How do you get close to birds to get a good pic? (1 Viewer)

All my better pics with my 350D/400 lens have been taken when I have been lucky enough to get pretty close and it has been done with luck.

Looking through the galleries there are some amazingly detailed pics which must have been taken at close quarters.Have you any tips how to get close so you can take that great pic ?

Max.

Getting to know where particular birds show well, and when, will certainly help, though some species are always going to be easier than others. I spent a lot of time trying to get decent reed and sedge warbler shots earlier this year, and eventually managed a few. However I then found out that they had been showing well and Welney. In my first hour at Welney I bagged more shots of them than I'd managed in the previous three weeks...

You may well also have to put in a lot of time, letting the birds come to you, rather than trying to sneak up on them. When photographing snow buntings this winter it was obvious that the birds were flushed as you moved closer, so remained a reasonable distance away. However by sitting down and waiting for them to come to me I got much better/closer shots (though I got very cold too).

The other thing that I find really helps is dumb luck. Many of my best shots have had a large luck element. Having spent a long time hoping to photograph jays (with no joy) I suddenly had a pair turn up in the garden (last November) and they been daily visitors since. Allowing me pleanty of opportunites to photograph them.

Glad you asked this question Max. Having looked at a few galleries I was feeling distinctly inadequate. I have used hides at a place I go to in Sevenoaks and it has its advantages but the skittish birds still tend to keep their distance.
I suspect postcard Pete is more than accurate when he mentions letting the birds come to you as opposed to trying to sneak up on them.
Hopefully more people will post on this thread and divulge their secrets and save novices, like myself, crawling around in the undergrowth trying to get that elusive shot.

A lot of the professionals don't leave much to chance and many of the great photos you see are taken around feeders. The trick is not to show the feeder in the shot. I always found that water was a big attraction so spend most of my time looking for water holes (from puddles in the track after a rainstorm to lakes ) that attract birds. I also follow the other good advice mentioned in this thread and 80% of my photos are taken from hides (official) or from under netting . Neil.

Thanks for the advice everyone.Let's hope more photographers give up their secrets.

Max.

johnrobinson said:

Yes, puddles in a dry spell are always a good bet.Thats how I do most of my stuff. One thing I didn't mention by the way is shutter noise. It seems to be a problem with Nikons, and I am working on a foam baffle to try and reduce it a little. I am sometimes working at 6 feet distance, and it is surprising how loud the shutter can be. The slight shutter lag can give wing flick too.
JohnR

Click to expand...

You should try using a 20d!

Anyway, come on John get some of your images into the gallery, they are some of the best I have ever seen of woodland birds!!!

Max, I think the information put forward by Peter covers the matter but I'll try to expand a little on the points relevant to us poor souls stuck in the midlands.
As we don't have seabird colonies and scrapes full of waders on our doorstep life is a little more tricky. This time of year is tricky because we don't have big numbers of 'reedbed' birds, woodland birds are very elusive and feeding stations are either quiet or not maintained. All that paints a pretty bleak picture, but there are things we can do.

Take a good look at your local patch, slowly cover the different habitats. Many birds are feeding young and males are still defending territories. If you find a suitable subject get into cover as best you can and wait. 5 minutes won't change anything but give it half an hour or more and you may get a great feeding shot or a nice singing male. Early mornings give you the best opportunities.

Feeding stations if maintained at this time of year will still give good opportunities, better still find where there are good ones so you know where to go in the winter. If you are bored one night and can't sleep go through my gallery, the vast majority of passerine shots are from 2 feeding stations which offer tremendous opportunities for frame fillers of small birds.

The best advice though has to be patience, the chances of walking through a wood and bumping into a posing Blackcap are remote. Find the bird, get into cover and then wait (and wait...) for the shot! (As there are no Blackcap images in my gallery you'll know I haven't mastered this technique :-C )

All the best

Paul

very little noise, keep on the right side of the light and don't get silhouetted.

sometimes quiet squeaking can bring things very close

Max,
As Chevy Chase put it in Caddyshack , "Be the Ball". Or in this case, Be the Bird You are a hunter, hunting for images. So you need to think like your quarry. What do birds think about? Food, safety and sex. Sort of like human Males....LOL

So exploit this knowledge. Stakeout locations where the food source is. For waterfowl, get close to water. For raptors, checkout fields with ground large ground squirrel or field mouse populations. For other species, as mentioned, stay close to feeders or other possible food sources.

Their desire to stay safe will keep them away from noises and bright colors and cause them to take flight if they see any fast or aggressive movements in their direction. So be a quiet as you can, wear muted colors and move slowly. I find with many species, if you don't make eye contact, you can get quite a bit closer (works well with raptors). As if they think you don't see them.

During nesting season, it is usually pretty easy to pick out a spot to get some nice captures. The birds willl be leaving and/or returning to the nest. Many times using the same routes. They also need to visit the "feeding grounds" and return to the nest. Again, usually using the same routes. So you can locate yourself along these routes, with respect to the direction of light. As with feeding birds, it is unwise to get TOO CLOSE to nesting birds. This may cause the parents to abandon the nest. So please keep this in mind when capturing nesting birds.

The more you stalk birds and practice your stalking techniques, the closer and closer you will be able to get.

Steve

SMC2002 said:

it is unwise to get TOO CLOSE to nesting birds. This may cause the parents to abandon the nest. So please keep this in mind when capturing nesting birds.

Click to expand...

I think I'm tempted to put this into stronger words. It may be illegal (depending on species) and Its morally wrong to risk disturbing a nest for the sake of a photograph. The RSPB have published a guide here

Paul

I put a lot of the above tips into action yesterday and crouched down in some cover ,
was patient and was rewarded with some quite good pics of some Reed Warblers (a bird which had avoided my camera in the past).

However when I stood up, pleased with my fieldcraft, I quickly realised I had become a temporary cripple with both knees screaming out in agony.Is there no hope for me ?

Max.

For my bird photos I tend to rely on luck/opportunity. I prefer to simply wander around with the camera in my bag and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. If there's a tree or bush handy then I'll make use of that to hide behind/lean against to stabilise the camera.

Some of my favourite shots have been taken from sat in the car with the camera resting on a bean bag on the drivers open window. I find it works well for quiet country roads and some local ponds.

We have one or two hides/feeding stations in my area which certainly help with getting closer to the birds. The main problem with them though is lack of natural looking perches for the birds or the ground is well paddled or covered in spilt food.

For consistent decent photos then I think the way to go is to use dedicated photo hides. I'm not sure that's to everyone's liking though. For me I get more enjoyment out of seeing what I can find rather than setting up shop to attract the birds for photo ops.

As regards shutter noise I also use the 20D. Sometimes I curse it and sometimes it's a blessing. I find most often that feeding birds aren't in very good poses with head down as they shuffle about. A couple of clonks from the shutter and they often perk up on alert giving better poses an some even come closer to investigate the noise. Sometimes though it's enough to scare them away. Some species are defintiely more easily spooked than others. Prior to getting a DSLR I used to carry an Audobon Bird Call - not to imitiate calls, just to make a squeaky noise - quite a few species respond by coming closer in investigate - though many ignore it as well.

SMC2002 said:

... What do birds think about? Food, safety and sex. Sort of like human Males....LOL
Steve

Click to expand...

ADD: beer (=drink) and football (=play)