Professional Backyard Bird Photos
Monday, July 27th, 2009
R. Dodge Woodson asked:
Professional Backyard Bird Photography
Aspiring bird photographers are often frustrated by their subjects (birds) being too small in photographs. Professional photographers can sometimes afford to spend $10,000 for a long, fast lens to capture tack-sharp photos of birds that appear to be jumping out of the picture. Let’s face it, a lot of people don’t have 10 grand laying around that can be spend on a lens that will see modest use and will rarely pay for itself. Don’t despair, you have options.
As a pro photographer I have a fairly long lens. It is a Canon 400mm L lens. One of my buddies has a 500mm lens and I know people who have 600mm lenses. Some of these lenses are so large that it will wear a photographer out carrying them and the tripods needed to support them.
How much can you afford to spend on a lens? Most serious amateur photographers can find a way to afford a 300mm lens. This is plenty of power if you are close enough to your subject. Ah, but there is the catch. How do you get close to our wary feathered friends?
If you have a large backyard, you can create your own private bird studio in it. This makes for a sweet deal. Think about the problems that you have photographing birds. How many times has the light been coming from the wrong direction when you had a shot? Do the birds move too quickly for you to compose and focus properly? Both of these problems, and many others, can be solved with a backyard shooting zone. Let me give you an example of how I overcome many of obstacles associated with bird photography.
I use blinds to conceal myself. Some of the blinds are built out of natural materials that exist on site in the woods. A portable, camouflaged blind is used when I can’t melt away into the brush. Full camo clothing is a must.
Build or set up your blind in advance. Give birds time to get used to it. My portable blind has shooting windows on all four sides. Place bird feeders in the area and spread corn and sunflower seeds on the ground just outside of your chosen shooting spot. Feed the birds regularly and leave them alone until they are comfortable with your blind.
Since your blinds are in fixed locations, you will know what direction the sunlight will be coming from at different times of the day. You will also know when birds are out of range of your lens, but the birds should come in close for the food. Tree branches provide a staging area for feeding birds. This gives you an excellent opportunity to know where the birds are going and to catch them in flight.
When you control the shooting site, you can work with a shorter lens and get great results. Knowing where the light will be streaming in from will make it easier to get the needed catch light in the eye of your subject.
What can you do if you don’t have an expansive backyard? The game stays about the same with some minor modification. Choose a window in your home that will give you good backgrounds to work with. Remove the screen from the window. Put birdseed nearby, but out of sight. When birds come in you will be photographing them from the comfort of your window. I have used this strategy many times in winter.
Suppose you don’t have any backyard or lawn to work with? Find a public trail, forest, or park and use the blind systems I described previously. Don’t destroy any live foliage in creating an onsite blind. Only use natural materials found on the forest floor, such as broken tree limbs.
In order to assure that birds will come in close, you must conceal yourself well. Don’t let the shiny legs of a tripod give you away. Cover them with camo cloth once you are set up. Consider using a BushHawk support so that you can use a slower lens in lower light conditions. Monopods are an excellent means of support for the equipment of bird photographers.
Keep your ASA/ISO settings as low as possible. I like to use an ISO of 100. If you go beyond 400 ISO, the quality of your photo will suffer. The higher this number is, the grainer or nosier the photo will be. Avoid handholding your equipment at speeds below 1/125th of a second. If you have enough light, turn the speed up to 1/250th of a second or faster. Use your aperture creatively to control background clutter and lighting conditions.
If you are looking to buy a lens, invest in quality glass. You won’t regret the decision. Pick a lens with the fastest speed that you can afford. In other words, a 400mm, 5.6 lens is much less expensive than a 400mm 4.0 lens. You will need more light, but you will need less money. Many people do just fine with a 300mm 5.6 lens. Mine is a 300mm 4.0 model. If I were to opt for a faster 300 mm lens I would be getting into major money and a very heavy lens.
You don’t have to be a professional or own pro gear to get pro-quality bird photos that you will be proud of. A key to success is to spend as much time in the field as you can. Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. If you are shooting digital equipment, there is no film or processing to pay for. We can all use the experience and being there at the right moment is always what counts.
Professional Backyard Bird Photography
Aspiring bird photographers are often frustrated by their subjects (birds) being too small in photographs. Professional photographers can sometimes afford to spend $10,000 for a long, fast lens to capture tack-sharp photos of birds that appear to be jumping out of the picture. Let’s face it, a lot of people don’t have 10 grand laying around that can be spend on a lens that will see modest use and will rarely pay for itself. Don’t despair, you have options.
As a pro photographer I have a fairly long lens. It is a Canon 400mm L lens. One of my buddies has a 500mm lens and I know people who have 600mm lenses. Some of these lenses are so large that it will wear a photographer out carrying them and the tripods needed to support them.
How much can you afford to spend on a lens? Most serious amateur photographers can find a way to afford a 300mm lens. This is plenty of power if you are close enough to your subject. Ah, but there is the catch. How do you get close to our wary feathered friends?
If you have a large backyard, you can create your own private bird studio in it. This makes for a sweet deal. Think about the problems that you have photographing birds. How many times has the light been coming from the wrong direction when you had a shot? Do the birds move too quickly for you to compose and focus properly? Both of these problems, and many others, can be solved with a backyard shooting zone. Let me give you an example of how I overcome many of obstacles associated with bird photography.
I use blinds to conceal myself. Some of the blinds are built out of natural materials that exist on site in the woods. A portable, camouflaged blind is used when I can’t melt away into the brush. Full camo clothing is a must.
Build or set up your blind in advance. Give birds time to get used to it. My portable blind has shooting windows on all four sides. Place bird feeders in the area and spread corn and sunflower seeds on the ground just outside of your chosen shooting spot. Feed the birds regularly and leave them alone until they are comfortable with your blind.
Since your blinds are in fixed locations, you will know what direction the sunlight will be coming from at different times of the day. You will also know when birds are out of range of your lens, but the birds should come in close for the food. Tree branches provide a staging area for feeding birds. This gives you an excellent opportunity to know where the birds are going and to catch them in flight.
When you control the shooting site, you can work with a shorter lens and get great results. Knowing where the light will be streaming in from will make it easier to get the needed catch light in the eye of your subject.
What can you do if you don’t have an expansive backyard? The game stays about the same with some minor modification. Choose a window in your home that will give you good backgrounds to work with. Remove the screen from the window. Put birdseed nearby, but out of sight. When birds come in you will be photographing them from the comfort of your window. I have used this strategy many times in winter.
Suppose you don’t have any backyard or lawn to work with? Find a public trail, forest, or park and use the blind systems I described previously. Don’t destroy any live foliage in creating an onsite blind. Only use natural materials found on the forest floor, such as broken tree limbs.
In order to assure that birds will come in close, you must conceal yourself well. Don’t let the shiny legs of a tripod give you away. Cover them with camo cloth once you are set up. Consider using a BushHawk support so that you can use a slower lens in lower light conditions. Monopods are an excellent means of support for the equipment of bird photographers.
Keep your ASA/ISO settings as low as possible. I like to use an ISO of 100. If you go beyond 400 ISO, the quality of your photo will suffer. The higher this number is, the grainer or nosier the photo will be. Avoid handholding your equipment at speeds below 1/125th of a second. If you have enough light, turn the speed up to 1/250th of a second or faster. Use your aperture creatively to control background clutter and lighting conditions.
If you are looking to buy a lens, invest in quality glass. You won’t regret the decision. Pick a lens with the fastest speed that you can afford. In other words, a 400mm, 5.6 lens is much less expensive than a 400mm 4.0 lens. You will need more light, but you will need less money. Many people do just fine with a 300mm 5.6 lens. Mine is a 300mm 4.0 model. If I were to opt for a faster 300 mm lens I would be getting into major money and a very heavy lens.
You don’t have to be a professional or own pro gear to get pro-quality bird photos that you will be proud of. A key to success is to spend as much time in the field as you can. Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. If you are shooting digital equipment, there is no film or processing to pay for. We can all use the experience and being there at the right moment is always what counts.
