and in particular robins) to come very close, try some live meal worms. With a bit of patience robins will hand feed for meal worms.

Dave
 
fracster said:
Do Rich or Brash live nearby? Either would be perfect.
Click to expand...

u8myufo said:
It would have to be me Ade, you know how useless that other git is :LOL:
Click to expand...

Well, Rich lives closest but that's still a way away. However, he visits the city a couple of times a week and IIRC, it's his last drop of the day so once the conservatory's finished (supposed to be this weekend :D) he might want to drop in for a decent cup of coffee (even if it is his round!) with his kitbag. Of course, that'll be the day when the cat manages to catch a bird early in the morning and all the others Foxtrot Oscar for the rest of the day!
 
Thanks once again for the advice, well most of it anyway :D

Seems like I need to get my little bird book out...
 
Always worth having a few around! Handy to have at least one field guide type one and if you get hooked, get a bigger one with more info. It's also handy to have a fold out crib sheet - ours has the 50 commonest garden visitors on it with reasonable drawings of the birds with both sexes and juveniles shown if there are marked differences.

LBJs (little brown jobs) are often hard to tell apart, especially at a distance and some of them have assorted names, depending on where you are! A while back, I spent ages trying to find Dunnock in a book and it was only a Google that told me that it was also known as a Hedge Accentor (which was in the book I was looking in but not as a Dunnock!)

At last, our conservatory is all but finished! Started doing the laminate floor early (04:30) this morning - the thermal underlay could be laid silently but the tape to seal the joins was enough to wake the cat who came to "help" (as they do!). Finally got the last bit of cork in the wall gap at 17:45 and have spent the last hour or so relaxing in the charity shop settee watching the telly and listening to the birds behind me. They're getting used to the new "erection" and in a day or two will be easy to photograph - I've got a rubber lens hood for my Fuji HS-30 bridge camera so can press it right up against the glass to reduce reflections, although if I use flash it bounces around inside the DG units a bit - I'll have to find an off camera lead so I can use my external flash.

TBH, I get as much pleasure from simply observing the birds - trying to get a decent photograph can be a frustrating exercise, especially with less than perfect light and limited equipment! Once it's a bit warmer, I can start shooting through the gaps rather than the glass.
 
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