articles/Nature/birdsinthegarden-page6

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

by Jon Ashton Published 01/04/2012

The colour and tonality of the background is extremely important and it is well worthwhile trying the camera and lens combination in different potential areas before deciding where to make the final set-up. These guidelines will also help for routine exposure settings; in bright sun, for example, I would set the camera to Evaluative/ Matrix metering and to under-expose by half or 2/3 of a stop to ensure the highlights in the bird's plumage do not burn out. Ideally the out-of-focus background should be fairly neutral in terms of hue, but any residual colours should be complimentary to the bird and, if possible, the perch.

This can be generally achieved by ensuring the perch is about 3m or more in front of anything else when the lens aperture is between f4 and f8. If you do not have sufficient distance behind your perch to produce a muted background I found that camouflage material pinned, back-to-front (to ensure there was not an obvious repeating pattern), on a garden fence, gave very acceptable results.

The Perch
The choice of perch is very influential in making a pleasing image; a small bird on a massive bough will look lost and dominated by the perch, small birds look more natural and you will see more detail if the bird is on a finer perch. Rotate a variety of perches, otherwise all your images will look too similar. Some may have thorns, others dark leaves; others may have pale leaves, or buds or none at all; some may have lichens or mosses or catkins - let your imagination run wild. If you are interested in woodpeckers you may consider drilling holes in an old log and placing peanuts there; if you place the holes on different sides of the log you can place peanuts in one side or the other, in accordance with direction of the sun.

The next thing to consider is the height and angle of the perch. It needs to be at lens' height and angled so that you get a good view of the bird. A good view may be lateral or indeed from the back, providing the bird turns its head toward the camera. If the view is to the side of the bird try to get the shot when the bird has a slight head turn towards the lens, and ideally when there is a catch-light in the eye.

• 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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