March 10th, 2010 by Brian Cooney

Titmouse Bird Photo 1/320 f8 400mm

Its been a slow couple of weeks for photography , as I have been traveling and working way too many hours.  Nearly three weeks ago, at Middle Creek Wildlife Preserve,  Jennifer and I drove out and just sat and watched the birds for probably over an hour.

Redwing_Blackbird Photo 1/320 @f10 400mm

It was a Perfect day and time for Bird Photography.  There was Plenty of Daylight, but it was close enough to sundown to put the sun right where it needed to be.  The light was coming over from behind us, so it was lighting the birds well as long as they were not in the shade.  The ground was still covered with snow, so the birds food sources were limited.  This led to a huge concentration of birds at the feeder station….. and the areas around it.  One surefire way to get pictures of animals is to find their food… and when all the other fancy restaurants are closed from snow….  they all end up going to the McDonalds of the bird world.

Cardinal Photo f5.6 1/400 at 400mm

My strategy for the day was simple.  Experiment.  A lot.  I was playing with different exposures,  different shutter speeds,  different apertures.  The camera was on a tripod the entire time.  I was using my 100-400mm lens,  mostly at 400 the entire time.  I was also using my remote shutter release to make things easier on my body.  I was shooting through a large plate glass window, into the feeding area at the wildlife preserve. Wherever I could, I was trying to catch the birds when they landed anywhere but on a feeder.  I foumd that most of the pictures I liked best were the ones when sun was hitting them directly, which I attibute to better shutter speed,  and smaller apeture.  I was NOT just going as fast as I could….. because I wanted to have enough depth of field to try and get the whole bird sharp.  Instead, I was just trying to keep the shutter speed at 1/320 or faster.  This was enough to freeze most of the birds motion if they were staying put… but not enough to catch a takeoff or landing.  When you go to shoot birds, and you find many of them in one area, experiment.  Try different apatures,  different shutter speeds,  and different exposures.  I found that setting the camera to Spot metering may help with getting the exposure, since Birds are so small and you don’t care as much about the exposure of the background/foreground which is constantly changing.  I believe I did quite a bit of manual mode to try and guess close, using the spot meter and a larger surface that was in the same light as my target birds.  As far as auto-focus,  it was a big help to set the camera to only use the AF point, as there is just way too much non-bird for the camera to get tripped up on if you let it auto-select a focus point.

Bird_on_Snow Photo 1/320th f8 400mm

If you have an oppertunity like this, experiment.  Get as close to the birds as you can.  Try to find the right light….  so you can have a crisp subject.  The hardest parts are finding light that makes their eyes come to life, and their details stand out, and getting close enough.  If you can do these things, you will be happy with the results.