Getting started with Bird Photography

Indian Roller

Introduction

Ok so here we are , if the title & the photograph has managed to grab your attention it means either you are interested in Bird Photography or at-least thinking of getting into it. Or possibly just a random user taking some time off from Insta reels or Youtube shorts , haha , not funny though, never-mind, point is if you've come here you are interested in learning some bird photography .Mind it though i'm not a professional photographer but I have been into bird Photography for almost like 2 years now and have learnt a few things which i think i can pass on to the people who are getting into Bird photography , basically beginner bird photographers.

Let me introduce myself first . Hey all my Name is Aditya and i'm not a pro photographer (mentioned earlier also ). Photography is my hobby and i'm more like jack of all trades and master of none when it comes to genre of photography. But i can confidently say that bird photography is my niche. I started my Birding journey with my Canon EOS-90D and a bunch of lenses which were not birding lenses (18-55mm , 50mm and 55-250mm).

Prerequisites

Now there could be two categories of people here , first category of those who are well versed with photography (any genre) and know the basics. And second category of those who aren't. For those who aren't i can share some links below to grab some knowledge on photography using a DSLR or a Mirrorless camera because we can not do bird photography using a cell phone or a camcorder or go-pro or point & shoot cameras etc etc etc. You must have a basic understanding on how to use a DSLR or Mirrorless Camera to proceed further and hence here goes my first recommendation to have hands-on with a DSLR or Mirrorless Camera. Now for those who already have their experiences with a DSLR or mirrorless i think we can go ahead with the topic.

So basically we need a DSLR or Mirrorless camera with some sort of lens in telephoto range ( At least more than 250MM)

What Lens to use

Now when I say birding lens , its just a lingo & there does not exist any definition whatsoever for the kind "Birding lenses" , but in time you will get what i'm trying to convey here. Just to put things in sync for now understand that lenses have focal lengths which may vary from lens to lens like 10mm , 14mm , 36 mm , 85mm , 250 mm , 600 mm etc. Lenses having a fixed focal length are called prime lens & those which have a varying focal length like 18-55 mm lens are called zoom lenses because of their ability to zoom from 18mm to 55mm in case of 18-55mm lens. Why do we call it a zoom lens ? Because the greater the focal length would be , the farther your lens or your camera can see. Not getting it ? Try to take a photo of a building next to your house using your cell phone camera, you can get the picture of the building correct but what if i say that in the same frame of your cell phone camera get the photo of one of their windows . You will fail but why ? It is because the cell phone camera is having a focal length say of around 4mm and in order to zoom in to the window you need to increase the focal length . Now consider adding a binocular (by some ideal hypothetical mechanism ) ,you may now be able to get a closeup photograph of the same building. What effect did the binocular bring to the setup? It increased the focal length of the camera system thus increasing the size of subject in the frame. For discussion purpose let us assume that it added 100 mm extra so from 4 mm you went to 104mm which brought the image closer . And this is exactly what focal length means to the camera system . The more the focal length is the closer image you can get in the same frame size or in the same resolution. So from here on i will presume that you must be having at-least a DSLR or Mirrorless camera with at-least one telephoto lens of focal length greater than or equal to 250mm.

How to find the focal length of your lens ? Generally it is written on the front of the lens. Say for example 55-250mm from canon is having a mark of the focal length in the front of the lens as shown below.

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f4-f5.6 IS STM Lens

Focal lengths below 250 are not exactly a birding lens because when you practically go out in the field you would find that to capture a good quality photograph you need to get a lot closer to the bird with the lenses below 250 mm and most birds dont allow that , they'll just fly away. What my experience tells me that 250mm is the sweet spot where you can have an optimum distance of getting a decent photo without disturbing the birds . I know a few birds which let people come near to them at a distance which enables photographers to capture their images at low focal lengths like 150mm or 200mm , I myself have captured photographs with a 50mm lens , which is another story to tell. Practically in most situation you need to be at-least 15 to 20 meters away from the birds to let them have their privacy and hold there to take pictures and thus 250mm does a decent job in maintaining this distance. Now the birds are generally quite small in size relative to the frame size, you would find that in some cases even 250mm wont suffice to have a good picture with details of the bird and there comes the role of super telephoto lenses like 400mm or 500mm or 600mm. Super telephoto lenses are used by pro photographers to capture stunning closeup photographs of birds. But for starters you can use 250mm or 300mm lens as I also started with the same focal length and it did fine to me until of-course i progressed and switched to super telephoto lens.

Understanding effect of Focal length & Distance with the subject

Let us consider a scenario where you are standing at a particular spot and you take different photographs with 250mm lens then 400mm then 500mm and so on you will observe that by increasing the focal length and keeping the Subject distance same you are gradually increasing he size of the bird in your frame , which also increases the details of the bird. And in another example if you keep the focal length same , say 400mm and keep getting closer after every shot you will find the same gradual progress as stated in previous example of varying focal lengths .These are some situations which can help you understand the delicate balance between distance from the subject ( bird ) & your focal length. Try it out when you go and exercise in the field.

Activity & Conclusion

Before closing the topic let discuss some activity for the weekend. Go out and try taking some photographs , do not worry if the subject is small or big , try to get your subject in the frame with some background , some surrounding, doing some activity etc . Things to keep in mind though

1. Your exposure triangle - ISO , Shutter speed & aperture for properly exposed photographs ( If you are not exactly sure what these terms mean , please learn the basics of photography through links shared above)

2. Try to put you subjects in the middle of the frame

3. Always check/preview your photograph after the click to readjust any setting if required

Do not worry if the photograph is too dark or too bright or hazy or grainy. It takes time even for the people having prior photography experience to dial in the correct settings for bird photography. Tip : Select aperture priority mode in you camera , set shutter speed to around 1/400 secs and ISO to 200 and click a test photo , if the photo is too dark increase ISO and retake till the time you are convinced with the exposure or just try to bring your light meter to zero. Another thing is to try these setting in moderately lit areas like open field during morning hours. Noon sun becomes too harsh for photography outdoors. Also see if your camera has something called "Auto ISO" which should be there in case you camera is of a recent purchase. If you set the ISO to auto , your camera will track & update the ISO speed in order to put your light meter reading to zero and thus you have only one parameter to control which is shutter speed (in Aperture priority mode).

Red Vented Bulbul

Blue Rock Thrush

Photographs of Blue Rock Thrush & Red Vented Bulbul , Taken with EOS-90D paired with Ef-S 55-250mm lens shared above are the two photographs I took on the first day of my bird photography. Subject distance was around 12-15 meters. Shutter speed was 1/800S and aperture of f-5.6 That's how I Started with birding , using 90D with Telephoto lenses. Tinker with the setting until you get a decent exposed photograph of a bird in the frame. Good Luck .. Cheers !!