Shooting Birds

Certainly one of the reasons that I enjoy the profession so much is that there are so many types of photography to choose from: architectural, wedding, journalism, nature, portrait, fine art, and the list goes on.

And like many other photographers, I often jump from one type of photography to another when the job calls for it or when I feel the need to “escape” to a totally different subject.

Each type of photography utilizes different skills.

For example, portrait photography is most successful when the subject can comfortably relate to the photographer who then combines creative posing and technical lighting to record a likeness of that subject.

A food photographer may use many tricks to enhance the appearance of a gourmet dish – with sprays, glue or gels, perhaps. These are skills that make the food look good; you probably wouldn’t want to eat the food after the photo session.

Having participated in many of the types of photography over the past 40+ years, I have learned that some types of photography require a higher level of skill than others.

From my experience, “photography degree of difficulty” varies from snapshots and event photography at the low end to wedding photography at the high end. And somewhere near the high end is wildlife photography. For the last few years, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to improve my wildlife skill level.

Birds are among the most nervous types of animals to photograph. Approach a bird perched on a branch and he’ll quickly fly away. Consequently, most of my photos of birds are from quite a distance using a long telephoto lens. On my last outing, I snapped several bird photos which drew complimentary comments from several viewers. While I’d like to think that the photos were the result of my great skills as a nature photographer, in this case it’s not true. Last week, I was doing a little winter hiking in Bryce Canyon NP and stumbled upon this colorful Stellar’s jay. This photo was taken with long telephoto lens from about 50 feet away. I hesitated to approach the jay any closer for fear that he’d take off.

Surprisingly, the jay flew closer to me. In fact, he ended up landing on a tree branch that was only 20 feet from where I was standing. I can only surmise that in the cold wintery weather he was acting differently than he would if I encountered him in warmer weather. My telephoto lens has two settings: one to accommodate close focusing (2 meters) and one for more distant focusing (8 meters). So as not to disturb the bird, I very slowly changed the lens setting for close focusing and snapped. Bingo. Here’s the closeup that I ended up with of the Stellar’s jay. I can definitely say that this photo was more a matter of luck than skill. Anyway, for me this photograph is a definite keeper.

As a counterpoint, here’s a less lucky encounter that I had about an hour before. As I was hiking along the hard packed, snow covered trail that descended into one of the canyons, I heard a screech overhead. I gazed upwards and saw a large, majestic set of wings in the sky. I hurriedly changed lenses to my long telephoto and looked up again. But during the minute that I spent changing lenses, the predator had climbed higher and farther away.

I quickly snapped a half dozen photos before the eagle was out of range. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as lucky here. The photo is blurred owing to the distance and my rushed attempt.

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So this time out, luck played a role in my capturing the Stellar’s jay. But I wasn’t as lucky with the golden eagle.

Still, I know that unless I’m out there hiking the trails and observing my surroundings that luck won’t have a chance to take hold. Each time I’m out enjoying nature I’m hoping that for that lucky catch.
Take enough photos and luck will come your way too. It’s a promise.

 

Written by Arnie Lee

 

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