• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Making-of-pics - how do you take your pictures? (1 Viewer)

I've finally got my feeding station stuff together after several abortive attempts at work. I've got my main feeders in an open area within sight of some trees, a bit more exposed than I would have liked, but I'm quite badly hampered by fences and sheep (don't ask). At least the light's not a problem. I've had Blue and Great Tit, Robin, Dunnock and Chaffinch readily, plus Greenfinch after a few weeks and Goldfinch now as well. Long-tailed Tit has come in once and a Brambling paid one fleeting visit. No Coal Tits, and no Siskins or Repolls either, which I was hoping for. Photos are taken using the car as a hide.

I've had to put up feeder guardians and stop putting out fat due to the hordes of attendant crows, and so in the past few weeks I've started a second feeding station in a more wooded area. It's good for Jays and I've had Great Spotted Woodpecker too, and Redwing on the ground nearby, but no Nuthatch yet, which I'm sure must be around. Squirrels are a pain here though. Photos here are taken using a portable dome hide (which now I collapse between uses since the wind keeps snapping the poles)

I've come up with a good way of preventing 'same perch over and over again' syndrome. Just wait for the wind to blow everything over and then put them back in a different configuration.
 
Last edited:
I've recently been visiting a public feeding station where you can take photos from the car. The problem I was having was that the birds spent most of the time on a bird table, which wasn't ideal for photos. So I got a small log, drilled some holes along one side and packs it with food. I then screwed a quick release plate onto the bottom so that I could tripod mount it and place it where I wanted. I set it up next to one of the bird tables and the birds soon started using it. Now I'm planning to make some more similar perches.

The attached photos show the prop in place and a couple of birds using it.

What a good idea! I never thought of using a tripod. I'll have to dig out one of my old tripods and give this a go.
 
Great thread .
I never thought i would use a hide the whole ider just did not apeal to me and as your view is restricted i thought i would miss to many shots .
then i saw some shots a friend had taken using a hide it was a Little Egrett (very shy here in the UK )
i was amazed at the shots so bought a hide now i love them iv had a KF sit so close i could not even focus on it and a Egrett walk just 20ft away right passed me Herrons/curlew /wimbral land right in front of me .
I love hides :)
Rob.
 
Boat Hide

This is a great thread I waded out in the mud and hid in an old boat to get these close shots of this Spoonbill.

chris Buckland.




www.freewebs.com/tav94
 

Attachments

  • S BILL1.JPG
    S BILL1.JPG
    129.6 KB · Views: 93
  • S BILL2.jpg
    S BILL2.jpg
    118.4 KB · Views: 80
  • SBILL4.jpg
    SBILL4.jpg
    65.6 KB · Views: 82
Where does one need permission to put up temporary hides?

Hi,
i am very interested in how you do your shots ;-)
show me your blinds or other tries not to be recognized by the bird, rabbit, .....

i will start...

first the pic (350D, 100-400 and 1,4 Kenko)
schwalbftterungkopfkleiwb2.jpg


and how it was done:
schwalbearbeitsfotoff9.jpg



bye
Tobias

Hi Tobias,
Great thread! I notice you are using a camouflaged blind. Do you know if you have to ask the landowner's permission to temporarily put up this kind of blind in the countryside in Germany? I would like to invest in a small blind but am concerned that using it might be complicated by having to find the farmer to ask if I can put it up temporarily on the edge of his field near a reed bed, for instance. How about nature reserves - do you have to ask there? Or what about along the edge of public footpaths / hiking trails?
 
Using the car with a remote release

Birds will often ignore you if you are in the car, even in plain sight.

You can use this for many birds at nesting boxes.

I set up my tripod near a Tree Swallow box and manually aimed it in front of the opening. I then hooked up a remote shutter release and went to my car. As the birds flew in, or left, I attempted to get a shot as they passed through the area I had focused on. Everything went as planned for about a dozen out of 400 shots.
 

Attachments

  • Tree_Swallow_flight5.jpg
    Tree_Swallow_flight5.jpg
    133.1 KB · Views: 94
  • Tree_Swallow_flight6.jpg
    Tree_Swallow_flight6.jpg
    144.7 KB · Views: 131
Wow! There are some neat set-ups here. I currently could only afford a 300/4L IS and use it with converters, tripod and occasionally a bag hide. I have some plans of setting up kingfisher perch(es) along my local river, a feeding station at the back of the paddock where my better half's horse lives and more, but I just haven't got a lot of time at present.

Mostly, I just walk around my preferred sites in my camouflage outfit and stalk birds, utilizing man-made or natural elements in the topography to hide myself. Occasionally I use my home made baghide (thanks Spotlight (for the material) and Camelot Horserugs (for sewing it for me))

The bathing masked lapwing was shot on foot, the sacred kingfisher from the baghide.
 

Attachments

  • Avianaa2.jpg
    Avianaa2.jpg
    106.3 KB · Views: 167
  • Lapwing wing stretch_IMG_5410.jpg
    Lapwing wing stretch_IMG_5410.jpg
    129.5 KB · Views: 122
  • Sacred KF with mush 20071220_5025.jpg
    Sacred KF with mush 20071220_5025.jpg
    210.9 KB · Views: 121
Improving perches in the composition

I have a lot of feeders at my feeding station but I,like many others,dislike photos of birds on the feeder itself.To get around this I remove the perches that are attached to the feeder body and replace it with a more natural one.In this case a conifer branch.I just then crop the feeder out.
 

Attachments

  • fframe.jpg
    fframe.jpg
    141.1 KB · Views: 102
  • crop.jpg
    crop.jpg
    99.1 KB · Views: 119
That is a good idea. At my feeding station, the use of feeder guardians is a must to prevent the local Jackdaws and other crows - which number well over a hundred - eating all the food (plus the ubiquitous squirrels of course) and the cages should be ideal for tying perches to. I'll definitely be trying this. I'm in the process of setting up a new, improved, feeding station. Not the best time of year, I know, but I'm going to try some mealworms over the summer.
 
Here's a picture of my feeder set up beside the house. It's made out of plastic drainage pipe from the local DIY place. It's poorly painted to resemble a birch branch ! It's set in a bucket filled with cement so you can move it fwd or back or rotate it to suit your needs. I have a long stem going upwards upon which I place hollow logs that I find in the yard. Be sure to block the hole in the top as I had to rescue a wren that got in but couldn't get out. You can change the branches or put anything you like on the circular trays. These were made out of plywood from a large reel of wire that we had lying about. These can be rotated individually to get the best angles. It's positioned about 10 feet from a window in the living room and I slide in a sheet of smoked lexan with an oval shaped hole through which I poke the lens. It gets very cold in Pennsylvania in the winter so I can sit in the warm and drink tea while taking pictures. The dry stone wall is under construction, I'm going to finish it this year;)

On the feeder pictures.
 

Attachments

  • Feeder.jpg
    Feeder.jpg
    191.9 KB · Views: 206
  • Red-belliedWoodpecker.jpg
    Red-belliedWoodpecker.jpg
    141.4 KB · Views: 114
  • TuftedTitmouse30.jpg
    TuftedTitmouse30.jpg
    134.9 KB · Views: 115
I thought I would ressurect this thread with some shots from my mates new feeding station.The Nuthatch was taken using my portable hide (fishing shelter with scrim draped over it) as I could move it closer to the feeders than the hide he has built.I have drawn a red ring around the position where the bird was I took the shot.The second shot obviously shows the birds view of my camera lens and hide and then the resulting image.
 

Attachments

  • tec1.jpg
    tec1.jpg
    211.7 KB · Views: 179
  • tec2.jpg
    tec2.jpg
    87.2 KB · Views: 147
  • tec3.jpg
    tec3.jpg
    141.1 KB · Views: 140
I do have a portable blind that I occasionally use in my back yard. I've tried a lot of blinds, including bag blinds, cheap blinds from the sporting goods store, one I made myself, etc. The only one I've ever had any luck with is the Rue Ultimate Blind which is definitely pricier than many other options. However I've found for me that having one specific to photography has made a difference. I don't have any photos of it, but here's a photo of a setup I've used in my backyard, which I've had success with certain birds who are tame enough to tolerate my presence out in the open. I've circled where the hummingbird would perch, and the camera there is a 30D with 500mm f/4 and extension tube stacked with 1.4x tc. The hummingbird photo is uncropped.
 

Attachments

  • setup-circle.JPG
    setup-circle.JPG
    118.4 KB · Views: 162
  • h1.jpg
    h1.jpg
    93 KB · Views: 124
Incredible pictures folks, some really stunning work here. I really must consider getting myself a hide of some form and trying these techniques out for myself.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 16 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top