How I Photograph Birds

[Canon_Bob]

Hey all,

Sorry its taking a while to complete this series. Busy work week last week for me. Anyway, continuing on:

IMAGE 3 - The American Oystercatcher

EXIF: Canon 1DsMII, Canon 600mm f/4 with 2x TC, f/8, 1/800, -1/3 EV (verified correct by Histogram), off tripod with legs flipped out so as to bring camera down to this POV, kneeling in knee deep water, sun over left shoulder, 08:48 AM (sun starting to get intense). AI Servo mode with single center point selected (only option with the 2x TC on the 1D body). Note that auto focus is only available with the 1D Canon bodies when using the 2x TC. Manual focus must be used on the rest of Canon's bodies.

So here we have a juvenile American Oystercatcher. You can identify him as a juvi due to the fact that his bill has not become completely orange yet. These birds present a challenge photographically because they have very bright whites, and a very dark green head. Most attempts people make at photographing them result either in blown whites, or an underexposed green head.

I was already out in the water when I noticed him working along the shore. I didn't have to move too far to get up light from him. For some reason, he was not letting me as close as I usually get to them, so I pulled out the 2x, and went to work. In ideal light, the 2x is fine. The flared wings definitely adds to the composition here, as does the pleasing background. The key to this image is the exposure. Very important to meter on the white, but push the histogram well into the fifth bar (fourth bar on Nikon). That way you ensure to properly expose that green head!

Positives: Perfect exposure, background, head angle, flared wings, nice catchlight. Decent composition.

Negatives: Looks like I need about a half degree of CW rotation. Might want to increase contrast a bit and do some selective sharpening as well. He also has just a bit more glare on the bill than I like. Certainly nothing major, though. I'm sure he'll sell well.

The camera settings were again dictated by the histogram. -1/3 EV was chosen because the test shots were showing "flashies" in the viewer.

[Loupey]

Excellent write up, C_B!

Thank you for taking the time to do this. The willingness to share by members like you and all the other "regulars" here is what makes this such a rich learning environment.

Glad to have you here with us.

[Canon_Bob]

OK all, here are the last two:

Image 4 - Marbled Godwit

EXIF: Canon 1DsMII, Canon 600mm f/4L, f/4, 1/2000, ISO 200, +2/3 EV, AV Mode, single focusing point held on bird's eye, light directly behind me, auto-focus, 8 AM (about an hour and 15 minutes after sunrise). I was standing out in the lagoon in about 2 feet of water, shooting back toward shore. Off tripod.

Marbled Godwits are not terribly common here, but I do get them occasionally. This one was a fine specimine, and allowed me to get nice and close. One of the biggest challenges in photographing this species is that they are prone to "beak glare". That long slender bill definitely attracts glare. You have to be patient and watch for just the right angle to capture them. They are also usually fairly busy preening when they are not feeding, so this is an unusual one for being so stationery.

Something that I think seperates this fron the normal shot of these guys is the point of view. Not just the low angle to the subject, but also the fact that I am shooting from the water back toward the shore. Most images of shorebirds are just the opposite. Little things like that separate your images from the masses.

I think the positives here are great light, perfect light angle, nice POV, great head position, and a wonderfully blurred background.

The only real negative is that there is no action here. A raised foot would've been a nice touch.

Camera settings were driven by the histogram by taking test shots as I was working in on the subject.



Image 5 - Snowy Egret

EXIF: Canon 1DsMII, Canon 600mm f/4L, f/5, 1/800, ISO 200, +2/3 EV, AV Mode, single focusing point (top of vf) held on bird's eye, light directly behind me, auto-focus, 7:21 AM (about an 35 minutes minutes after sunrise). I was standing out in the lagoon in about 2 feet of water, Light directly behind me. Off Tripod.

This one is actually my favorite of the bunch. I love white birds in the early morning light! That golden yellow warm sun is just awesom in my opinion. Event though the bird is fairly common, the light makes this image. I obviously worked my way uplight from this fellow, and then waited for a nice head turn to get the nice catchlight without the beak glare.

Positives: The light! Head position is nice, and I do like the angled body with the head looking slightly back. This is nearly a full frame 17 megapixel image. Only slight cropping to straighten.

Negatives: I'd have liked a better leg position. I also think another half stop would have been nice for the DOF. The light, however, more than compensates for these minor imperfections.

Camera settings driven by histogram. f/5 chosen for a bit more DOF. Should've been at 6.3.





Hope everyone has found this helpful. Sorry it took me a bit to type it all up.

-CB

[Tommo]

New to the forum but so many helpful tips