Critter practice

roscowgo

I wanted to shoot something before I had to get my weekend chores completed, so off to the McDonalds parking lot I went, bagel in tow. I'm a newbie, and need the abuse, please beat me as hard as you want.

Lessons Learned.
1. Sun over your shoulder seems to work a lot better for all the colors birds put off.
2. 18-55mm kit lens, aint the best in the world for skittish critters.
3. Small birds are FAST, 1/2000th and I still got a Lot of images with motion blur.
4. I need to work on where I'm focusing.

Now for the pics. Changes made, crops, white balance, exposure, lens correction, and a couple of fiddles with the clarity, vibrance, and saturation sliders in camera raw. Converted to jpeg for upload.

roscowgo

The little speckled fellows seemed to enjoy having their picture taken. Almost seemed to pose for me a few times.

JohnDC

You are doing the right thing: finding a place with abundant subjects, then practicing your photo techniques. A max of 55mm is too short for effective photos of the birds at this distance, so either get closer to the birds or get a longer lens. (Or both.) With birds being fed like these, getting closer is feasible and good practice. It just requires carefully and patiently approaching the birds while watching their reactions and responding accordingly so you don't scare them away. Also, you will get nicer images if your camera is at the level of the birds. If you don't want to lie down in the MacDonald's parking lot, try getting the birds perched in a higher spot (e.g., tree branch, wall, etc.). As you said, you need to focus on your focusing. In some of your photos the shadows seem to be sharper than the birds. Find both the camera focus mode and your technique that best focuses on the birds themselves, especially on their eye and bill. f8 or higher will give you more depth of field. Your use of f5.6 was probably not the best performing f-stop of your lens. As for lighting, in the bright light you had, try having the sun at your back (as you already recognized) so you have full frontal illumination of the birds. The iridescent feathers on the starlings (the speckled birds) will really light up with frontal illumination. The first rule of improving photographic skills is practice, practice, practice, so you're on the right path. Hope this helps.

roscowgo

JohnDC wrote: »

You are doing the right thing: finding a place with abundant subjects, then practicing your photo techniques. A max of 55mm is too short for effective photos of the birds at this distance, so either get closer to the birds or get a longer lens. (Or both.) With birds being fed like these, getting closer is feasible and good practice. It just requires carefully and patiently approaching the birds while watching their reactions and responding accordingly so you don't scare them away. Also, you will get nicer images if your camera is at the level of the birds. If you don't want to lie down in the MacDonald's parking lot, try getting the birds perched in a higher spot (e.g., tree branch, wall, etc.). As you said, you need to focus on your focusing. In some of your photos the shadows seem to be sharper than the birds. Find both the camera focus mode and your technique that best focuses on the birds themselves, especially on their eye and bill. f8 or higher will give you more depth of field. Your use of f5.6 was probably not the best performing f-stop of your lens. As for lighting, in the bright light you had, try having the sun at your back (as you already recognized) so you have full frontal illumination of the birds. The iridescent feathers on the starlings (the speckled birds) will really light up with frontal illumination. The first rule of improving photographic skills is practice, practice, practice, so you're on the right path. Hope this helps.

Absolutely does. Thanks!

roscowgo

Something I noticed about the birds, they were ridiculously fast. Any images of them flying was purely accidental. The shots where i tried to get an in flight bird more often than not wound up being a lovely picture of the ground. Or if I was really on the ball a wingtip.

Is that something a longer zoom will help with, or is it just the nature of little birds to accelerate out of frame like that?

JohnDC

roscowgo wrote: »

Something I noticed about the birds, they were ridiculously fast. Any images of them flying was purely accidental. The shots where i tried to get an in flight bird more often than not wound up being a lovely picture of the ground. Or if I was really on the ball a wingtip.

Is that something a longer zoom will help with, or is it just the nature of little birds to accelerate out of frame like that?

In most cases, panning with the moving bird provides the best images because of less movement of the bird relative to the camera frame. To do this, set your camera to the continuous focus mode that works best for moving objects. Then focus lock onto a particular bird (half pressing the shutter), following it until it until it takes off. Then start shooting. You can do the same thing starting as a bird (or flock) flies by. This is very much like duck hunting with a shotgun. Don't be discouraged by some beginning bad shots; it takes practice, especially the panning, but you will soon get your timing and reflexes. Maybe start with some slow, smooth flying birds, like gulls and geese. It is the beginning of the migration season, so now is a good time to start with waterfowl. Find a good roosting pond or feeding field, but be kind to the hard-working, calorie-hungry birds. For example, for the resting birds, wait until they naturally take off in the early morning and return in the evening. This is my favorite kind of bird photography--it's a fun sport.