Bird Photography Frustration

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sbeme
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p.2 #1 · Bird Photography Frustration

Plenty of great advice so far. I had the pleasure of taking a bird workshop with Artie Morris (birdsasart.com) and came away with stunners. Besides using a longer lens, constant attention to the background, placing the sun behind you, getting down to eye level, and working in PS, there is plenty for me to learn and practice.
If you want to see incredible bird photography, with explanations along these and a zillion other dimensions, buy his e-book (CD), The Art of Bird Photography II. Enough there to enjoy, study, return to and learn from for years. I think there are about 800 color images. Also detail about using different equipment. You can get in thru his birdsasart.com web-site.

Edited on Nov 10, 2007 at 08:51 AM

Nov 09, 2007 at 02:49 AM

Mr Zoom
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p.2 #2 · Bird Photography Frustration

Did anyone mention that you need to practice, practice, practice if you want to get good?

Best advice I have, except to work with the light rather than against it.

Ken

Edited on Nov 10, 2007 at 08:51 AM

Nov 09, 2007 at 02:51 AM

Merv Lowe
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p.2 #3 · Bird Photography Frustration

Noisy Miners aren't called noisy for nothing - I've got a few of them hanging around in the trees outside my window and they just keep calling out constantly all day long. Very irritating. Nice photo though.

If you're serious about doing bird photography then you'll have to spring for a long prime telephoto lens, as others have said. There's no two ways about it. Start saving for that Canon 400 5.6L.

Edited on Nov 10, 2007 at 08:51 AM

Nov 09, 2007 at 03:58 AM

amirm
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p.2 #4 · Bird Photography Frustration

Mr Zoom wrote:
Did anyone mention that you need to practice, practice, practice if you want to get good?

Best advice I have, except to work with the light rather than against it.

Ken

I was on a panel at a conference once with the then president of Kodak (in the days film still mattered

). He pointed to the pro photographer who was taking pictures of the event and asked the audience, “Do you know the main difference between the pro and armature photographer? The Pro takes a lot more pictures!” How true.

Thank heavens it is cost nothing to take more pictures with digital. Quantity won’t make up for skill. But will let you try more things until you learn……

Edited on Nov 10, 2007 at 08:51 AM

Nov 09, 2007 at 04:14 AM

Paul B
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p.2 #5 · Bird Photography Frustration

Wow, that #2 shot is a beauty.

I agree with what everyone else has said. I'm relatively new to birds so share your frustration. You definitely want to get a longer lense (400/5.6.) 200mm is just not giving you enough focal length for birdies. And yes, you want to do some postprocessing to get things looking better. The ultimate is to do everything in RAW and use the full Photoshop application. A quicker and easier alternative for getting your feet wet and not being overwhelmed would be to shoot JPEGs and tinker with them in Photoshop Elements. You’ll see immediately what everyone is saying about the benefits of photo editing. Start by playing around with the “automatic” adjustments. Learn. Play with the “sliders” for individual adjustments and then work into more fine grained things like masks, layers, etc. It definitely helps.

Like everyone says, getting the light right helps immensely. I’d steer away from shots like #3 because it’s difficult to get good shots that are backlit. You need the sun at your back. And find places where birds are more likely to tolerate humans (and let you get close enough; if you're not able to fill up enough of the frame no amount of editing will help very much--the sensor just isn't capturing enough detail for a good shot if your focus is the bird itself.) Keep at it and you’ll improve a lot.

Edited on Nov 10, 2007 at 08:51 AM

Nov 10, 2007 at 12:18 AM

Dawei Ye
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p.2 #6 · Bird Photography Frustration

Awesome thanks heaps for all the advice, looks like there's heaps to still learn and practice

Edited on Nov 10, 2007 at 08:51 AM

Nov 10, 2007 at 08:29 AM

ragebot
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p.2 #7 · Bird Photography Frustration

So far the best two bits of advice I have seen are

1) Remember the keeper rate even for the best photographers is very low. As others have said sometimes we shoot hundreds of frames in a day and may only have a couple of keepers.

2) Shoot RAW. What ever mode ( I like M, but this is personal) you shoot in if you shoot RAW you have two or more stops of leeway before getting in to cs.

The rest is sorta developing your own style. Look at the current Jody thread. Who would have ever thought you could make a name for yourself doing that. But his images are simply eye catching.

One other thing I would add is try and find a local park where you can get close to the pigeons and shoot them. This is helpful for BIF for sure. But you also can get a feel for bird behavior. Once you get a feel for how birds act (and they dont all act the same) it is much easier to get good images.

Nov 10, 2007 at 08:51 AM


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