{"id":79883,"date":"2016-09-14T13:13:37","date_gmt":"2016-09-14T18:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=79883"},"modified":"2016-09-14T13:13:37","modified_gmt":"2016-09-14T18:13:37","slug":"helpful-tips-for-photographing-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/09\/14\/helpful-tips-for-photographing-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Helpful tips for photographing birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rex Dolby<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"North
North Carolina Mockingbird. (Photo by Rex Dolby.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It may not be too long before the birds start heading south, so I thought it’d be a good time to give some tips on photographing birds before they are gone.<\/p>\n

Looking at equipment first, you’ll need to consider where you’ll be shooting.\u00a0 That will help determine the lens power needed.\u00a0 But to cover most situations, the biggest zoom lens with image stabilization you can afford will serve you well. On a tight budget? There are good used lenses for sale.<\/p>\n

The speed of flight and wing beats will help in deciding the shutter speed\u00a0the camera must be capable of delivering.\u00a0 Look for one with 1\/1000th of a second or higher settings. Because of varying weather conditions and locations, your camera must\u00a0have a wide range of ISO (light sensitivity) settings, possibly 100-800 at least. \u00a0I’d suggest auto and manual focus settings also.<\/p>\n

If you are shooting only for pleasure or possibly making an 8×10 print, an\u00a08 mp (megapixel)\u00a0image will do just fine.\u00a0\u00a0However,\u00a0if you are thinking of\u00a0 a larger print, you’ll need 12 mp camera to produce\u00a0the best 11×14 and 36 mp for a 16×20 print.<\/p>\n

Finally, consider a tripod, monopod, and\/or bean bag (a cornhole bag will work) to support your camera and lens system.<\/p>\n

Do some research on the birds you want to shoot to learn where to find them and when they are most active.\u00a0\u00a0 Then actually observe them for patterns of behavior and flight so you can anticipate their movement and have\u00a0more accurate\u00a0camera settings.<\/p>\n

Keep the sun and wind to your back.\u00a0By shooting in the early morning or late afternoon you will be more likely to pick up the glint in the bird’s eye.\u00a0 Since birds land facing into the wind, you’ll have them facing into the camera when you shoot.<\/p>\n

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By Rex Dolby It may not be too long before the birds start heading south, so I thought it’d be a good time to give some tips on photographing birds before they are gone. Looking at equipment first, you’ll need to consider where you’ll be shooting.\u00a0 That will help determine the lens power needed.\u00a0 But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cameraclub"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 00:47:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}