Bird-hunting skill

Birds are very interesting animals, but it is not easy to shoot them. Wild birds usually don't pose as you want, or even get close, let alone take good photos. But once you master some basic knowledge of bird photography, it will be much easier to capture the wonderful moments of bird life.

1. Fully understand the habits of birds.

For example, kingfishers like to stand on branches or rocks slightly higher than the water for a long time; Storks like to take off again and again to attack flying insects, and then fall back to their original places; Some tits are courageous and sometimes jump in to observe humans. There are many similar examples.

These understandings are very helpful to find the corresponding ways according to the personalities of different birds. Even if you don't know much about the character of birds, the problem is not big. For most birds, if they suddenly raise their heads or stop their whole body movements, it means that they have discovered potential dangers and are ready to flee the scene at any time; And many social birds, such as grey magpie and red-billed blue magpie, will have birds standing guard to sound an alarm, indicating danger. If you are familiar with these movements of birds, you will know when to move forward and when to stop moving forward. When the birds relax, they will think that everything is safe.

2. The vigilance of birds cannot be ignored.

The most important thing in bird photography is that photographers should understand the psychology of birds and think for them. It seems easy to say, but in fact it is the most difficult to do. People who have some experience in bird photography may know that after finding "Ah, that bird is parked in that tree", their feet will involuntarily run to where the bird is, eager to take this or that. In this way, when you arrive at a place that you think is suitable for photography, it often happens that birds escape when focusing. As a result, I lost my immediate photography opportunity. The failure was entirely caused by the photographer himself.

After finding the bird to be photographed, if possible, take a photo in your own position first, and then consider the light state and composition moving position. Be gentle at this time. Take another picture after moving to the ideal position, and then get close to the bird. When approaching a bird, you should restrain your impatience and move forward slowly. At this time, you must pay attention to regularly confirm the movements of wild birds. Once you find the bird a little uneasy, stop moving immediately, wait for the bird to calm down or wait in the distance, and then slowly approach the bird. In approaching motion, don't press the shutter after reaching the predetermined position.

3. camera

In bird photography, almost all digital SLR cameras can be used. However, if you plan to shoot birds in flight, you should pay attention to continuous shooting speed, high sensitivity and the accuracy of autofocus system. If you don't have a SLR camera, it will be more difficult to take pictures, but you don't have to give up-I believe that a good photographer will take better pictures with his mobile phone than a poor photographer with expensive equipment. Compared with large format cameras, SLR cameras have small screen size but good maneuverability. Compared with small digital cameras, SLR cameras have fast response speed and can cope with fast bird photography. Don't worry about the small size of the picture, that is, the image is small. As long as the focus is accurate when shooting, you can zoom in and take a large-size clear photo.

4. lens

Most birds are thin, so they need a lens of at least 200mm (300mm is better). The telephoto lens not only allows you to shoot from a long distance, but also blurs the background. Just a longer focal length (or a larger aperture) means that the lens will be more expensive, bigger and heavier. 400mm f/5.6 lens is the best, which can provide as long focal length as possible while ensuring aperture and portability. Of course, you can also use 100mm or shorter lens, just find very brave birds, or just take birds as part of landscape photography. If you want to take a satisfactory close-up, you must also prepare a lens with a magnification of 1.4 or 2 times to enlarge the focal length of the lens, especially for shooting some smaller birds.

5. Other annexes

Using a large tripod is extremely important for obtaining high-definition images. In addition, you should also prepare a large-capacity memory card in case you miss the opportunity because of continuous high-speed shooting and insufficient memory.

Step 6 be ready to shoot at any time

Sometimes the best shooting opportunity comes inadvertently, so you must always be ready to shoot. When you come to the wild, make sure that the telephoto lens is installed on the fuselage and all settings are correct (such as aperture, ISO sensitivity, etc.). In this way, even if a bird suddenly lands in front of you, you can start shooting at once.

Start shooting:

1. Catch the light

Everything starts with good light. The best time to shoot is in the morning or evening, because at this time, the light is soft, the color is beautiful, there is no ghost, and the highlights and dark parts have good details.

Write a composition

Usually leave some space in the direction of birds' flight to show their flight. The dichotomy is also valid at this time. Try some different ingredients and see which one is the best. In addition, when shooting, you should avoid distractions in the photos. One last point: Try to have a bird's eye view of horizontal shooting.

shutter

In bird photography, telephoto lenses are often used, so the most important thing is not to use the shutter for too long if you don't want the photos to be blurred by machine vibration. The rule is that the shutter speed does not exceed the focal length of the lens. For example, the focal length of the lens is 400mm and the shutter should be within 1/400 s, but this formula is only effective when using a full-frame camera. If the camera is a small sensor, it needs to be multiplied by the focal length conversion factor. At this time, the shutter speed is limited to 1/640s.

Now most cameras or lenses have anti-shake function, which is very helpful in low light environment. With anti-shake, you can use the shutter for a longer time, depending on the information of the camera or lens. For example, if the anti-shake level of 400mm lens is level 2, you can add a level 2 shutter (1100s). Of course, if you use a tripod, this rule is not so important. If you want to freeze the moment, use a shutter of11000s or shorter, and if you want to show motion, use a shutter of 1/60s or longer.

4. Hole

Most people probably know that the aperture determines the depth of field. In other words, if you want a more blurred background, please use the maximum aperture. However, when using telephoto lens, some parts of the bird are easily out of focus, so we must pay attention to the focus (usually the eyes). If necessary, reduce the aperture a little.

There are three best exposure modes when shooting birds. If you want to control the aperture (depth of field), use the aperture first; If you want to control the shutter (shooting birds in flight), using the shutter is preferred; If you can master the exposure, use manual mode. If you shoot a dark bird in a bright background and want to get more dark details, you can add some exposure compensation. If you are worried about overexposure, reduce the exposure compensation.

5. Sensitivity

Bird photography, like other categories, the lower the sensitivity, the better. However, clear photos using ISO 800 or 1600 are better than blurred photos using ISO 200.

Pay attention to your eyes

The audience will see the bird's eyes first when looking at the photos, so make sure that the focus is on the eyes and the image is clear. To do this, don't use autofocus, it's better to use central focus more.

7. Use the correct autofocus range

Many telephoto lenses can switch the distance range of autofocus and reduce unnecessary focusing time. When shooting birds, you will generally choose a farther range, which will help to further reduce the focus time and avoid missing the best shooting opportunity.

8. Use continuous shooting

To capture the moment when birds fly, we need to use continuous shooting mode to ensure that we can "capture" a good photo. Make sure that the camera is set to continuous shooting mode and the memory card has enough capacity before going out.