Mediocre bird photos, C&C welcome

[Texas Aggie]

I've always wanted to get some good shots of birds, so I made an attempt at it last weekend. My problem is that I always have a difficult time getting close enough to them to get a really great picture composition wise, and if I do they never stay still long enough so I can adjust my exposure settings.

Anyways, here are two of my more decent attempts.

 

[Trever1t]

Mediocre....but you knew it. Composition is fine, it's just your subjects are not large enough. Bigger, faster lens required unless you are able to get up on them closer.

 

[PASM]

I think the second one nice. I like the crop/image format too.

 

[Mike S.]

I like the second. Could easily have been taken as a silhouette.

 

[Drake]

I don't dig the first one, but #2 is actually interesting. It could be even better if you could make the bird a little bit brighter.

 

[gsgary]

I'll be back just going to find my magnifying glass

 

[Texas Aggie]

That's exactly the problem I had with the photos. If I could have gotten closer to the bird on the fence, that would have made for a much, much better shot. It was kind of a dreary, drizzly day and the clouds were really cool looking as a backdrop. And with the weather, there was something about that bird being all alone on that long stretch of fence that was intriguing. I like the bird in the tree the best though.

But man...even using my 55-250mm lens, I still had trouble getting anywhere remotely close to where I could get a pic with them filling up more of the frame. In both those instances I only had a few seconds to set up the shot before they flew away.

 

[Texas Aggie]

and I guess I should really call these "photos with a bird in them" and not "bird photos," haha.

Thanks for the C&C so far as well. I appreciate it.

 

[DennyCrane]

I'd maybe try a tighter crop... might be able to improve the shots a lot with just a little work.

 

[Overread]

250mm is short for bird photography - especially so for those tiny birds. Sadly bird and wildlife photography in general is demanding and expensive - most bird photographers say that it starts at 400mm and then you'll always be wanting another 100mm on top of that .


You can tweak things in your favour if you use a hide and bird feeding table (in fact for that almost anything will work as a hide so long as it hides you - from proper hides to garden sheds and childrens play houses - simply anything that is static in the environment, which offers no threat to the birds and which hides yourself. With that covered they'll eventually come in closer to feed from the feeders

 

[skieur]

The best approach for bird photographers is to set-up a bird feeding station with a camera set-up nearby with appropriate lighting. Some photographers even set them up so that when the bird lands, it automatically triggers the flash and the camera.

skieur

 

[HikinMike]

If you have some room, you can do what I did: The Backyard DIY Photography Blind and Habitat

 

[Texas Aggie]

Thanks for that link, Mike...really cool

 

[Bben411]

Is #2 a Cardinal? It is a bit small but great photo in my opinion.

 

[GooniesNeverSayDie11]

Bird shooting requires a lot of patience, especially with a lens that short. Set up some feed and a makeshift blind and wait. Make sure you move as slowly as possible when bringing the camera to your eye.(or set a tripod )