Bird Watching: Photographing Birds ... Technicques, Tips and Questions, 1 by NM_Jane

NM_Jane wrote:
Hi everyone.

We've had several previous threads discussing which cameras, lens, etc. we use for our bird photos. Well, I wanted to revive that topic; but with an emphisis on the camera settings, techniques, editing software, etc. we use for our bird photography.

To get good bird photos, there are 3 camera setting to consider … ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture. Below is a brief explanation of these settings and some of my personal bird photo failures and triumphs.

ISO

The ISO setting controls how sensitive the camera's sensor is the available light.

Many digital cameras allow you to choose the ISO setting. If you select a higher ISO setting, the camera becomes more light sensitive. This allows the camera to use a faster shutter speed (to spot the action) and/or a smaller aperture (to give a greater depth of field) and still achieve the proper exposure. There is a trade off though. The graininess of the photo increases at higher ISO settings.

Most of the information I've read about wildlife photography has said don't set the ISO above 200, so I just went along with that recommendation (boy was I dumb to believe that; but more about that later).


SHUTTER SPEED

The shutter speed controls how long the lens remains opened when you take a picture. To capture a moving object and have it appear as though it is standing still, you generally need a shutter speed or 1/500th or faster. At slower shutter speeds, your photo can have at least some minor motion blur.

Many digital cameras have a shutter priority mode. In shutter priority mode, you choose the shutter speed and the camera automatically chooses the aperture setting that will render a properly exposed picture.


APERTURE (F/Stop)

When it comes to photography, aperture settings are one of the most confusing topics. The aperture setting controls how wide the len diaphragm opens when you take a picture. Depending on the individual camera lens, this opening can be anywhere from a pin hole all the way up to the full diameter of the lens. Among other things, the size of this opening controls the depth of field (e.g. the extent to which the foreground, main subject, and background are in focus).

With bird photos, a blurry background can be a good thing because it allows the main subject to stand out. At the same time, the depth of field needs to be deep enough to have the entire bird (beak to tail) in good sharp focus.

Without going into a lot of technical detail, the aperture setting is measured in f/stops (1.4, 2.8, 5.6, 8, etc.). If you choose a larger f/stop setting (f/8), it will produce a picture with more of the foreground and background in focus. With a smaller f/stop setting (f/4), you'll get more foreground and background blur.


PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

As we all know, most birds prefer areas where they feel protected. This usually means a shady tree branch or similar. I'm seldom lucky enough to find birds sitting out in the open sun.

Over the years, I've owned a number of different point-and-shoot digital cameras. About 3 years ago, I bought my first DSLR … a Canon Rebel Xti. Despite the great reviews on the Rebel, I never could seem to get any good bird photos with it.

I tried using shutter priority mode, with a fast shutter speed (those little birds just don't stand still and pose for me); but the automatically selected aperture would frequently have the bird's head in focus and its tail out of focus.

Next, I tried using aperture priority (selecting an f/8 aperture setting) in order to keep the whole bird in focus. When I did this, my camera automatically set a slower shutter speed; which often resulted in a picture that had motion blur.

I also tried out all of the preset camera modes (landscape, sports, portrait, etc.); but the results were equally disastrous.

As I mentioned earlier, I had believed what I read about never using an ISO setting above 200; so I never really experimented with changing the ISO setting.

Frustrated with the poor quality images I was getting, I ended up putting my DSLR (the most expensive camera I own) on the shelf and going back to using my Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot camera.

Last month, I loaned my Canon Rebel Xti to a friend and she managed to take some excellent photos with it … much better than anything I ever took. When I got my camera back, I decided to give it another try. I was shocked when I looked at the pictures on my computer. They were actually pretty good, even in low light/shade. Although the pictures were a bit grainy, the whole bird was in focus and there was no motion blur. I checked my camera settings to see what had changed and discovered that my friend had changed the ISO setting to 1600. Wow, what a difference that made!

The quail photo here is one that I shot using the higher ISO and it came out much better than any of my previous attempts.

One tip ... You can always use photo editing program to help soften excess graininess; but there really isn't anything I can do to fix an out of focus shot. I think I'll be using my DLSR a bit more now and also using the higher ISO setting when the lighting calls for it.


INVITATION TO EVERYONE

For many of you, I know this post contains some real basic information; but maybe it will help some of the other folks.

This forum has some real pros when it comes to photographing our feathers friends. I'd like to invite everyone to use this thread to share those tips and tricks that we can all benefit from.

Also, if you're having problems getting good bird photos, tell us about it. Maybe someone can help solve your problem.

One topic that I'd love some help with is how to best deal with a badly backlit situation. Sometimes, there's just nowhere I can move in order to get a better lighting angle; so does anybody have any tips for minimizing that awful silhouette effect?


(Edited to correct typos ... one day I may learn how to type ... LOL)

This message was edited Mar 11, 2009 7:46 PM