Especially on a full zoom. This was my first day birding with my new camera. All in all I am happy with some of the shots, but they will soon get even better. I learned so much today. One of the main factors for me today was focusing on birds through dence branches and/or folliage. The auto-focus is rendered useless because the camera has no clue what you're trying to photograph. You may luck out from time to time, but that's it. The next issue pertained to focusing manually. At first I thought I was focusing well, but was just off. My eye soon became more critical and aware of detail, was a great feeling. Photographing birds and wildlife is very meditative. You must try and travel quietly and become part of the landscape. You must tune in your senses to be most successful. On a calm day I often walk looking at the ground in front of me, trying to crack as few twigs as possible, glancing up ahead now and then. Meanwhile I am most focused on the slightest of sounds that my ear may pick up. I often hear birds and then stealthily seek them out. My fondest memory of hearing, then spotting happened resently. I heard the absolute faintest of peeps, only to see a Brown Creeper. Had I not heard it I probably would not have seen it, too small, camouflaged ect. Who knows I may never see a Brown Creeper again.? Hearing not just calls, you can hear birds flying and foraging. The best method is to move quietly and pause every so often to listen intently. If you notice, animals always move through the forrest this way as to best sense any luming dangers. When I pause and listen I also look at the area 360 degrees around me slowly. If you are to spot an American Woodcock other than just watching it fly away because you almost stepped on it, you need to take your time. When looking for things that are not moving it is best to not focus on smaller things. Like a camera you can focus your eyes to a certain depth of field where you may notice things. You may notice patterns, shapes, lines, colours and/or light reflections that don't quite belong; turning out to be an animal. Remember that your senses can take in way more information than your brain can process, give it time. Aswell the concious mind can only process a minut amount of the information coming in. When preparing to take a shot one must balance themselves, relax, breath deeply and slowly while searching with the eyes, and brains interpretation of the events, for the perfect moment of capture. Or you can just run around frantically pressing click!!! lol
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Gilded Flicker
Too bad I couldn't get closer to this Gilded Flicker for a better photo, maybe next time. He was over 100 meters from me, maybe just out of the reach of my 70-300mm. I only got one picture, then he flew away. Man I love my new lense. It might have helped, aswell, if I realized I didn't have the Vibration Reduction on, hehe.
Especially on a full zoom. This was my first day birding with my new camera. All in all I am happy with some of the shots, but they will soon get even better. I learned so much today. One of the main factors for me today was focusing on birds through dence branches and/or folliage. The auto-focus is rendered useless because the camera has no clue what you're trying to photograph. You may luck out from time to time, but that's it. The next issue pertained to focusing manually. At first I thought I was focusing well, but was just off. My eye soon became more critical and aware of detail, was a great feeling. Photographing birds and wildlife is very meditative. You must try and travel quietly and become part of the landscape. You must tune in your senses to be most successful. On a calm day I often walk looking at the ground in front of me, trying to crack as few twigs as possible, glancing up ahead now and then. Meanwhile I am most focused on the slightest of sounds that my ear may pick up. I often hear birds and then stealthily seek them out. My fondest memory of hearing, then spotting happened resently. I heard the absolute faintest of peeps, only to see a Brown Creeper. Had I not heard it I probably would not have seen it, too small, camouflaged ect. Who knows I may never see a Brown Creeper again.? Hearing not just calls, you can hear birds flying and foraging. The best method is to move quietly and pause every so often to listen intently. If you notice, animals always move through the forrest this way as to best sense any luming dangers. When I pause and listen I also look at the area 360 degrees around me slowly. If you are to spot an American Woodcock other than just watching it fly away because you almost stepped on it, you need to take your time. When looking for things that are not moving it is best to not focus on smaller things. Like a camera you can focus your eyes to a certain depth of field where you may notice things. You may notice patterns, shapes, lines, colours and/or light reflections that don't quite belong; turning out to be an animal. Remember that your senses can take in way more information than your brain can process, give it time. Aswell the concious mind can only process a minut amount of the information coming in. When preparing to take a shot one must balance themselves, relax, breath deeply and slowly while searching with the eyes, and brains interpretation of the events, for the perfect moment of capture. Or you can just run around frantically pressing click!!! lol
Especially on a full zoom. This was my first day birding with my new camera. All in all I am happy with some of the shots, but they will soon get even better. I learned so much today. One of the main factors for me today was focusing on birds through dence branches and/or folliage. The auto-focus is rendered useless because the camera has no clue what you're trying to photograph. You may luck out from time to time, but that's it. The next issue pertained to focusing manually. At first I thought I was focusing well, but was just off. My eye soon became more critical and aware of detail, was a great feeling. Photographing birds and wildlife is very meditative. You must try and travel quietly and become part of the landscape. You must tune in your senses to be most successful. On a calm day I often walk looking at the ground in front of me, trying to crack as few twigs as possible, glancing up ahead now and then. Meanwhile I am most focused on the slightest of sounds that my ear may pick up. I often hear birds and then stealthily seek them out. My fondest memory of hearing, then spotting happened resently. I heard the absolute faintest of peeps, only to see a Brown Creeper. Had I not heard it I probably would not have seen it, too small, camouflaged ect. Who knows I may never see a Brown Creeper again.? Hearing not just calls, you can hear birds flying and foraging. The best method is to move quietly and pause every so often to listen intently. If you notice, animals always move through the forrest this way as to best sense any luming dangers. When I pause and listen I also look at the area 360 degrees around me slowly. If you are to spot an American Woodcock other than just watching it fly away because you almost stepped on it, you need to take your time. When looking for things that are not moving it is best to not focus on smaller things. Like a camera you can focus your eyes to a certain depth of field where you may notice things. You may notice patterns, shapes, lines, colours and/or light reflections that don't quite belong; turning out to be an animal. Remember that your senses can take in way more information than your brain can process, give it time. Aswell the concious mind can only process a minut amount of the information coming in. When preparing to take a shot one must balance themselves, relax, breath deeply and slowly while searching with the eyes, and brains interpretation of the events, for the perfect moment of capture. Or you can just run around frantically pressing click!!! lol
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Wonderful photojournalism. By the way if you change your preferences to allow anonymous comments, then more people will drop a note.
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