Just learning and have lots of questions!

Hi all,

I've just started taking some bird pics and really don't know what I'm doing. Here is an example I got last week. As you can tell, there are limbs all over the place blocking the shot as he was deep in my tree in the front yard. How do you get clear shot - do you trim the trees to give you a better field of vision?

I'm also using a Canon 70-300 DO IS on a 50D. I really love the lens but it doesn't feel long enough. (It's the longest I have, though.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Ans if there are any "bird photos for dummies" type of walk through that you can point me to, I'd love that.
Thanks!

Patience, practice and persistence. Being patient, waiting for them to come to you, landing in the right spot with the right light and hopefully being able to focus on it at that moment is what I do most of the time out in the field. I've learned not to force the shot or photographing anything that moves...pick where you think an image may look presentable and hope one will land there.

In the backyard I approach it differently...I have set up perches near a feeder and sit and wait for them to come and feed. Birds tend to land on something before eating to make sure the area is safe.....hence the perches for them to pose on.

The best advice I can give is have fun and if the shot doesn't happen...know the opportunity will come around in the future.

Good luck.

Well You Got a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker to start With so Not all Bad!!! Just Keep shooting It will come!!! Good Luck helps also!!!

That's still a better picture of a Yellow Belly Sapsucker and his sap holes than I have.

But forget getting this guy to come out of the tree. He isn't interested in birdfood. Other birds, put sunflower seeds out for cardinals, grosbeaks, some finches, but out other foods for different birds. Some like feeders, some like them on the ground. Make sure you have suet out for the woodpeckers. And most important, decide now if your going to do this 365 days a year, cause it is really bad to start, get them dependant on you, then stop feeding them.

The secret to yard bird shooting though, is bring them to you cause you can't get to them and you can't sneak up on birds.

I know the feeling as well.. And now with the leaves on them, I'll see even less from my yard.. As the others say, patience... I'm learning that myself... lol

LOL - a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker?! I thought it was a Woodpecker! (All the holes pecked in the wood...) Thanks for the advice - I'll take all you can give.

Yellow bellies are a type of woodpecker.

I absolutely love the photo-natural ! Sometimes when we try too hard -we miss something in the translation. I love the greenery, the wood the textures. I think the branches in the foreground lead me into where the bird is... I get to see something
so special...awesome bird. Great job!!!

A little pruning wouldn't hurt in your case of the yellow belly, easy to do and won't hurt the tree. Leave a little stub off the branch to heal though, don't clip right tight, do it clean, no bark ripping.

If you can get a clear backdrop your boken will be so so much better, situatate yourself so you have such if possible. In your shot the grey is perfectly creamed. Patience helps, tripod too, even a remote so you don't have to hold your arm up.

Even if you scare them trying to get in range, hold tight, once they get comfortable with you they most likely will come back, a blind helps too.

Read tons and practice lots, it will come.

Great shot! Keep it up, lots of helpful advice here and bird photography is both tremendously rewarding and totally frustrating at times.

Kasrielle---Search this forum and view all of the pics you can from Duane N, hTr and Canonloader and you will not only be more inspired by just looking at their awesome shots, but you will see and learn some of their techniques. These gentlemen have a wealth of knowledge about BIF and how best to capture them.
I have really learned a lot from reading their posts.

Thanks very much everyone - I really appreciate both your good advice and your kind words. I'll definitely keep at it. The bad thing is that the amazing photos on this site make me hungry for a 100-400 IS. (If money fell into my lap I'd think about the 400 prime, but in this lifetime - it's way out of my budget.) But until I can afford more glass I'll keep working with my current telephoto. When the weather warms (we're expecting snow this weekend here in northeast BC - yuck!) a bit I'll trim up the trees by my feeder, and work out where I can sit and wait.

Nicely done through so much cover. All great advice already given. When out in the field shooting I approach active areas with a critical eye on light background and potential perches. Often patience is needed in big doses but setting yourself up in position to capture your subject in the best possible setting and lighting will give you the best chance for success. Of course they don't always come to the spot we want so you'll have to improvise and sometimes we just have to rely on luck. I have plenty of dense cover shots too, keep at it you'll learn techniques to try and get ahead of the birds and develop an eye for adjusting to get the bird in the clear.

I always say, the best tool for capturing birds at their best is understanding their behavior. This will come in time and help you to anticipate better their next move and to better time and frame your shots. Birds are creatures of habit and once you better understand those habits you can adjust your tactics accordingly.

Best of luck, it's a challenging form of photography but a whole lot of fun.

Nighthound wrote in post #7924381
I always say, the best tool for capturing birds at their best is understanding their behavior. This will come in time and help you to anticipate better their next move and to better time and frame your shots. Birds are creatures of habit and once you better understand those habits you can adjust your tactics accordingly.

I just wanted to point out two things in Steve's reply that I couldn't agree more with.

I would not trim that tree. This is about the birds, not us. Trim the tree and they may not like it anymore and go elsewhere. They hide in there for a reason.