Birds are these wonderful creatures that come is hundreds of sizes, shapes and colors. They are one of my favourite subjects to shoot. A bird has one trait that people don't , They don't speak English, You as a photographer cannot simply tell a bird to face towards the left, lift it's chin to get that perfect pose. Its up to you and I as photographers to capture the bird using our own skill. Over a series of posts I hope to share with you some tips on how to get in the position you want to be in, to capture some outstanding photos.
A Tip Before The Tips Begin
Buy yourself a field guide! A small field guide is all you need, its helpful to know and learn what birds you are seeing and photographing when you are out on an adventure. I also suggest buying a larger reader digest style bird book for a more detailed identification when you get home.
Tip 1 # Finding Birds
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| ISO 400 F/5.6 1/500th sec |
Birds and everywhere. If you go somewhere and there is not birds you are not looking. Of course not all birds are everywhere, if you are looking for a wetland bird there is no chance that you are going to find it at your local park. However if you are not targeting particular species then a local park will do fine. A bonus to us as photographers is that in the instance of your local park the birds are humanised, no this doesn't mean they will come and sit on your shoulder but this does mean they are much more docile that truly wild birds, this is an excellent opportunity for us , as you can get much closer to the birds and often spend time taking your photos and you can get some very nice images from this.
However if you want to see birds in the habitat they are supposed to be in it is still not hard at all to get close to a very wide spectrum of species. Obviously this is dependant on how far you are willing to travel. A simple day trip up to Belair National Park and even a short walk ( 2-5km) would easily find you with a bird list up around 20-30 species on an average, from Black Ducks and White Faced Herons to White Browed Treecreepers and Australian Kestrels. If you wanted to go and see wetland birds the Laratinga wetlands just outside Mount Barker is a very nice spot, its not a huge walk to get around and its all nice gravelled paths the whole way, there you get many species of ducks and if you have a keen eye and a fast shutter finger you may even see and capture a Crake or Rail.
Now obviously the above is well and good information, but to find the birds yourself. That will just take some practise of honing in your eyes and ears, and learning the calls of birds which I still struggle with so don't be bothered if you cant pick the calls up.
Next post I plan to talk about the camera settings you need to have in mind for shooting birds.
Till next time,
Nick
