articles/Nature/birdsinthegarden-page3

Photographing Birds in the Garden - part 3 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

by Jon Ashton Published 01/04/2012

Clothing
Ensure your clothing is adequate, hides can be both cold and hot - too many layers are better than too few, and of course dark, muted colours are preferred. It is a good idea to wear a beanie hat, or something similar, especially if you are thin on top - 35% of heat loss comes from the head! The beanie does not have a peak and so does not keep catching on the camera (I find baseball caps very irritating as the peak knocks the camera and I am for ever turning the hat round this way and that).

A pair of dark gloves may prove beneficial; this is not only for warmth but to keep the hands camouflaged, should you have to move them outside of the hide; equally importantly it ensures no movement in the hide can be seen from the outside.

Support
A good solid tripod is essential, it doesn't matter what type - just so long as it offers a good steady support. Ideally the tripod feet should stick into the ground to minimise movement; if you have duckboards on the ground ensure the tripod feet are not on the duckboard otherwise the tripod will move when you do. The choice of tripod head is critical. I have used a number of different types - ball and socket, pan and tilt fluid head and my favourite is the Mongoose Gimbal head.

To some extent the choice of tripod head will be governed by the lens you intend to use; I would not recommend, for example, using a 500mm telephoto on a ball and socket head as the lens may flop over (does not apply to certain more recent designs, eg Arca Swiss). I tend to use the head in a position where it is only partly locked, so that I can realign a shot readily, without resorting to tightening and slackening the controls. In public hides I generally find bean bags are much more suitable than tripods. The height of the tripod is really critical and it is worthwhile taking time to ensure you get the optimal height and direction. I will come back to this point a little later.

The lens is of course one of the most important items to consider; once again the hide provides some flexibility for the photographer, in general terms lenses of between 300mm to 500mm will prove adequate. At this point the photographer will need to consider the focal length and also the subject as both are inextricably linked.

Garden birds such as robins, finches, sparrows and tits are fairly small, wrens and goldcrests are tiny, thrushes, magpies, pigeons and jays are relatively large - this has an enormous impact on the image size, the larger birds are perhaps 20 times larger than the smaller ones. It is for this reason I sometimes use two cameras in the hide, one has the 500mm lens whilst the other has a 100-400mm zoom attached. This offers the flexibility of capturing small passerines (perching birds) and the larger ones such as pheasants and jays, etc.

The lenses in the 100-300mm focal length may be considered though the hide will have to be proportionally closer to the bird, this may be the only practical option on limited funds. It must also be borne in mind that the depth of field with a shorter lens will be the same as that for a longer lens provided the image magnification and aperture are the same. The downside with a shorter lens is that even though the depth of field is the same, it does not actually appear so - it appears to be greater.

With longer lenses, the angle of view to the background results in a more diffused appearance and the eye perceives the depth of field to be less even though it isn't. In other words, the longer lenses produce the soft, silky background more readily than shorter lenses.

• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 1
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 2
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 3
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 4
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 5
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 6
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 7
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 8
  
• Photographing Birds in the Garden page 9
  

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