Introduction
Bird photography is a thrilling hobby and can be a great extension of
your interest in our feathered friends. Not only does bird photography
allow us to enjoy our own images, it lets us to share them with
friends, keep records of birds and often help even novices establish
the presence of a rare bird in the area. This is especially true in an
under-birded country like India where bird photographs are adding to
our limited knowledge every day.
Bird photography can
be a very skilled art and an expensive hobby. It can also be done
these days with a limited budget, abundant enthusiasm, patience and a
willingness to give it a go! All budding bird photographers do not
necessarily have to invest time and money or develop skills that will
allow their images to grace the pages of National Geographic magazine.
There are many worthwhile milestones in between, and to have your bird
image on an important website or in a prestigious gallery like the
Oriental Bird Club Image gallery can be a goal in itself - and a very
achievable one at that!
Let us start then
with what it takes to take meaningful bird images. Images that can be
shared with pride, or images that will serve a purpose, or better
still images that others would want. We begin with what makes a good
bird image. First and foremost is that it has to be the image of a
bird. Now that is easy to say but often difficult to achieve. In India
we have many birds around us – we are not only rich in avian diversity
but also in sheer numbers. So finding your subject should be easy
enough – the hard steps come next. The average bird is
small for most popular cameras – in fact very small when you think that these
cameras are designed to photograph human beings,
rather
than birds. Add to this the fact that the birds are wild creatures - not
trained or willing to stand still and say 'cheese'
and you start to understand that bird photography requires specialized
equipment. Also, most birds
have a 'circle of confidence' and generally do not allow photographers
to breach that circle. The circle differs from place to place and is
usually just outside slingshot (catapult) distance – unless of course
you are in Mizoram where it is air-rifle distance! To put all this
into perspective, photographing birds is similar to shooting a
portrait of a human face from 50 feet (15 meters) at a detail which
shows the eyelashes perfectly. Try it with your camera equipment as a
test case. In case you have a camera lens
combination that can achieve good results in the test case, you are
well on your way to being equipped right for bird photography and can
jump right into the photography technique (awaited)
section without further ado. In case, however, your camera is clearly
incapable of resolving any facial detail, you need
to seriously look at getting some specific bird photography tools to enjoy the
hobby and be on your way to become a bird photographer.
Bird Photography: Tools of the
trade
Camera & Lens
Computer
Software
Field-guide
Other add-ons
Camera & lens:
The key element is of
course the recording equipment – a camera.
Modern cameras are
essentially of two types. Those that record in film medium and those
that record in digital medium. For the purposes of this article we
will concentrate on the currently dominant digital medium recognizing
that much of what is written about that medium will hold good for 35mm
film cameras as well.
Digital cameras for
amateur bird photography are usually of two kinds. The most suitable
is the digital Single Lens Reflex camera (DSLR) which uses
interchangeable lens to record images on a large sensor. The cheaper
(not better) alternative is the
modern Super-zoom compact camera (SZCC) which comes with a
fixed zoom lens and uses a smaller sensor for recording. Birders who
prefer digiscoping usually use a high-end compact camera which can
focus down to a couple of cms.
Super-zoom
compact cameras:
SZCC's are popular with those who are starting bird photography,
or those who are looking at convenience, or those who
cannot afford a DSLR kit. These cameras
have improved a great deal with the rapid advancement of digital
technology and in some conditions can take very useful images of
birds. They are inexpensive, convenient, unobtrusive and provide long reach with
image stabilization. Their main handicap is the small recording sensor
used which cannot match the quality of the larger and more
sophisticated DSLR sensors (it may be mentioned that sensor sizes as
described in megapixels are not comparable between a SZCC and a DSLR).
Such cameras work best at their lowest ISO, which is often 64 or 100.
Anything higher, and the image suffers from serious noise problems.
Noise is of two types - luminance noise' (graininess) and 'chrominance
noise' (colour splodges) both of which degrade the quality of the
image to unacceptable levels.
Noise-reduction software, when
applied, removes as much detail as noise. Additionally, the SZCC's are
hampered by the inability of the user to focus through the lens, are usually slow in acquiring focus, and
lack many essential controls. In bright clear light with a stationary bird,
a photographer with good technique, will make a very useful image with
a SZCC. But such restrictive ability
makes it a tool which is at best a launching pad
for the bird photographer – it cannot be a device
which allows the hobbyist to grow into a
full-fledged bird photographer. For that you need a DSLR!
There are
many SZCC's in the Indian market to choose from and the most favoured
by bird photographers is from the Panasonic's Lumix range. I have only
handled a few SZCC's and my recommendations are based on feedback from
others. Should you choose to buy a SZCC to photograph birds
you could look for one amongst the following:
Panasonic Lumix
DMC-FZ18:
8.1 megapixel (mp), 18 x optical zoom (35mm film
equivalent = 28-504mm )and Optical Image Stabilizer
(OIS). Costs about Rs.
20,000.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50:
10.1 mp, 12 x optical zoom
(35mm equivalent = 35mm to 420mm) and OIS. Costs
about Rs. 30,000.
Sony Cybershot H50:
9.1 mp, 15 x optical zoom (35mm film equivalent = 31-465mm )and
OIS. Costs about Rs. 19,000.
Olympus SP-570 Ultra Zoom:
10 mp, 20 x optical zoom
(35mm film equivalent = 26-520mm )and OIS. Costs
about Rs. 20,000.
Canon PowerShot S5 IS:
8 mp, 12 x optical zoom (35mm
film equivalent = 36-432mm )and OIS. Costs about Rs. 20,000.
Nikon Coolpix P80:
10 mp, 18 x optical zoom (35mm
film equivalent = 27- 500mm )and OIS. Costs about Rs. 17,000.
More information on SZCC's at Steve's
Digicam:
http://www.steves-digicams.com/
Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras:
DSLR's are the most appropriate photographic tool for the budding,
as well as the mature, bird photographer.
DSLR's are similar to 35mm Single lens reflex cameras in construction
and instead of capturing and recording images on successive strips of
film, these 'auto-focus' cameras record image data on a CCD
(Charge-coupled Device) or CMOS (Complementary
metal-oxide-semiconductor) sensor and transfer the digital information
to a storage medium which is usually a CompactFlash (CF) or a Secure
Digital (SD) Card. These stored images are
then transferred to a viewer, usually a home computer, and edited and
stored in the computer or external storage medium. Images are viewed
on screen or as print. One important difference between DSLR's and
film cameras is the ability to change the sensor's sensitivity at will
in the digital camera. This is like being able to shoot at ISO 100,
400, 3200 all on the same roll of film.
An astounding development
and
one that has improved so much that it is now possible to take stunning
low light images at ISO1000 or above – really taking the fight out of
film.
DSLR's use interchangeable lenses, i.e.,
they don't come with a fixed lens attached to the
camera body. These external
lenses come in various configurations of aperture and focal length
from wide-angle (good for scenery) to super-tele (good for birds) and
can be zoom lenses which cover different focal lengths with the same
lens or prime lenses which have a fixed focal length. Some
lenses (Canon, Nikon) come with built-in image stabilization which
neutralizes involuntary camera movements to give sharper images, and
some new cameras (Sony, Pentax etc) have built-in image stabilization
in the camera itself! Additionally, not only do camera manufacturers
make various lenses for their bodies, third party manufacturers (like
Sigma, Tamron etc.) make lenses for leading camera makes which can be
used on those specific cameras. Most leading camera brands have
proprietary lens mounts and, for example, a Canon lens cannot be used
seamlessly in a Nikon camera. As a general rule, a zoom lens is
cheaper than fixed lens covering the same maximum focal length and
images are also generally inferior in comparable quality. 3rd party
lenses are usually cheaper than matched brand lenses and may not give
the same results as a similar camera brand lens
though some offer great value for money.
DSLR's vary greatly in features and ability and this is reflected in
their prices. Some can easily cost over Rs. 300,000 while others cost
10% of the price. For our purposes we will concentrate on budget
DSLR's – those that cost less than Rs50,000 and are well suited for
the job in hand.
A capable DSLR is just one of the many factors that contribute to good
bird photography and is not the be all and end all of that hobby. If
you are new to bird photography , buy a DSLR that allows you to wet
your feet but is general purpose enough to be used for family pictures
should you choose not to pursue the hobby any further. It is best to
start with a DSLR that is reasonably priced but allows you to control
the camera and let's you decide how you want to shoot a particular
image. This boils down to cameras which allow multiple modes such as
Manual, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and other goodies like
frames per second, various light metering modes, built-in flash
support, continuous shooting etc. (more about these in the forthcoming
photography section). Fortunately, most popular camera brands like
Nikon, Sony, Canon etc. offer all these features as standard for even
the most inexpensive DSLR in their line and really differ in the
amount of data that can be recorded in the sensor (megapixels), the
number and rapidity with which they can shoot successive frames,
ergonomics and ability to take punishment. Of these the megapixel is
the 'king'. Higher megapixels mean more information and this
translates to a bigger image on the screen. But numbers here are not
straightforward. A 4 megapixel camera does not give you an image half
the size of a 8 megapixel camera. As a rough guide, the square root of
the stated megapixel should be used to compare cameras. So, a 4
megapixel camera shoots an image which is half the size of a 16
megapixel camera when you compare them on your computer monitor. But
why are megapixels important in the 1st
place – because they determine the size at which you see your image
(and subject) or print them. As we all know by now, birds are
small and difficult to capture in detail. A larger megapixel camera
magnifies the image and allows us to use even a small part of it
effectively. Put it another way – a 16 megapixel camera with a 300mm
lens attached will give you almost the same size of a
sparrow (say) to view/print, as a 4 megapixel camera would with a 600mm
lens. Talking of magnification brings me to the next talking point on
DSLR's as they relate to bird photography – their ability to seemingly
enlarge images shot through a standard lens by a field of view crop
factor when compared with film SLR's using the same lens. Much has
been written about what actually happens here - but for a lay person,
suffice it to know that by reducing the angle of view and recording on
a smaller surface than 35mm film, some DSLR's (those that we are
concerned with, as opposed to much more expensive full-frame DSLR's)
leave out information from the area that a 35mm film would cover
(to
the extent that the sensor is smaller). While achieving this the camera
and lens capture a larger image of the subject and that can be as much
as 1.5x in Nikon, 1.6x in Canon and a whopping 2x in Minolta, Sony etc
(a different technology is used here). So in effect all your 300mm
lenses become 450mm in reach on a Nikon DSLR and a 300mm lens on Sony
would take images the size of a 600mm lens on a film camera. That a
wide-angle lens would stop being wide enough is not of concern here as
there are almost no situations were bird photography can be achieved
with a wide-angle lens.
Lens:
Having dealt with what
goes into bird photography with a DSLR, we are ready to match a lens
with our camera. We now know that a DSLR will produce a larger image
than the focal length of the attached lens. We also know that a larger
image is also a function of sensor size. So, a 300mm maximum focal
length lens with a Canon camera should give us the
reach
of a 480mm lens.
Additionally, if we have enough megapixels
(say, 12mp) we will get an even larger image –
something which mimics a film camera with a 500mm lens. And 500m
effective reach is a great starting point for bird photography – you
will not get frame filling images with it, but your cropped image
will certainly be worth sharing and may even be printable
in books and magazines.
And you will get many 'keeper'
'environmental shots', in which you see the bird in its natural
habitat – a presentation which is in increasing demand these days. Why
300mm – why not 400mm? - because 300mm is a generic lens and
inexpensive compared to the more specialized 400mm or larger brethren.
There are more
factors that affect lens quality than those that affect cameras. We
are not in a position here to evaluate lenses but since our choices
are limited to one segment, there is little significant in terms of
differences in features to deal with other than the availability of
image stabilization or lack of it. Image stabilization (IS) or
Vibration Reduction (VR) is important for Canon and Nikon lenses as
their cameras do not offer any stabilization themselves. Image
stabilized lenses allow use of shutter speeds two or three stops
slower than with non-IS/VR lenses, e.g. to use 1/125th
sec instead of 1/500th
sec with similar results. This allows you to shoot in low light and
that can make a huge difference in practice. These lenses, though more
expensive, are not an indulgence for a new bird-photographer but a
necessity. I strongly recommend them.
Camera & lens:
We have now reached the end of our introduction and
are ready to select an ideal start-up kit for the beginning birder. Based on available information, Canon is the
market leader in nature-related camera equipments and offer better
opportunities for growth to the photographer. Nikon is a
well-respected name and I am personally happy using Nikon gear.
[It should be made clear here that
the following opinion is
based on direct user feedback or general knowledge and I have
personally not used most of the equipments mentioned here]
Starter cameras and lenses
(street prices are indicative as
on September 2008):
Camera:
C1. Canon EOS 1000D: 10 megapixel. About Rs 25,000
C2. Canon EOS 400D: 10.1 megapixel. About Rs 28,000
C3. Canon EOS 450D (or Rebel XSi): 12.2-megapixel. About Rs 35,000
C4. Nikon D60: 10.2 megapixels. About Rs 22,000
C5. Nikon D90: 12.3 megapixel, can take D-Movies. About Rs. 45,000
Lens:
L1. Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS. About Rs 32,000
L2. Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS. About Rs 69,000
L3. Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III. No IS. About Rs. 10,000
L4. Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR IF-ED AF-S. About Rs. 20,500[Nikon
lenses are called Nikkor]
L5. Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D VR ED. About Rs. 59,000
L6. Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6G. No VR. About Rs 5,000
Recommended combinations:
'C2 + L1' and
'C4 + L4'
Where to buy:
Nikon, Canon and Sony have authorized shops in major metros. Other
choices include 'Camshot'
at
http://www.camshot.in/ and 'J.J. Mehta'
at
http://www.jjmehta.com/
Computer:
If you are
using a digital camera of any sort you would certainly need a computer
to load, edit, process, save, print and share images. Any home
computer or laptop would do but one that is fast (Pentium 4 or above
and over 512mb RAM), has an operating system that handles most
software (like Windows XP) and has loads of space (150 GB is good) is
ideal. If you are choosing a computer, pay
particular attention to the choice of the monitor. As a thumb rule, a
standard CRT monitor reproduces colour more accurately than a standard
LCD monitor. The biggest CRT monitor you can afford is the best for
viewing and editing images. A connection to the internet, a fast DVD/CD writer and a few
unused USB ports are also necessary in the minimum configuration.
Storage:
While on the subject of computers, it is best to highlight storage
issues and importance of safe and proper storage. Digital images are
taken in 10 megapixel DSLR's can be large, especially if shot in
native RAW (NEF). File sizes can be as large as 15mb for each shot and
it is usual for bird photographers to shoot 100-200 frames in one day
resulting in space requirements of about 1.5GB for a day's work!
Multiply that for 10 days in a month or 100 days in a year and you
will use up 150GB if you kept all your images, and that too all in one
place. But digital images are the negatives – there is no physical
medium and they have to be stored to be able to retrieve them. That
leads to planning for storage space and back-ups.
It
is strongly recommend that all original unedited images you want to keep should be
backed up in an external medium – a DVD or CD. If you shoot RAW, as
you should, then writing a back-up of all converted jpeg's in a DVD/CD is a
good idea too as it doubles the insurance. Computer hard disks are the
least safe place to keep images permanently – if they crash you may
not be able to recover memories or a priceless image – think about it
and plan for safe digital image storage even before you buy that
camera.
Software:
The truth
about digital photography today is that taking the shot is only part
of the final image. Opinions vary, but it is safe to say that at least
25% of a finished image can be attributed to software and how it is
used. Though some would argue that the share
of software can be as much as 40%
in the final image!
Often such editing is a part and parcel of the way the camera is set
up (setting controls for sharpening, saturation, hue etc. to neutral
or zero and similar) and sometimes it is the processing style of the
photographer that dictates the importance of software in conversion
and editing. Conversely, the camera can be set-up to do some of the
editing in-camera - but without control and intervention. But how you
frame, crop and process the image is key to presenting good bird
photographs and it is a learning curve which you have to climb
simultaneously with the practice that makes perfect bird images.
Image
processing software can be expensive and extremely sophisticated like
Adobe Creative Suite 3 or similar. And then there are those that come
with the camera or are available for free. Some are used for
conversion from one format to another while others may be used
exclusively for specialized tasks like removing/reducing unwanted
noise from an image. In the spirit of the approach to this article we
will only deal here with free software. The most important of these is
the software that comes with your camera. This will usually allow you
open and to convert your RAW images to commonly viewable and editable
jpeg or tiff formats. It will usually allow you to correct the 'White
Balance', correct exposure mistakes and sharpen the image – provided
of course you shot in RAW (or NEF) in the 1st
place. The packaged software also acts as
an image organizer and can show you
details connected with the image (EXIF data) like time, lens,
aperture, ISO, shutter-speed etc. It can also set up your
camera connection with your computer to enable you to download images
from the card. The camera manufacturer's software, then, is a must load and the starting
point in digital image processing. Next comes software that will allow
you to organize your converted (from RAW) images, do small corrections
and allow you to downsize them for sharing on the internet. The
easiest one to handle is Google's Picasa – a free download. Others of
a similar nature include FastStones' imageviewer 3.6.
This one not only
allows you to view RAW images directly, it can convert, crop, resize
and enhance images. A bonus is the ability to write text like your
copyright on the image. At the next level comes the much acclaimed – IrfanView. IrfanView is a fast and compact image viewer/converter. It
is simple for beginners and powerful for more advanced users and is
free. Last on the list of useful softwares is Neat Image - a noise
reduction tool for digital cameras. Neat Image has a demo version
which is free to use. Even though it is limited in functionality, the
demo version is useful for processing images shared on the web.
Picasa:
Organizes and edits images
http://picasa.google.com/
Picasa Web Albums:
To upload photos to the web
http://picasaweb.google.com/home
Neat Image:
Demo edition
http://www.neatimage.com/
FastStone Image Viewer 3.6:
http://www.faststone.org/
IrfanView:
http://www.irfanview.com/
Field Guide:
Nothing
is more
important in specialized photography than knowing the subject
- and this
is even more relevant for bird photography. Imagine taking an image of
'India Gate' and being unable to identify it to a viewer. Bird
knowledge and ability to identify them is key to being a successful
bird photographer and a relatively small investment in Grimmett and
Inskipps' Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent
(Rs.700) plus checking the galleries at websites like this one and
Oriental Bird Club will get you well on the way to becoming an
educated bird photographer.
Other add-ons:
Memory card:
A
key add-on is of course a memory card which will record your images
and allow you to transfer them to your computer. Memory cards come in
different types, sizes and speed. Buy the card type that works in your
camera and make sure that you have at least 5-6GB of card space
available with you if you shoot RAW. Faster cards are better but are
not key for beginners. Buy a reasonably fast card – something like 80X
or Extreme II from a reputed manufacturer. Lexar, Sandisk, Transcend
and Kingston are good cards and I have used them all. Don't buy cheap
little-known brand cards – they may damage camera or card-reader
contacts. I prefer to carry a few 2GB cards instead of putting all
images in one basket with a 4GB or 8GB card. Card costs vary, but a
good 2GB CF card can cost less than Rs 2,000 and a similar SD Card
about Rs 500. A Sandisk Card Reader costs around
Rs 1,000 and is very useful for transferring images directly to your
computer from the card. I, like many others, prefer to use a card
reader to download files to the computer instead of connecting the
camera to the computer.
All other add-ons can
aid bird photography but are not essential:
Spare battery:
Modern digital cameras usually use rechargeable batteries and buying a
spare which is kept ready for use in the field is a good idea. Also, charging is not possible in many remote places and a spare
is a necessary back-up.
Camera
Flash:
Most digital cameras that we have discussed come equipped with a
low-range pop-up flash which adds illumination to the subject. This is
not adequate for bird photography and an external hot-shoe mount flash
can be employed to allow use of the camera in low light situations or
when fill-flash is employed to balance available light and improve an
image. Flashguns come in various types and sizes and a good choice is
to buy a dedicated flash with as high a Guide Number (GN)
as you can afford. Bird photography requires a minimum GN of
100 at
ISO100 to make any meaningful contribution in the field. As an
example, a Nikon SB600DX TTL flash will cost about Rs 10,000.
Beginners may do well to start their hobby without a flash and
add one at a later stage, if necessary, based on a better
understanding of the pros and cons of flash usage.
Teleconverters/Extenders:
Teleconverters or extenders are lenses which can be added between the
camera and the shooting lens to increase the focal length of the
combination. A 1.4x converter when attached to a 300mm lens will give
an effective focal length of 300mm x 1.4 = 420mm and a 2x will double
the effective reach of an attached lens. While it is tempting to think
that a Rs15,000 investment (branded converters are expensive) will add
photographic versatility without the expense of an extra lens there
are no free meals to be had. Except when used in very expensive and
sophisticated lenses, teleconverters degrade an image and make it more
difficult to acquire a good one. Beginners should stay far away
from teleconverters till they upgrade to more specialized
equipment and understand how and when to use such
tools.
Tripods/monopods:
Tripods (three legs) and monopods (single
leg) are mechanical supports that add stability to a camera and eliminate inevitable
camera shake while taking hand-held images. As shake contributes to unsharp and blurry images, tripods can make the difference between a
'keeper' and a junk image. This is especially true for those who use
telephoto lenses as shake is magnified with increase in focal length.
Indeed most skilled bird photographers swear about the
indispensability of a tripod when it comes to using a long lens. I am
somewhat in the other camp though and feel that good technique,
availability of in-camera image stabilization, high usable ISO, medium
telephotos like a 300mm (max) lens, and the fact that bird movement
requires the use of higher shutter speeds balance the
freedom and flexibility of a
hand-held approach versus the stability benefits offered by a tripod
which has to be lugged, is heavy, and which often hampers your ability
to move your camera with the birds. Tripod or no tripod, the choice is
yours. But if you do invest in one, buy a tripod that is heavy and
stable – it may be a lifetime investment and going upscale here
at the start is a wise thing. Cheap tripods
are fairly useless in any case and do more harm than good. Good
tripod/head combinations from Manfretto and Bogen can cost over Rs
15,000 and Gitzos with Whimberly heads can put you back by Rs.
100,000. One alternative (not a substitute) is to use a monopod –
these are easier to carry and much less expensive. But monopods are
difficult to handle and takes a lot of experience to give effective
results.
Camera bag:
This is a necessity almost and serves to store and protect your
purchase. Buy one that accommodates your camera with lens attached and
has space for spare batteries, cards, flash and any additional lenses
that you may have. Inexpensive bags start at Rs 300 and a popular and
durable Lowepro or Tamrac can cost Rs. 3000.
The author has considerable experience in bird photography.
His images have featured in national and local exhibitions and
are regularly published in national and international books
and magazines. He uses Nikon equipment to photograph birds as
an advanced hobby.
|
Note: Rs. 100 = USD
2.20 appx. at the time of writing
Disclaimer:
1. Prices are
indicative 'street prices' and
are quoted based on current information
(25/9/08) on the internet
and may not be relied upon. Readers are advised to check current
prices before making purchase decisions.
2. Specifications
are based on current published information on the internet and may
contain errors. Readers are advised to check specifications before
making purchase decisions. The author will correct any errors if you
write to him at
sumitsen@rediffmail.com
3.
Any suggestions/
recommendations are based on the author's limited personal
experience and may not be accurate or authentic. The
suggestions/recommendations
do not cover all available choices and the reader is advised to do
his/her own research before making purchase decisions.
4.
The author is not
affiliated to any equipment manufacturer.
© Sumit K Sen 2008
