Birds In The Garden

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The Images
This may sound a little obvious but I will mention it because I have been caught out several times – check your camera settings. On prosumer Canon models it is so easy to knock the dial – you may think you left the camera on AV mode when in fact it is not. I was once puzzled for a few minutes when I wanted to capture a shot of a lesser redpoll – it would have been a 'lifer' at the time and I missed the shot. My camera was in fact set on one of the custom modes and when I looked in the viewfinder I thought I was on Av and auto focus. I pressed the shutter and nothing happened; also the camera kept resetting the ISO and it took me a few moments to work out what was going on. The lesson here is to have a small torch (I now have a tiny one on my key ring) and look at the camera dials and don't just look at the LED screen because you can be easily misled.

Now we come to the images themselves; bird images taken from hides are sometimes rather dismissively referred to as a 'BOAS' – bird on a stick. I can have some sympathy with this viewpoint if indeed, that is exactly what it is. With a little care and attention you make that a well-exposed sharp image of a bird actually doing something whilst it is on an interesting perch in front of a pleasant background – here I think we have a different scenario. How do we get there? Initially I suggest you take simple portraits – ensure the technical details such as focus and exposure, etc are correct and you instinctively know when to under-expose one bird by 1/3 and another by 2/3, etc. I set my camera to show the histogram for 4 sec – this tends to remind me to check it! It also serves to remind me to check the shutter speed is adequate and if necessary increase/ decrease the ISO setting. Observe the subjects; you will begin to recognise potential posture changes, look for interaction with other birds. You can also vary the position of the feeder with the perch so that there is a distance through which you are confident they will fly. Here you can manually focus and as soon as the bird shows signs of moving, using the cable release, fire the shutter to get in-flight shots. To ensure you get the birds to the correct spot in the first place you may need to make only one, ideally located feeder available in front of the hide. The feeder may have several apertures for the birds to feed from – tape them up when in the hide, leaving one vacant aperture by the perch, this will cause the birds to queue up for you and maximise opportunities. The advantage of multiple feeders is that you get plenty of opportunities, but the chances are that you focused on the wrong perch, so once again work with nature as opposed to fighting it and you will get the results – of that I am certain.

Fill-in flash
The judicious use of fill-in flash can prove very beneficial. If there is too much fill-in in the image, the use of flash will be very obvious, not enough fill-in will provide no benefit other than possibly a small catch-light in the eye, so fill-in has to be optimal. If you are going to try fill-in flash, I would suggest you mount the flash-gun on a tripod outside the hide and ensure correct alignment to the perch, I would also take a test image and check the exposure to ensure that lichens on a branch for example are not burning out. A question I am sometimes asked is, 'Does the flash scare the birds away?' The answer is most birds are usually unafraid though occasionally a couple of flashes are required before the bird accepts the flash. I think the point in question is that if the birds are clearly unsettled then don’t use the flash; if they are accepting of the flash then use it when required. In strong light or oblique light darker plumage may lack detail or may prove noisy; fill-in flash can be used to render detail in darker plumage whilst not burning out the paler areas. Trial and error will determine optimal settings but I find that a fill-in setting of -12/3 EV is a good starting point. You may need to check either camera or flash-gun settings to ensure correct flash synchronisation speeds as you will still require a fairly fast shutter speed; I place my flash-gun on 'High Speed Sync' and set the camera to override the flash gun settings and provide -12/3 fill-in. Your flashgun batteries may not be able to keep up with the camera if you are using a fast drive setting so this scenario may entail the purchase of a battery pack – this is a luxury I have not pursued to date.

Reflectors
Reflectors can prove beneficial when the sun has moved to a less than optimal position; light may be reflected back onto your subject and this would minimise the need for fill-in flash and possibly extra battery packs. A large white reflector as opposed to a golden one would be best and positioned to provide the required lighting from the greatest distance possible. This would help diffuse the light and minimise the chances of birds fouling the reflector. The reflector would have to be firmly anchored as a sudden breeze would soon cause misalignment.

Back lighting
Occasionally backlighting can provide unusual images, offering beautiful silhouettes or partial silhouettes with fine feather detail in the wing tips. This may be provided by natural light or by the use of flash. In circumstances such as this it is a good idea to plan the scene in advance; you may for example set-up a darker background and note which birds squabble at the feeder and where – you could, for example, place the feeder and perch at a distance in and anticipate a mid-air squabble, your camera set manually to capture any potential action.

The points I have covered will place you in good stead to make a start on capturing some images of garden birds. As time goes on you will soon appreciate that a slight angle change this way or that way of the perch will produce a better view of your subject. You will soon understand where the best places are to place your feeders. You will know that bird photography requires patience and the sheer unpredictable nature of bird behaviour will provide you with endless opportunities. It is up to you to vary those perches and place them in different places to get a variety of images. It is you who can check your camera settings and who can check that histogram – it is you in control of your equipment working in harmony with nature – hey, it is you having R&R but always remember the needs of the subject are paramount to yours as a photographer. Good luck and have fun.

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