Tag: out-of-focus background

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Red-whiskered Bulbul

A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

One of my favorite birds I photographed on a recent trip to India was the Red-whiskered Bulbul. In particular, I liked its head feathers and distinct red cheek pattern. I saw a few glimpses on my first day of photography at a wetland bird sanctuary, but got my best views the second day at the top of Nandi Hills in more of a jungle environment.

A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

The photography here was much harder than the more open wetland location. Most of the birds stayed high in the forest canopy, only offering quick glimpses in the dark, filtered light close to the ground. Here, shooting at a high ISO (ISO 2000) helped, which my 7D Mk2 was able to handle capably.

The photo above was a rarity in this thick jungle. In this shot, I had the benefit of shooting into a clearing instead of from a clearing. In this way, I was lucky to have the background foliage far away from the subject, creating a solid green background instead of distracting leaves and branches. Most of the time however, I was standing in a clearing (giving me the ability to move around) shooting at a wall of jungle.

A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
A red-whiskered bulbul sits on a branch in the midst of a jungle, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

My main takeaway from this type of photography is that the biggest secret weapon you can have is time. Without luring the animal with something like food, you need to have time and patience to photograph the amazing diversity of these jungle habitats. Unfortunately I only had a single morning, just long enough to give me a small taste of what a longer expedition could achieve.

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Oriental White-eye

An oriental white-eye pauses briefly on a narrow branch, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
An oriental white-eye pauses briefly on a narrow branch, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India
An oriental white-eye pauses briefly on a narrow branch, Nandi Hills, Karnataka, India

I captured this photo of an oriental white-eye after a difficult (and sometimes frustrating) morning of bird photography in the Nandi Hills, north of Bangalore, India. I was situated in a clearing in the middle of a small area of jungle. While beautiful and diverse, jungles can be incredibly difficult to shoot in, especially if the target is small birds. Due to the density of the foliage, you have to practically be right in front of the birds in order to get a clear shot – there always seems to be something blocking you. In addition, so many small birds spend a great deal of their time high in the canopy, making them all but invisible. The cacophony of their calls only increases the frustration, knowing they are there but out of sight.

However, as usual in wildlife photography, time and patience pays off. Toward the end of the morning, I was photographing on one edge of the clearing, a wall of green in front of me. This little white-eye flew in and started preening, occasionally hopping from one perch to another. I tracked him as best I could through the leaves, until finally he flew onto this open perch. While he was only there for a few seconds, I was ready and was able to capture a couple of frames.

It is always a good idea when traveling far from home to pick only a few spots to do photography, allowing yourself the adequate time to spend in each. I would rather come back from a trip with a few stellar shots than visit more locations but settle for shots that are just okay.

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Canon 5DSR For Bird Photography?

An anna's hummingbird perches on a thin branch, Belmont, CA

After fussing between either upgrading my next landscape camera to either a Sony A7RII or a Canon 5DSR (I’ll cover that saga in a future post), I finally pulled the trigger and received my new Canon this weekend. While I’ll primary use this 50 mega pixel monster for large resolution landscape images (wall sized prints, anyone?), I wanted to see if/how it would handle (albeit simple) bird photography. After spending a half hour with it in my front yard, chimping on the rear LCD, I was blown away.

An anna's hummingbird perches on a thin branch, Belmont, CA
An anna’s hummingbird perches on a thin branch, Belmont, CA

First of all, the auto-focus is fast and accurate – exactly what you’d expect from such an expensive camera. Maximum frame rate is low due to the huge image size, but that is not a concern with its intended use (my typical landscape frame rate is about 1 shot per minute!) The noise level looks better than my 7D Mk II, which is great given the pixel density of the sensor. All images in this post were shot at ISO 500 with no noise reduction – buttery smooth backgrounds.

But where this camera really shines is its gigantic 50 MP sensor – this largest ever released for a 35mm DSLR. Even better than just packing in so many pixels however, is the fact that at 1:1 zoom, the details are tack sharp. Below is a 1:1 crop of the above image.

Headshot portrait of an anna's hummingbird, Belmont, CA
Headshot portrait of an anna’s hummingbird, Belmont, CA

As you can see, the details are extremely sharp. I’ve seen other sensors that look sharp right out of the camera, but once you zoom in to 1:1, the details are a bit mushy.

Head and shoulders portrait of a house finch, Belmont, CA
Head and shoulders portrait of a house finch, Belmont, CA

If I’m not concerned about printing wall size, the vast amount of resolution I have at my disposal opens up new cropping opportunities. Here I’ve included a few more yard birds I shot during my morning test. I’ve given each a massive crop to see what kinds of portraits I could create with these tiny birds, without having to shoot them with a macro lens (which would be nearly impossible with these fast movers).

A chestnut-backed chickadee finishes eating seed, Belmont, CA
A chestnut-backed chickadee finishes eating seed, Belmont, CA

The main areas that will limit this camera as a great bird photography setup is a low frame rate and full frame sensor. But with patience and careful technique, it could produce some amazing results. I’ll see what it can pull off for birds in flight in the future.

A lesser goldfinch perches on a narrow branch, Belmont, CA
A lesser goldfinch perches on a narrow branch, Belmont, CA

Previously I’ve only been able to get head-and-shoulder portraits with much larger birds. But these tests tell me that I’ll likely be bringing this camera along on my next bird shoot. It won’t replace my primary body for now, but if I come across a docile bird that lets me get relatively close, I’m definitely going to pull out my 5DSR and capture some of those insane details this camera is able to resolve.

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Great Stone-Curlew

A great stone-curlew stands alone on a rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India
A great stone-curlew stands alone on a rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India
A great stone-curlew stands alone on a rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

The great stone-curlew (also known as the great thick-knee) is a large wader, frequently seen along the shores of slow moving bodies of water. These birds are typically nocturnal, but can sometimes be seen during the day, moving slowly and deliberately. They can be quite skittish, often not allowing a close approach. In this case I was photographing from a small boat, so that likely helped me get close without spooking the bird.

A great stone-curlew stands alone on a rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India
A great stone-curlew stands alone on a rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

When photographing this bird, I was able to circle the rock on which it was standing. This gave me typical front-lit lighting (with the sun directly behind me), as well as back-lighting (with the sun behind the subject).

A great stone-curlew stands alone on a rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India
A great stone-curlew stands alone on a rock in a shallow lake, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, India

As I was finishing up photographing this bird, I could tell it was quite comfortable with my presence. Soon it stopped pacing and sat down on the rock to rest in the sun.

Copyright 2017 Hank Christensen