Sunday, April 01, 2007

The Basics of Bird Photography

The following page(s) is a primer for those who are either new to bird photography or have limited experience with photography in general. Creating interesting bird images presents a formidable challenge even for seasoned professionals. The following text contains advice, lessons learned, and suggestions on technique gained from my 25 years experience in the field. If you are seriously interested in learning how to take better pictures of birds, I suggest you read further. It is divided into progressive categories, so you can start at the beginning or skip to the applicable subject of interest. Send questions or comments concerning either the content or bird photography to Bill Horn.
Getting started
The right equipment
Know your subject
What film is best
Lighting conditions
Exposure modes
Fill-flash
Get close!
Composing the image
Long lens technique
Your car as a "blind"
Low percentage of "keepers"
The perfect image
Getting started: The modern technology present in most camera systems today has automated functions such as aperture, shutter speed, focus and light metering. But automatic modes are seldom best for photographing birds, as we want to be able to control certain aspects depending on the given situation. So before beginning to seriously undertake bird photography, it would be wise to gain an understanding of the fundamentals. Two things affect exposure: shutter speed, meaning the amount of time the film is exposed, and aperture, which determines the lens opening size. The camera meter determines correct exposure. Aperture and shutter speed combine as the exposure setting. Fast shutter speeds are needed to freeze wing motion or other movement. An increase in shutter speed requires opening up the lens a proportionate amount. Several combinations of shutter speed and aperture can be used to take a single photograph. You have to decide which is best for each image. Depth of field (DOF) is the area of the image in focus. Large apertures reduce DOF, and serve to isolate the subject. Learning how exposure works to affect an image is imperative. Practicing by taking photos in varied conditions is the best way to learn. Believe it or not, more images are ruined by camera shake than any other cause. So a steady hand, brace, or better yet, tripod will eliminate unwanted blurring. We'll elaborate more on tripods later. Reading books on photography technique is another way to learn. A plethora of information is available through libraries, book stores, and the Internet. If reading books doesn't hold your interest, a local camera club might be the answer. They can help with hands-on training, and you can measure your individual progress against that of the group. Don't be afraid to ask questions. The more knowledge you can acquire prior to going afield, the better your chances will be of creating images you'll be proud of. The learning process never stops. I still read everything I can get my hands on about bird photography. And let's not forget about the other half of this equation: birds. Again, read about and study the birds where you live. It doesn't matter whether you occasionally want to photograph Cardinals at the feeder or pursue bird photography as a serious hobby. Once the fundamentals are learned, then you can experiment with the various automatic modes which work wonderfully well under ideal conditions. Armed with a basic understanding of the fundamentals of photography, you'll be better prepared when it comes time to lay out the bucks for equipment.