Taking bird pictures

birdy961

birdy961

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Evening good peeps of TP

The bird forum is one of my favourites and a lot of the images that are posted in these just blow me away.:love:

I have tried and tried to get a decent bird photo, don't mind what it is as long as it looks good.:D

No matter what i do I cannot get anything anywhere near the quality I see in the bird forum. I keep looking and checking the exif when it is included but just cannot seem to get anything reasonable:'(

It makes me quite cross.:help:

So, any general tips that do not include spending lots of money on a bigger lens:eek:

My current set up is Canon 50d with the 100-400L


Any tips much appreciated

Cheers
 
Get the birds close to you or you get closer to the birds.Heavy cropping ruins most wildlife stuff.
 
Thanks Fracster
Not so easy sometimes :bang:but do understand that i need to get closer

All I have managed so far look rubbish when cropped to a reasonable view

Any other general tips, realise its not easy to generalise:D
 
As has already been mentioned, getting close, or letting the birds come to you instead is probably the most important. I used to worry about using higher ISOs, but it's better to have a bit more noise than a blurry lump of a bird.

I mostly use spot-metering to try and get better exposure of the bird, especially if they're in flight.

Oh, and a good deal of luck always comes in handy:)

John
 
Locate your local birdwatching club, they may have access to sites with fixed hides. There may even be RSPB sites near you.

Your kit is fine for the job.

Light - get the sun behind you, ideally coming over a shoulder.

Practice - costs nothing

Patience - only takes 1/500 second to capture the image, can take hours for it to happen - costs nothing

Post an image on the bird section so we can rip it to shreds offer some useful tips, and point out what you did right, and what you did wrong. :thumbs: - Seriously we are a helpful bunch in that section

Ideal camera settings, in ideal light - static birds 1/250 sec minimum 1/500 sec ideally to avoid blur from the subject moving. f7.1 will give a decent depth of field and improve sharpness of the lens. ISO whatever it takes, there is always 'Noiseware' to clean it up. If the light starts going, open up the lens to its largest aperture (f5.6?) before you start slowing the shutter speed.
 
Your current kit is well capable of producing good results, so it's either a technique problem or a processing problem- most likely the former, although processing also plays a big part in your final results.

I agree with Martyn's advice, to which I'd add.....

Use a tripod whenever possible - preferably with a gimbal head.
Use a single AF point.
Use continuous servo AF and concentrate on getting that AF point on the eye of the bird, or on the head at least.

Post some results which will help a lot in putting you on the right track.
 
Thanks for all the replies peeps, it is encouraging, (was having a why are all my pictures rubbish sulk last night:D)

All I need to do now is find the time to put it in practise

I shall have a go and next time will pop the results up for some help:thumbs:

Good idea on the local birdwatching club Martyn, shall have a hunt around and see what I can find.

All I need to do now is gaffer tape my son to the wall of the hide so he cant move :eek:and I reckon I might get somewhere:lol:
 
fracster said:
Get the birds close to you or you get closer to the birds. Heavy cropping ruins most wildlife stuff.
Click to expand...

Yip - precisely the reason I cannot get the high quality shots that are on here.
Very occasionally I have been lucky (and it was luck) to get close and the difference in the amount of detail captured is immense.
You can test that by photographing something from afar then photographing from, say 6 feet away (as if you were in a hide).
 
Have you got a garden?
 
I have Ade
Have set up some feeders etc but I think they need moving or I am filling them with the wrong things as do not seem to attract mutch, only Starlings
 
birdy961 said:
I have Ade
Have set up some feeders etc but I think they need moving or I am filling them with the wrong things as do not seem to attract mutch, only Starlings
Click to expand...

Winter is coming, food will become scarcer and once they find the feeders you will get more stuff on them.

I have feeders out next to my hide on the river bank, I find that the tits and nuthatches will happily mix together in the fight for black sunflower seeds and general mixed food. The finches tend not to like the general hullabaloo so I have a feeder a bit further away with nijer seed in it and mixed grain. Some birds prefer to feed off tables rather than feeders, so make an bird table for them. I also have some old branches set up for woodpeckers and a separate table for jays, magpies and things.

Remember to think about how you want the bird to look in the photograph, set the feeders to hang under natural branches, they won`t show in the photos then. Fasten natural looking perches on the tables, the birds will land on them before hopping onto the table.

I don`t know your set up, but maybe set the feeders up next to a portable hide or your garden shed, once the birds get used to it you will have birds within 2 feet of you.They soon become used to the shutter going off and realise that no harm is coming to them, but movement will scare them off. Poke your lens through some old scrim netting and cover your hands and face.

Lastly, try and get the feeders and hide near a bush/tree denser vegetation, they will feel safer having somewhere to flee should Mr Hawk or Mr feline arrive.

Good luck and hope that helps.
 
Thanks for that info Ade

Will have a re look at what I can do, can get some nearer to the shed and in the apple tree so will have a fiddle about.
I have one of those posts that you can hang feeders off so will see where I can move that too.


Am worried as I have cats as well so dont want the furry monsters grabbing any tweets that I do manage to attract so will be careful where I site the feeders.
 
birdy961 said:
I have Ade
Have set up some feeders etc but I think they need moving or I am filling them with the wrong things as do not seem to attract mutch, only Starlings
Click to expand...

Last winter, despite being a bitter one and having keeping a supply of a wide variety of food all around my garden I got nothing but starlings and wood pigeons (got good detailed pics of those!). Finches and tits have become a rarity in the last 2 years (as have many other species in the surrounding countryside).
Blue tits bred in my nest box for 34 years - last 2 years they have not even come to explore the boxes as they usually do in January.
 
Do you have feeders in your garden ?

When I started to to get interested in wildlife I set feeders up in the garden to attract the birds, then repositioned them so I could shoot through an open window with the curtains shut (lens poking through a gap).

That got me my first few half decent shots.

Steve
 
Loads of feeders. I was set up to shoot in the same way as you, but the problem is that the small bird population has taken a hammering from something - probably disease.
 
hockeyboy150 said:
Don't be afraid to up the ISO to get a sharp image.
Click to expand...

Apart from getting closer, this is the best advice. I see a lot of images where the shutter speed is too low - just because the shooter was worried about excessive noise.

Noise can be fixed somewhat - motion blur can't.
 
Your equipment is fine. You have a digital camera so shoot away and dont worry about mistakes, the more you practice the better you'll become.The top pro's bin a huge amount of images. The easy part is the technical stuff (f stops, ISO and shutter speed) this you can improve on by self study from books and this forum. Study the behaviour of your subjects, you need to be able to spot when they feel threatened, never approach them directly always at an angle - your fieldcraft has to be spot on. Birds have a very keen eyesight, they have to rely on it to stay alive. Composure is the most difficult. (you cant direct them to sit there or stand here) Join your local bird club or The British Trust for Ornithology. The best times to capture images are early morning and late afternoon, so you sit with a low light problem. A combination of higher ISO, large aperture and slow shutter speed should help with the low light. Relax and enjoy your craft.:thumbs:
 
Thanks again all

I shall continue working on this and will start potsing up the results in the bird thread:thumbs:
 
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Specific advice for the 100-400, at least get a monopod, if not a tripod, it will make a huge difference (esp' when sat comfy in the garden) and turn the IS off when on the tripod and to 2 on the monopod (I turn mine off on either) and do bump up that iso to get a decent shutter speed.

Starlings are beautiful birds when shot in sunlight so "come on show us what you've got" :thumbs:

Tara
 
Thanks for that Joe
Will give that one a whirl

Have been going to the one at Stanwick Lakes so will have a looky see:thumbs:
 
.
 
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I know this ain't my thread, but I have learnt a lot just reading some of the replies. Thank you so much guys.

I bought a SMC PENTAX-FA 1:4.5-5.6 80-320mm from one poster on this forum yesterday and I went bird shooting. I think, I have good shots of piegons, lol Squirels but all the other ones just seem to eludes me lol.

Will be putting those advice and tips into use. For example, shooting at high ISO.

I saw some Parrots yesterday evening and while I tried to get them into focus, the camera got confused, as they are green too just like the tree they were on. (No idea what the name of the parrots are though)
 
I've looked at your bird photos and I would say that you should be aiming for at least 1/640 shutter with that setup to produce consistently sharp shots.

My 50d is set to ISO1600 when the suns not shining as I find ISO800 pretty bad on this camera body.

Noise can be taken care of (to a certain extent) in camera for JPG's or with software for RAW but you need a good shutter speed to get a sharp bird and feather detail.

Regards Paul
 
birdy961 said:
Evening good peeps of TP

The bird forum is one of my favourites and a lot of the images that are posted in these just blow me away.:love:

I have tried and tried to get a decent bird photo, don't mind what it is as long as it looks good.:D

No matter what i do I cannot get anything anywhere near the quality I see in the bird forum. I keep looking and checking the exif when it is included but just cannot seem to get anything reasonable:'(

It makes me quite cross.:help:

So, any general tips that do not include spending lots of money on a bigger lens:eek:

My current set up is Canon 50d with the 100-400L


Any tips much appreciated

Cheers
Click to expand...

If you are near me you are more than welcome to come and spend some time in one of the hides, I have one that is very near to some feeders I have put out in the woods and get loads of Tits, tree creepers, nuthatches, squirels etc pot luck I am afraid.

Just drop me a p.m. if I can help I am no expert in photography but can offer you the subject:thumbs:
 
Briony said:
If you are near me you are more than welcome to come and spend some time in one of the hides, I have one that is very near to some feeders I have put out in the woods and get loads of Tits, tree creepers, nuthatches, squirels etc pot luck I am afraid.

Just drop me a p.m. if I can help I am no expert in photography but can offer you the subject:thumbs:
Click to expand...

Thanks Nicky, thats very kind of you

I may well take you up on that at some point if I ever get a free weekend:thumbs:
 
birdy961 said:
Have set up some feeders etc but I think they need moving or I am filling them with the wrong things as do not seem to attract mutch, only Starlings
Click to expand...

This may be obvious, but its something I learned this year. I have spent the last three years or so trying to attract birds to my feeders, I used various feeds bought from shops/garden centers, even some promoted by Bill Oddie :suspect:, but I admit that I went for low cost.
This year I bought some feed from the RSPB, and the birds came flocking, well, an exageration maybe, but they came in decent numbers and varieties.
It shows that they are fussy buggers and cheap feed doesnt seem to work. The results for me are well worth the small extra cost :)
 
Yep, they definately are fussy about their food and some specialist seeds like niger to attract finches can take a while to actually attract them so perseverance is necessary.
If you are unfortunate as I was you will find that you will soon become very proficient at photographing squirrels and at some point soon after you will then think of investing in a Uzi 9mm !!
This would be a much more sound investment than some of those expensive squirrel proof feeders as I am sure my furry darlings had access to bolt cutters and angle grinders!
However you have to admire their tenacity and you will soon find yourself whistling the 'Mission Impossible' tune while watching them climb your patented 'squirrel proof pole' that set you back twenty quid !
Enjoy.
John
 
If you haven't already, search out the 50d owners and tips and tricks thread in the Talk Equipment section.
In there it discusses turning off items such as the Highlight Tone Priority or Automatic Light Optimisation.
On my camera (which I admit is the 7d, but I used the 50d settings as the basis for mine), these two made a huge difference to the amount of noise in the camera. The noise I have had in the past has killed a couple of nice shots I have taken. Keep the shutter speed high, this helps to reduce noise, just as much as keeping the ISO high.
Shoot raw, and use Digital Photo Professional (which came free with your camera), this can also reduce some types of noise. I find on my camera, the chromiance noise reduction algorithm is good for cleaning up a lot of images.
Keep practicing.
You could put up a couple of your older shots for people to look at.

Had a quick look at some of your previous threads, it could be that you camera is front-focusing slightly.
 
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Cheers Coldpenguin

I must admit i have changed the settings based on that for my most recent bird attempts and in my mind i think they are better than before so getting there, not sure on the front focusing but will keep an eye on that

Shall keep practising on the odd occasion that I can and will hopefully get better:thumbs:
 
You have a good combo, use the same lens and the 40D and it produces good results. I dont use a tripod as i like to carry my camera and binoculars on my species counts at a local patch, but i guess a tripod can be useful at times.

First advice i would offer is allow the IS on the lens time to spin up to working speed, half press and wait before taking the shot. Its suprising how many shots i still spoil by ignoring my own bit of advice.

Second get to know an area well, learn where birds are at different times of the day and spend time watching them for a while to observe their habits.

Fieldcraft is important, quite muted clothing, no sudden movement, and keeping quite all help in approching birds. Each species of bird has an approach tolerance which you will learn over time .

If its a planned shot, think about your backgrounds and composition, POV can make a big difference.

Advance planning, i have a small beach i go to thats good for waders. I arrive early on a rising tide and find a rock to sit and wait while the waders are moved closer by the tide.

Get Lucky, despite your best efforts luck can play a massive part in a shot.

Patience, patience, patience, the bloody things keep moving.

Practice all the time you are not wasting film. Good luck Robin, i look forward to seeing your work.

regards brian, ps im no expert so these things worked for me and took a while to sink in.
 
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