Birds

[dsunny]

Hi everyone, I'm not too experienced, and I was wondering if there was anything I could improve with my pictures of birds. Any technical details I could change? and how do I compose for a bird shot?
Thanks!

 

[WesternGuy]

Welcome to the forum. A couple of things - please number your images as this makes it a lot easier for a reviewer to refer to an image if it is numbered - thanks.

First mpressions, for birds in flight (BIF), I usually like to see them coming at me rather than going away from me. The main objective in bird photography is to get the bird's head in the picture with the eye in focus. In the second one, the bird is a little dark and you have cropped off a part of his left wing. You will always have an exposure problem when you are trying to shoot birds like the one in the second one, against a lighter sky. In this case you need to add +1 to +1 1/3 exposure compensation and in extreme cases maybe as much as +2 ev exposure compensation. This should help bring out some detail in the bird's underside. HTH.

WesternGuy

 

[Richichi]

In the second one, the bird is a little dark and you have cropped off a part of his left wing. You will always have an exposure problem when you are trying to shoot birds like the one in the second one, against a lighter sky. In this case you need to add +1 to +1 1/3 exposure compensation and in extreme cases maybe as much as +2 ev exposure compensation. This should help bring out some detail in the bird's underside. HTH.WesternGuy

Good advice !!

 

[dsunny]

I'll make sure to number my images.
Thanks for the awesome advice!
Also, is there anyway to nail focus with only a 9 point autofocus and cheap sigma lens? I always get at least half of my shots out of focus and end up sharpening it in photoshop.
Thanks.

 

[SCraig]

Here Is A Link to four gull shots I took on Saturday using ONE focus point (the one right in the center) and a Sigma 150-500.

Best way I know to get good focus is disable all that auto-focus area 3D nonsense and limit your camera to ONE focus point so that you know what it's focusing on. I do not want my camera deciding what to focus on and allowing the point of focus to run around all over the viewfinder. I'll tell it what to focus on and which focus point to use.

 

[dsunny]

Those are awesome shots. I really never thought of using only one focus point. Thanks for the tip!

 

[SCraig]

Those are awesome shots. I really never thought of using only one focus point. Thanks for the tip!

Just for kicks I once set my camera to enable 3D tracking and tried to shoot gulls at that same lake. I didn't get one decent shot the entire time. Each and every time it focused on the wrong part of the bird or jumped from one bird to another or something. After about 30 minutes and a couple of dozen wasted shots I went back to a single focus point locked in the center and had no more problems.

I guess that 3D tracking ability has its place but I've never found it. Personally if Nikon took it out and threw it away it wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

 

[dsunny]

Wow! What if I can't get close enough to the bird? The first image with the wing cut of was shot at the very edge of the frame, which is why it was cut off, and I had to crop way in. Do I just have to wait for some birds to fly near me?
Thanks!

 

[SCraig]

Wow! What if I can't get close enough to the bird? The first image with the wing cut of was shot at the very edge of the frame, which is why it was cut off, and I had to crop way in. Do I just have to wait for some birds to fly near me?
Thanks!

Yes, you just have to wait. Birds are not easy to photograph, nobody ever said they were. They won't pose and they won't cooperate so you have to play by their rules. That normally means patience and waiting for them to come to you or carefully, quietly, and slowly working your way over to them. You can put food out and then wait for them to come to the food, but normally it's a game of patience.

 

[ceeboy14]

Yeah, and if you're shooting gulls, wear a hat...they so like to poop a lot. After looking at your last crop of gulls, I went to the single point focus and I am amazed at how well it works over the continuous tracking function...it works on my camera but like you've pointed out, it's more miss than hit.

 

[SCraig]

Yeah, and if you're shooting gulls, wear a hat...they so like to poop a lot. After looking at your last crop of gulls, I went to the single point focus and I am amazed at how well it works over the continuous tracking function...it works on my camera but like you've pointed out, it's more miss than hit.

I agree. 3D tracking may work for kids in the back yard or something, but I've not been able to use it for anything that I shoot. Still birds and wildlife I don't need it, and moving birds and wildlife it always picks the wrong place to focus. To each their own, but I just cannot use it.