Photography

A bit of advice please. My photography over many years falls into three main types, a general record (quick snapshots) of holidays and events, landscape and buildings and a degree of macro. However, I have been thinking that I would like to have a go at wildlife and particularly bird photography. What I don't have, I don't think, is a suitable lens. My outfit is a Canon EOS 600D with an 18 - 55mm lens and a 75 - 300mm lens. Can anyone suggest / recommend any other lens that might be better? The one drawback is of cost especially as I will be new into this branch of photography and don't want to have to spend a fortune on something that I may not take to. Any advice will be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

I with a lot of Canon users tend to have the 100 - 400mm lens with either a 1.4 or 2x extender, that’s quite an expensive option.  Most of my wildlife pictures are taken with a bridge camera, a lot lighter than carrying around loads of gear although the quality is not quite up to DSLR standard

Question from JohnM20 from another thread.

Would anyone like to give any tips to any photographers aspiring to get such fabulous bird photos? (Kit used and camera settings etc).

My current kit is a Canon EOS 600D with a Canon EF zoom lens 75 - 300mm 1 : 4 - 5.6 (apart from my standard 50mm zoom lens and an EPS 10 - 18mm wide angle lens). Is this any good?

Is there much post camera work involved? I use Photoshop 15.

Hi John M20

Rather than feed you with unwanted waffle, it would be better to ask specific questions as you progress. But for starters, may I suggest you look at Flickr where there are some extraordinary wildlife pics.

My page has a few images that can be viewed at full resolution along with the others efforts. https://www.flickr.com/photos/162666019@N03/39825480403/in/dateposted-public/

Link to a friend of mine that I have learned from.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/flyingfast/39848491583/in/dateposted/

 You may also click on the explore tab where you will see a selection of pics from around the world.

Many of the photographers that post pics on this site include the information you are requesting  regarding kit used and settings, this is found on the right. There is a Camera Ikon with the camera and lens used, along with aperture and shutter speed. By clicking exif there is much more info, but probably less useful. however with the canon users, there will be somewhere a focus distance showing how far away the subject was taken. 

As for your kit, try it and see using similar shutter speeds you see on photos you feel are achievable for yourself. This being weather being bright enough for a fast enough shutter speed 1/2500 sec with a fairly low ISO (800 or less) and locations where you will find subjects within your lens range. Use this for starters and see where it takes you.

As far as post camera work, My preference is to leave as natural as possible with a few tweaks. I use photoshop and shoot J-Peg. As you move on, you may choose to process with Raw, but this is more time consuming than a few quick clicks using shortcuts

1 Cropping - this gives as much impact as you choose to an image. Some prefer a tight crop others like to include habitat in the finished image. Bear in mind, the more you crop the more the image degrades. This is where large pixel count helps.

2 Levels - this helps to correct slight errors in exposure.

3 Unsharpmask - used sparingly and depending on camera used may be essential. I have this set up as an action and just requires a click of the mouse.

Hope this helps as a starter and feel free to ask and further questions as you learn. If you are out and about, you will find most guys/gals will be more than pleased to discuss anything with you.

Hi Blue

Many thanks for your very comprehensive and encouraging replies on this section and also on the "What have you seen thread".

I'll take note of all your comments. Thanks again.

John

You are most welcombe John, I look forward to seing how you develop.

As an afterthought, you do not need to wait for good weather, just understand that if your ISO is high the image will be significantly degraded, but you will be practicing tracking the bird in flight and the focus ability of your camera.

Also lower shutter speed is fine for stationary birds, the min shutter speed will depend on your steady hand or your lens having image stabilisation or VR for Nikon lenses. Perhaps try around a min of 1/500 with your 300 lens, this should give you a good chance of sharp images of perched birds that may be fidgeting around.

Blue - This is probably one of the best I have taken so far. The sparrowhawk sat in the garden and looked straight into the camera. It's been cropped a bit. It was at 300mm 1/250th, f5.6 ISO 200

John

I would be very pleased with that pic. However make a copy and try a tighter crop taking more of the blue out and placing the birds eyes about 1/3 from the top of the resulting crop and see if you prefer the extra impact that may give. I think you will be pleased with the outcome and the eyes will dominate the picture as the blue is a little overpowering the eyes at present.

Please post the pics then side by side, as I said previously this is all a matter of personal preference by the photographer and the viewer.

Original the cropped a bit tighter. This makes the surroundings less distracting.

The new crop is my preference, it brings the eyes to the centre of attention, then you scan the rest of the image after wondering what the bird is thinking. 

The alternative is a much less aggressive crop that would include a lot of background to show habitat, back to preference, but you are able to achieve 2 good pics from one image.

Excellent result, which do you prefer?

I have the grid option turned on in photoshop which shows the 1/3 position to give a guide for cropping.

Like you Blue, I think I do prefer the re-cropped one. In doing these I found another couple of photos of a woodpecker. Not brilliant but not too bad. I've included the before and after cropping of one of the shots.