Help needed please from bird people!!

[susie]

I have been trying to get something resembling half decent bird pictures and even allowing for me not processing they are rubbish!!

So, firstly how on earth do you get close enough to get pictures that are visible on the camea screen - to see that there is a bird in a lot of mine I have to zoom in to the focus point to see if I got anything, and as there are a couple I have not seen before it would be nice to get a name to put to them!

Secondly, how do you get them to face you!! At the weekend I tried to get some sort of bird that was hunting, and other than the fact that its speckled underneath and has reddish bits on top of its wings I have got no chance of identifying it!!

I see them when I go for walks, and I know that handheld is not the greatest way to get clear pics, but if I used a tripod the birds would be gone before I clicked the shutter!! All I want is to get a few shots that are recognisable as birds

 

[Slvrbck]

I can't be much help myself but if he doesn't see this thread, drop CT a PM.

I haven't seen a bad bird shot from him yet

 

[Madpup]

If you want good bird shots you need good glass,
what is your set up?
and practice, go to a bird sanctuary or a zoo.

 

[Busby]

All my bird shots are taken on walks and I always have my camera attached to a light weight monopod.
After a while you start to get a feel for how close you can get to certain birds, usually about 10 feet for common garden types, but sometimes about 6ft for less shy birds...Robins, Sparrows, ect.

It's surprising how close you can get sometimes, if you're quiet and very slow in your movements.

 

[PapaLazarou]

Hi
This is how I got this shot, I stuck a stick into the ground and put some seed on the ground in front of the stick. The birds just start to come down and feed and I just fired away. I was in a hide for this 1st shot and the birds are around 6 ft away from the camera. The 2nd shot was the same set up but I was outside in the open in my local park. Both shots I used my rucksack as a camera support, as a tripod would be to slow for moving around.

Canon 1DMK111
Canon 70-200 F2.8 L IS USM
Canon 1.4 Extender

 

[BRASH]

Patience and stealth are required. Sometimes you'll be lucky and a bird will appear and you'll be able to fire off some shots but that's not the norm. A lot depends on where you are shooting.

Experiment with more common birds. I dunno where you live but get some where there are sea gulls, pidgeons or ducks. Fire out some bread and practice with them when they feed. This'll get you used to focussing and panning on moving targets as well as some portrait shots. Also if you have a garden, put out feeders. I don't particularly like pics with birds on feeders but once they are used to the surroundings you can do what papaLazarou suggests and create something a bit more natural looking. Use of a hide can also be considered either in your garden or out in the field.

I tend to do my bird shots hand held just because of the liklihood of them moving off but I have the Canon 100-400 IS, which helps (not too great in poor light though). As also previously stated, quality glass does help too.

As for ID, get a couple of books (I have about 20) a small one you can carry or keep in the car and a big more detailed one for ref at home. The Collins Bird Guide, hard back large (the one with the black cover with the barn owl on the front) is the birding bible as far as I am concerned and comes in for £24 - £30. Something small and cheap for field use. Garden centres are great for these, hence I've got about 20, I cant resist buying one I don't have. You should be able to pick up some thing for a few quid.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jo]

Hi Susie

Right, I go about things a bit differently to most and still manage to get half decent results.

I sit by my office window, mostly with the window shut. My feeders are about 5ft away from said window, and I have an Acer (maple) in a pot next to one of them. I also use a Sigma 70-300mm (none APO).

With a little patients, some half decent light and an early start you would be surprised what you can get.

A list of my kit:
Gardman Feeder That price is about right for that one, and we have the next one down too, which was £9.99 from B&Q I believe.
An array of bird feed holders, We don't put any food on the ground as the birds feeding from the feeders drop enough to keep any ground feeding birds going.
Sigma 70-300mm DG

Food wise we have peanuts, chopped peanuts, fat balls, sunflower hearts, wild bird seed mix, nyjer seed, dried or live meal worms. We also have a pond about 10ft away from the feeders which helps things. A small one will do, or even sink an upended dustbin lid in the ground and fill it.

Put this all together with time nd good light and you can acheive things like this:


If you are going to shot through the window glass, make sure it's clean and smear free. Also try and wear dark clothing. Oh, and 90% of my shots are hand held too.

HTH

Jo
xxx

 

[susie]

Thanks everyone

At home I have had a feeder and fat ball in the garden for a couple of months now, and have yet to see a bird using them feed is not exactly going down either
If I go to the park I can mange ducks and things, but when I go out for walks however still I sit anything I see seems to move to the other side of the field, and putting seed down is not going to help much there I will try to find a reserve or something thats got a hide within easy reach of me or where I'm going. Its the ones that are smaller than a pigeon that are driving me nuts as by the time I pick them out 1/2 a field away they are on the move again and I lose them.

The set up is a 70-200 2.8 with a 2x converter which is the best I can do with what I have got, it still autofocuses and tracks the bird if it is moving but thats rarely towards me!! Next time I will take the monopod and see if it helps at all.

Perhaps I should try to find the deer instead as at least they are big enough to see and take up more of the frame

 

[frank]

I have a similar problem Susie, Only birds I see in my back garden are magpies and wood pigeons. I've had a couple of fat balls out for approx 8 weeks now and only once have I seen anything at them, that was a dozens passing starlings which looked like a hit and run, they never came back. I don't suppose the two cats that live nearby help matters since they are regular visitors too.

 

[susie]

At least its not just me then!! There are no cats around here (well not that I have noticed) so no excuses for them not to visit!

Looks like I need to do a lot more walking and perhaps dress as a tree or a hedge!!!

 

[staffitaxi]

Hi Susie

Do you have a hide anywhere in your area? Particularly a woodland one.

It would allow you to get a bit closer. I always struggle with my lens with it only being a 55-200. It just doesn't get close enough most of the time.

We don't have a garden either so I have to visit friends when I want to try some bird photos.

Andrea

 

[oldgit]

As the others have said: patience, technique, patience, practice, setup, patience

Then you can show off like this (70-200 + 1.4TC)

 

[susie]

As the others have said: patience, technique, patience, practice, setup, patience

Then you can show off like this (70-200 + 1.4TC)

Pah, call that a birdy???

This is a pwoper birdy

patience I have, technique and setup appear to be my downfall I have looked in the for sale section but nobody is selling any talent

If I could get just one shot as good as yours I'd be a very happy person

 

[susie]

Hi Susie

Do you have a hide anywhere in your area? Particularly a woodland one.

It would allow you to get a bit closer. I always struggle with my lens with it only being a 55-200. It just doesn't get close enough most of the time.

We don't have a garden either so I have to visit friends when I want to try some bird photos.

Andrea

As far as I know there are no hides around here - not that I have been able to find at any rate. I will have a google next time I head off to the Pennines as there must be a few up there somewhere. The best I can do is sit near the straw cattle pens and hope something comes close enough!

 

[IanC_UK]

As far as I know there are no hides around here - not that I have been able to find at any rate. I will have a google next time I head off to the Pennines as there must be a few up there somewhere. The best I can do is sit near the straw cattle pens and hope something comes close enough!

Not sure where you live susie, but search for nature reserves, there will be one close by, and pretty much all will have hides, some have bird feeding stations with hides too, so you can get close up views of them.

 

[susie]

Not sure where you live susie, but search for nature reserves, there will be one close by, and pretty much all will have hides, some have bird feeding stations with hides too, so you can get close up views of them.

Thanks , I'm on the London borders, there were 2 results for this area when I did a search, its just a case of making time to get to the one thats closest!!
I may be heading to Oxfordshire at some point in the next few weeks so I'll see if there is anything near where I'm going in case I get a few free hours

 

[stylgeo]

Hi Susie,
I am fairly new to bird photography, and find it hard to say the least. I don't have the means to use a hide and I always go to a nearby cemetery for my birding, where birds are not really accustomed to human presence and are very shy. I seem to get a lot closer to birds whenever I go anywhere else where lugging on my 120-300 f2.8 wouldn't be an option (it's just too bid to carry everywhere with me).

The key is PATIENCE!! I can't stress this enough. What I do is this. I go in the cemetery, which is quite big actually, around 13 hectares and just listen. I choose an area where I've heard the most birds singing, choose a spot where there are low branches, good light and a tree to sit under and spend a couple of hours still as a rock. I first take some time to set everything up just right, my tripod at eye level, the tripod head at the exact amount of stiffness that i prefer, all my camera settings ready (at AV most of the time) and then I just wait. after about 20-30 minutes birds start coming closer. Even after the 2 hours they aren't really accustomed to me but they get a lot closer than before.

Just buy a portable feeder just for that, attatch a branch with a clamp on it and just focus there. The birds that will be waiting their turn will use that branch. You'll get more natural looking photos that way!

A couple of examples

And you'll need all the reach you can get. I use the 120-300mm f2.8 with the 2x TC. IQ is worse than the bare lens, but being able to have 600mm at f5.6 and retain AF is godsent for bird photography