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This was Christmas day, we were inundated with a heavy snowstorm, this was a break in the storm. This is a Dark Eyed Junco, they are the size of a person’s hand, fast moving, resilient and hearty little birds.
I know this image isn’t as clear as it could be, I was using a 2X2 tele-converter connected to the 18-55mm kit lens of my Nikon D3400.
You caught a nice pose in the Junco, Laura, and thee exposure looks very good. Kit lenses aren’t known for their high quality, particularly coupled with teleconverters, but you did pretty well with it. It does look to me as if some of the branches are in better focus than the bird. I don’t know what Autofocus points you had active at the time, but when I’m shooting birds in a busy setting like this, I only have one active AF point and lay it right on the bird so there’s less chance of the camera picking up on a branch. Autofocus loves straight lines, so it is very likely to pick up on a branch if you give it a chance. As far as composition goes, the bird is a little centered. It usually (but not always) works better to put the bird off center both vertically and horizontally with the most room on the side it’s facing and the least room behind it. Room above and below are pretty much your choice. In this case, I think I’d crop a little off the left and the bottom.
I look forward to seeing more of your work here.
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Dennis, thanks so much for your feedback and suggestions, very much appreciated. I neglected to include my camera’s settings for this particular set of images, I don’t use AF that often, in this case I had my camera set on Shutter Priority, the specifics were SS 1/4000, F4 and ISO at 100. The SS was set for the possibility of flight. I was annoyed with the clarity of the branches and wondered if a lower SS would have softened them. And thanks for the reminder for the use of Rule of Thirds, I am rather new to using that concept so it kind of slipped from my mind during the post production stage. I will definitely keep that in mind going forward. Would Aperture Priority be a more forgiving setting for images like this? And what particular settings would you recommend?
Hi Laura: The settings you used were probably OK. There’s not much you could do to soften the branches with that lens combination. That’s controlled by depth of field and that is a function of focal length, aperture, and distance from the subject. You were using a pretty wide aperture, which gives you the smallest depth of field and should soften the branches as much as possible for your focal length and distance. You’ve probably noticed already that most of the bird photographs posted here use a focal length of at least 400 mm. Part of that is to let us get small birds larger in the frame without having to crowd them too much and part of it is to get that nice soft background. It used to be that you had to buy a super expensive ($5000-$12,000) lens to get to those focal lengths, but there are zoom lenses available now in the $1000-$1500 range with superb optics that will get you to 500 mm or more. If you really get into bird photography, I’d recommend the investment. With the equipment you have, a feeding station and blind (some people just shoot through a house window) with perches you provide that get the background further away is probably the best solution. Alan Murphy has a good ebook on backyard setup photography, though it’s a bit expensive. If you look at the used book markets, there are some earlier ones on the subject as well.
As to setting up your camera, I do recommend either complete manual settings, Aperture Priority or auto-iso. I use manual these days, but I used Aperture Priority for years with good results. If you check your light at the beginning of a shoot, you can adjust the iso to give yourself the needed shutter speed for flight shots. For most birds 1/2000 second is quite adequate. A lot of people I know are starting to use the auto-iso function which gives you pretty complete control and the ability to handle noise at high iso values is so good now that it works quite well. If you do an on-line search for how to set up your particular camera for bird photography, you’ll probably find a few people that have posted their recommendations. With a little playing around you can modify those to suit your tastes.
Sorry for the long-winded response. I hope it helps.
Laura, I think Dennis has given you some excellent advice, both on this shot as well as for type of lens should you get into bird photography, so not much to add from me. I am thrilled that you are exploring different types of nature photography. Bird and macro has seemed to be what I enjoy most. Good thing, because life right doesn’t allow me to travel for the landscape, which I think I would enjoy as well. It is when we explore that we can find the area that we like best, or feel we are best at. You might even consider renting a telephoto lens first, and just go out and shoot birds, or maybe a macro lens, and try your hand at it. Then, you will know what area you most enjoy before purchasing a lens. Used lenses can be an option as well. I have done that. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Hi Shirley, thanks so much for your feedback. I am so grateful to get the input of experienced photographers, it helps to know and understand the uses of a camera with interchangeable lenses which I’ve only been using for 3 of the 8 years I’ve been seriously photographing nature. Life right now allows me to photograph in my neighborhood and at a nearby wetlands. I actually primarily photographed birds for 5 years when I lived in the southeast, now I am in a new life with four seasons and different wildlife to photograph. I have a new Canon camera coming with a couple of telephoto lenses, sometime this year so I am sure I will be better equipped to capture the wildlife at the wetlands, but as with all equipment I am sure I will need guidance to create the best images. I am so grateful for this site and the input I am getting, it is already making me a better photographer.
The image below is an example of my work when I lived in Florida.
Laura, you are welcome. I didn’t add much, but what Dennis offered is really good advice. You can tell from his photos he knows quite a bit about it. So glad to hear that you are getting a new camera and telephoto lenses. I know you will really enjoy. That is nice that you are near some wetlands, as you should see some wading birds, and they are a bit easier to shoot since they aren’t as small as these you presented here. Nice look at the Cardinal! You and me both, grateful for this site. I have learned so much from some really great photographers’ critiques, as well as their photos, and even critiquing their photos.
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