Bird Photography with Melissa Groo

Although the image is not sharp, I like how the shallow background highlights the bird's color and shape. Will keep playing with it. Thank you so much for the lessons!

I liked the back lighting and the juxtaposition of tangled branches from where he/she was coming and the "wild blue yonder" to where she/he was going.

A few examples of lighting... f5.6, 1/2000, ISO 400   f5.6, 1/640, ISO 800 f5, 1/500, ISO 200

These Clapper Rails were in a marsh on the coast of South Carolina.  The top picture uses the rule of thirds but the bird is moving right on the right side of the frame.  This is typical of how I see rails, always about to disappear.  The bottom picture is an atypical portrait.  It does not show the face of the bird but rather its tail as it slips into the marsh grass.

This perch was near a bird feeder. The background was nicely blurred with an aperture of f5.6.

The song sparrow was centered as portrait ,breaking rule of thirds and wide open aperture to blur out background.

The blurred background colors which match the green and magenta plant helped isolate and highlight this lesser goldfinch. Appreciated the catch light as well.

I learned a lot about the importance of light, composition and background to accentuate my bird photos. I am using my photo of the black and white warbler to exemplify the law of thirds (though I now know it could also be used as an example of using a shallow depth of field), I see how it enhances the photo to include a sense of the setting/context in which the bird is in. I used the photo of the grackle on the dead branch to exemplify how a large depth of field can detract from the sheen and rich colors of the bird as the brilliant blue sky seems to compete and detract from the bird rather than enhance it. For an example of a shallow depth of field I think my song sparrow photo demonstrates how paying attention to your depth of field can really help illuminate your subject.       

I’ve been mostly shooting in Shutter Priority mode to quickly adjust for fast- or slow-moving birds, so switching to Manual is a bit of a struggle for me! I also tried a different metering mode than I had before, so that might account for some of my difficulty in adjusting. The aperture exercise really highlighted for me the value of having a shallow depth of field. Not only does it help keep the attention focused on the bird, but by allowing lots of light in, it avoids having to compensate for low light by having the ISO increased, resulting in a grainy photo! (Which is what I ended up with at higher F stops.) For the rule of thirds exercise, I practiced on an Anna’s hummingbird. For a side view of the hummingbird, following the rule of thirds created a nice composition to include both the bird and its environment. For a view from the back, I favored a centered composition that emphasized the symmetry of the bird’s position, as well as the single pink iridescent feather on the back of its head. Both exercises were illuminating and certainly made me feel like I needed a lot more practice!

I usually like to shoot with the rule of thirds, but there are times that I think the image just looks better having the bird in the middle based on the birds position.

<i>In this shot, I used the rule of thirds but also thought that shooting the Chipping Sparrow from behind with its head slightly turned, made it more interesting. made it alittle mor</i>

In this image, I chose to almost fill the frame with the duck. I was standing on a small bridge, looking down on the bird. The surrounding water is blurred. I like this shot as it gives a very different perspective and also allowed me to focus on the feather pattern.

I do feel the space in front leaves more breathing room for the inflight image.

Perhaps this isn’t the most sharp image, but I tried to respect the rule of thirds on it. May be I should have given more space to the flycatcher to fly higher. Nevertheless, to me it’s better in that upper right corner than in the center. Then, I present a grackle located at the center of the frame. I intentionally placed the grackle there. My goal planning this image composition was, first, to show how packed grackles tend to be, and, second, to underline the individuality of this bird.      

Got lucky when I had a wide aperture of F/5.6 mostly because of very weak light since there was a lot of fog passing by but created a very colorful background to my composition. I was trying to get a frontal shot of his colors on his crest.

Worked with the rule of thirds and created more breathing space to make more contrast with the colors of the bird and the dark background.

I favour the rule of thirds for photos because I like how these photos look generally, although occasionally I like to mess things up by putting the bird in a far corner and giving a lot of free space in the photo (tweaking while processing) like, here you go, roam free. Alternatively, sometimes it just feels "better" to put the bird in the middle of the frame. And, full disclosure, sometimes I see a new bird and just frantically shoot to ID. I almost always shoot wildlife with a mirrorless camera and 40-150mm lens with 1.4x teleconverter, at around F4-F5.6 if possible. I haven't been brave enough to open my wallet for a longer low Fstop lens but I like the effect that mine gives. I'm enjoying this course because I've been lazily resting on auto for awhile, a few years back I always shot in manual, IDK why I stopped.

The chickadee on snow is shutter priority 1/1600, spot metering, focused on the eye.  The charming mourning dove was caught in the act of making herself beautiful, and she succeeded! How many layers of feathers she has! This photo says phooey to the rules but has the highest light on the head and upper wing, and the more shadowed areas emphasize the layers of feathers. The tufted titmouse is has a shadow from a stick, but its alignment emphasizes her crest. Half her face is in shadow, but the combination of the two shadow regions goes to emphasize her beak and eye. And she is in a wonderful dynamic pose.

This white throated tree creeper didn't lend itself to the rule of thirds and I wanted to show it in its camouflaged best The previous two were practicing at the lowest f stop  one just from the balcony at home, a grey butcherbird preening and the other a pretty grey fantail where I paid attention to the light and colour in the background

Female Pin Tailed Whydah taken with ISO priority mode; looking to switch to manual soon Another note - the point regarding the different types of AF settings will I think make a big difference, I didn't know that aspect before

Amazing to see the difference that the aperture settings made.  Tried it with wide and narrow apertures (f/4 versus f/16) and was able to get the nice fuzzy background at f/4) Since my camera has only a 220 zoom, I did trials with the composition rules in the processing stage. Was indeed revealing to notice that following the "rule of three" made for a more pleasing composition. I had not realized earlier that it helps to leave the extra space in front of the bird.

Black and White Warbler on spring foliage, low F stop, which created a satisfying blurred background. Image taken in Central Park, NY.