eBirdseed.com Wild Bird Feeding Blog

Greetings!

Well, the end of the "Give the Latin Name to That Bird!" contest is drawing near. (January 26th, 2007 creeps ever closer.) If you haven’t entered yet, you still have time to come up with a funny and clever “Descriptius Locationium” type of name and enter it via the “Post A Comment” tab on the link above. Remember, you can enter as many times as you like, but only one entry per comment. Onward…

Some time ago, California Kathryn wrote an excellent post on Wild Bird Photography. And her superb work absolutely deserves umpteen looks. But now, it’s time for dealing with a little bad bird photography! Some thoughts…

• Try to photograph all of the bird including the face and eyes. Snapshots like the following just don’t quite pass muster.
  But if you should take a photo like that, save it. There must be an ornithologist somewhere who needs a good shot of the tail feathers of a chickadee.
  
  
• Use a faster shutter speed (and a tripod) to freeze motion and avoid blur. If you’ve been watching this blog for any time, you’ve no doubt seen the pic below. I cringe when I think of what a phenomenal image Kathryn could have captured of this crow. But not to worry… Think of this as modern art – like a bird version of Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase”. (Yeah… Yeah… I meant to take the picture like that… It’s modern art!)
  
  
• Try to zoom the camera enough so that you can actually see the birds. The abomination below represents a low point in my work with a lens. Yesterday, the robins were out in force; there were dozens of them all over the yard. That’s a once-in-a-year shot just waiting for a properly-zoomed camera. Doh!
  (Ummm… It’s pretty tough to find a use for this mess. No wait! I can use it to prove to our landscapers that they’re not doing a good job raking the leaves... No - the wife and I rake the leaves. Perhaps if I turned the picture into an icon, it would look like a pizza… No – that’s just dumb. Maybe I could photoshop this into… Absolutely not.)

Awww… You get the idea. Do your best to frame your shots showing the entire bird, especially the head and eyes. Get the lighting/shutter speed right. Focus, focus, focus. And if all else fails, just think up a good excuse!

Finally, add a comment to any of Kathryn’s posts and ask her how she does it. There’s a wealth of experience, education, and talent there, free for the asking.

See you by the feeders,

CapeCodAlan