Thursday 11 March 2010

Fill in Flash (take 2)


I returned to Branston Waterpark today to try and get some improved shots using fill in flash. After chatting with Steve last week I changed a few things at set up which were.
  • Concentrated food in small area to get the subject where I wanted.
  • Used suet food as well as seed so the subject would stay for longer.
  • Zoomed in tighter to get better composed shots.

For this I also used my new Canon 100-400 lens to allow me to get really tight shots with the camera about 5 meters from the subject. I also used my tripod (although needed to be tightened up more due to the heavy lens). I still used my wireless shutter release so that I was hidden behind the hide. This allowed me a wider view of the target area so could spot the birds coming into land and press the shutter at the right time (well nearly the right time).

What I wanted to try and capture this time was some shots of birds in flight as shown by the photographer Eric Hoskins as I really like this kind of shot. When I did this last time I had the shutter speed set between 1/320 and 1/500 however with the small birds I am trying to capture this is not quick enough. I decided to therefore use a shutter speed from 1/1000 to 1/1600 and then set my aperture between f5.6 and f8 to allow as much light in as I could. After a few test shots I then settled on a ISO of 1600 which is quite high and the results do show noise at close inspection but I am happy with the results.

My first few shots were very poor because I set focus point for the seed I had put down, but the birds were landing just beyond this and because I was set the aperture at f5.6 I had a really shallow depth of field so the first few shots are out of focus. To compensate for this I propped a stick up at the back of the log used auto focus to focus on the stick and then switched the camera to manual focus. I then removed the stick and went back behind the hide, the next set of shots were better focused but still not ideal so I went back and set aperture to f8 to give me slightly more depth of field.

Although happy with a lot of the shots there is quite a lot not in focus and out of frame, I think next time I try this I will zoom outs slightly to allow me to stand a better chance of getting the bird in flight. As trying to time the shutter release at the right time is very hard. Another trick I tried was also adding a small amount of food to a bird table to the right of the log as I thought the birds would land here first see the food on the log then fly in from the right hand side which is what I had set my camera for. (you will notice the log is in the bottom left of the shot giving a bigger area to catch the bird in flight) I am not sure this was foolproof as birds flew in how they wanted but it did work quite well.

To see the photos click here

4 comments:

  1. Hi
    Great shots and really are an improvement on the first ones.
    The ISO setting may be too high try to pull that lower incase it effects your final quality if printed large, A2 for example.
    Maybe try another area, a tree bark with fat and nuts in to attract different species, woodpecker and work from further away on a remote.

    steve

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow great shots! Love the ones of the birds in flight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. After reading your blog I relaise we are never completely satisifed with our own work. However, looking at your images I really like what you have acheieved so far. In particular where you have captured the birds about to land, the contrast between the main body of the bird being frozen and the movement (blur) of the wings gives great effects.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi
    You have made a giant leap forward as regards your technique and exploratory test shots,
    You are evidencing my feedback to you which is also good practice.
    This shoot again will meet alot of varied criteria.
    1.1,1.2,1.3,1.4,1.6.1.7.1.8,2.1, and 2.2 as you are adapting your ideas in response to ways of working and test shots,
    great stuff!!!

    steve

    ReplyDelete