More garden birds
Posted 09/07/2008 - 21:50
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Hi Howard,
I do like the composition of the first picture of the thrush with a fly in its beak, but it's suffering a bit from a lack of sharpness.
It looks to me that you're taking 200mm photo's at 1/30 of a second. Even if you had shake reduction, that is going to be quite challenging and a tripod is probably going to be a must to get the sharpest possible pictures using those settings.
I'd suggest increasing the ISO value so that you can get the shutter speed as close to the 1/focal length of the lens as possible. This will unfortunately introduce more noise, but it's a balancing act to get the best picture you can. Alternatively, wait for a sunnier day
If you haven't attempted much bird photography in your garden before, and want to spend more time doing so, here are some ideas from what I've tried:
Get them feeding in your garden (which you're clearly already doing).
If you have a garden shed or even a back door that opens onto the garden, you can use either as somewhere to take photos from where you're less likely to frighten off the birds. The aim here is to get as close as possible using a tripod without scaring them off.
If you go out to feed the birds at a particular time, try leaving the shed door or back door open afterwards (weather permitting) for a while.
Let the birds get used to that. Next, try putting a garden chair or similar inside the doorway, set back a way, when you leave the door open. Next put your tripod in the doorway too. Let them get used to that too.
Lastly, sit in the chair with camera setup on a tripod to help with support. Try pre-focusing on or near the feeders so that the whir of the autofocus (if you use it) doesn't scare them off.
Wait for them to turn up and then shoot away.
A lot depends on how tame the birds are. Last summer I got to the stage where they were happy for me to sit on a bench in our garden just a couple of meters away from the feeders so long as I was very very still and just took the photos.
BTW, you're lucky indeed to be getting what looks like a Great Spotted Woodpecker in your garden
I do like the composition of the first picture of the thrush with a fly in its beak, but it's suffering a bit from a lack of sharpness.
It looks to me that you're taking 200mm photo's at 1/30 of a second. Even if you had shake reduction, that is going to be quite challenging and a tripod is probably going to be a must to get the sharpest possible pictures using those settings.
I'd suggest increasing the ISO value so that you can get the shutter speed as close to the 1/focal length of the lens as possible. This will unfortunately introduce more noise, but it's a balancing act to get the best picture you can. Alternatively, wait for a sunnier day
If you haven't attempted much bird photography in your garden before, and want to spend more time doing so, here are some ideas from what I've tried:
Get them feeding in your garden (which you're clearly already doing).
If you have a garden shed or even a back door that opens onto the garden, you can use either as somewhere to take photos from where you're less likely to frighten off the birds. The aim here is to get as close as possible using a tripod without scaring them off.
If you go out to feed the birds at a particular time, try leaving the shed door or back door open afterwards (weather permitting) for a while.
Let the birds get used to that. Next, try putting a garden chair or similar inside the doorway, set back a way, when you leave the door open. Next put your tripod in the doorway too. Let them get used to that too.
Lastly, sit in the chair with camera setup on a tripod to help with support. Try pre-focusing on or near the feeders so that the whir of the autofocus (if you use it) doesn't scare them off.
Wait for them to turn up and then shoot away.
A lot depends on how tame the birds are. Last summer I got to the stage where they were happy for me to sit on a bench in our garden just a couple of meters away from the feeders so long as I was very very still and just took the photos.
BTW, you're lucky indeed to be getting what looks like a Great Spotted Woodpecker in your garden
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454 posts
19 years
Cheshire
a photogenic thrush
and a woodpecker
Both taken in a hurry from our kitchen window and not properly thought out.
This is the first time I have submitted anything to the "Your Photos" section so all suggestions happily taken on board.
Thanks
Howard