bird photography

Infact, when you start clicking birds in the wild, you remain happy with whatever you capture in your frames, but you soon realize that you need to work a lot more harder. This happens with every one. Now, you may ask—‘What makes a perfect bird photograph?’ Well, this article is expected to help those who are facing this question.

AWAY FROM THE CAMERA

I keep saying, a wildlife photographer is a wildlife lover first and then a photographer. And when we talk about bird photography, a dictionary of photographic techniques may prove useless, unless the eye behind the lens is in love with those little creatures. The subject here is extremely restless, very small, dosen’t allow second takes, mostly comes with poor light conditions, and above all is highly sensitive to the approaching photographer.

Keep studying the best of the photographs clicked by the best of the photographers. With Internet making our lives so much simpler, you can today interact with the maestros in this field easily than how it used to be 10 years earlier. And I am sure, none of these great guns would ever refuse to answer any of your questions, no matter how silly they may be. Ask about the conditions under which the photo was shot, try to know about the location, and the story behind it. It imparts immense knowledge and helps to an enormous extent in getting the best out of you, provided you remember the tips while shooting.

To make your photograph stand prominent, you need to take care of certain aspects of it. Firstly, I would say, giving adequate space to your subject is a must. Leave enough space in front of the bird, especially in case of flying shots, as it creates a feeling of motion in the picture. This also gives your photographs a clean appearance. The Rule of Thirds apply not only to landscape photography, but also to bird photography. Don’t keep your subject in the center. It loses its charm.

The second most important thing is perspective. Try a ground level shot for a ground dwelling bird sometime. In fact, I would rather say don’t ever shoot a ground dwelling bird from any other perspective other than lying fl at on ground. It is only when you see the result you realize that it was worth making that stretchy effort.

Thirdly, the subject needs to be sharp. If your subject is not sharp, you can forget the picture to be anything other than a record shot. A good combination of the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO helps you achieve this. Many photographers keep their cameras in aperture priority mode and select the widest aperture to see how high is the shutter speed available under a given light condition. That’s a very wise approach and most of the times, it helps you to get a good and sharp picture. If, however, the shutter speed available even at the widest aperture, is seen to be very low, it is likely to give a blur to the photos and under such circumstances, ISO should be increased. That of course may give rise to noise in your final image, if you plan to have a blow up, but it may solve your purpose for web posting or small size prints.

Finally, the background—they call it Bokeh. The cleaner it is, the better is the quality of the picture. Nobody looks twice at a photograph, which has a cluttered background. One must always try to keep an open empty space as the background, while shooting. A longer focal length lens gives fantastic background, because the depth of field is too shallow for such lenses. So, whether you invest heavily after getting a longer focal length lens, or you get too close to the bird, or you manage to have a good depth of field, keeping the background out of focus—everything works. The idea is not to keep the background cluttered. A cluttered background diverts attention of a viewer from the subject and is by no means considered a good photograph, however sharp the subject is.

Having good equipment is a must. But, the challenge is, possessing a 35mm Digital SLR with interchangeable lenses is sometimes beyond dreams of many aspiring photographers. I have always been discouraged by the alternatives such as SLR-like cameras with an electronic viewfinder and fi xed lens digital SLR. My advise for a beginner has always been not to invest heavily in a camera body, but to save money for the lenses. Entry level Digital SLRs offer a range of fantastic features starting with changeable lenses, Through-The-Lens metering, manual exposures, exposure compensation, and various shooting modes. At a slightly higher range, an even extended spectrum of equipment is available today.

Choosing the correct lens for bird photography is a challenge. Of course, it goes without saying that the higher the focal length, the better it is. But, lenses are heavy on your pocket. It’s a loop—once you get into it—you realize that the costlier lens, which you didn’t opt for thinking about your budget, would have been much better if only you had invested a bit more. Let’s take a logical approach to it. You definitely need a longer focal length of the lens for bird photography. Bird photography, specifically, requires lenses with focal lengths up to 400 or 500mm. 150/170. However, you also need to remember that the longer is the focal length of the lens, the greater are the chances of camera shake while shooting, and hence using a stable tripod is advisable with such lenses. There are lenses available with optical stabilization technology, which reduces the vibration during shooting. This gives you an advantage of getting a much sharper picture, which otherwise you could have got only with much higher shutter speeds.

APPROACHING THE BIRD

One of the very important aspects that we keep forgetting is that a bird in the wild has a comfort zone around it. This comfort zone varies in size from species to species, but all of them have one for sure and they don’t quite like you intruding into that zone. As you approach them in the wild with an attempt to photograph them, they become cautious and the moment you step inside the comfort zone, they fl y off. This is exactly the opposite when you don’t approach the bird and rather wait silently in a place for it to approach you—in such a situation your chances of getting a close shot is much higher. But, it has happened many times with me that at the height of excitement you forget this and finally land up being disappointment.

If you must move towards the subject, then be very cautious not to disturb it—be low and be slow. Try to move as slow as possible, avoid any drastic, fast movement that makes you noticeable. Move as low as possible—crawl, if possible. The idea is to approach your precious subject without getting noticed, because these subjects don’t allow second takes. You will find it very interesting if you have a vehicle—try approaching birds in wild in a vehicle. They are much less afraid when you approach them in a vehicle. If you are to shoot water birds, you can get to an unbelievable close distance, if you approach them in a boat.

I am not quite finished with this approaching the animals in the wild without disturbing them. One more very important fact is camoufl aging yourself while you are in the wild. Camoufl age dosen’t mean that you need to get a whole body cover up with hay stalks. Just don’t stand out emphatically prominent—don’t wear bright colored shirts—better to wear camoufl age prints. It is wise to wear a dark-colored hand glove and cover up any shiny metallic part of your equipment that could reflect light.

BEST TIME OF THE DAY

The best time to photograph birds is either in morning or evening hours. This is not only because birds are more active during these hours, but also because of the fact that the light is from sides —the best possible lighting conditions for bird photography. Mid-day sunlight is straight from top and castes very harsh shadows. Always keep the sun behind you to get the best possible pictures. However, if you have to break this rule, break it cautiously and apply intelligence—and believe me experimenting with lighting conditions may create amazing images. Some of the back lit wildlife images have been all-time masterpieces.

LOCATIONS AND THE APPROACH

This is important, but many times we don’t actually realize that the photographing techniques cannot be generalized in all locations and all terrains. Locations have a significant impact on the final outcome. Grassland birds and wetland birds are easier to approach. You may either use a vehicle for the grassland or may be a boat for the wetland. They also offer you great perches and you may get stunning photographs even without much effort (of course not always). However, the woodland birds pose a real challenge, mainly because many a times they are hidden within foliage and don’t offer you a very clear perch. Waiting for birds with your camera mounted on the tripod in one specific location helps. Use of a hide enhances your inconspicuousness in the wild and some of the best photographs of these deciduous forest birds have been taken using hide photography.

As I was mentioning earlier, the background in a photograph matters a lot. It is easier to get a clean background in case of grassland birds, because you don’t have too many trees or creepers creating clutters in your background, but for all woodland birds it is always advisable to select a clean perch and wait patiently for the bird to come and pose for your best of the photographs. It is highly unpredictable and may be disappointing.

However, finally that is what is bird photography all about