Bird Photography with Melissa Groo

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.

I was attracted to this scene of Canada Geese because of the unusually sparkly water and the dramatically silhouetted design: the geese were swimming in alignment with one another and framed by branches, leaves & berries.  I decided to crop it in an elongated composition to enhance the way the geese were swimming - and so that the geese are in the lower third of the composition.

I learned shallow focus works better in some circumstances than others.  The birds gathering for a turn near our feeders give me the luxury to set up a blurred background without blurring the bird!

Rule following:  the Pileated Woodpecker obeys the rule of thirds and is also in focus against a blurred background like the Turkey Vulture. Rule bending:  for the Mute Swans, we used f/5 so the farther one is still barely in focus, but they are basically centered rather than at a cross points, which gives them space to travel.  

These are unique photos for me. Despite very bad in quality I found out that they have an illusion effect due to light. Can you tell which way they are headed?

The first thing when I follow or break the rules of composition is that I consciously spend more time composing the shot and thinking about what I see - then make a decision - and take the shot. In the picture of the cardinal, I like the cardinal centered (breaking the rules) with the strong color statement and the algae covered tree behind surrounded by brown and white in each direction. It seems to draw the eye away from the feeder and to the bird. The heavy red seems to balance the color palatte. Had the cardinal been placed according to the rule of thirds the emphasis would have been on the feeder and the picture would seem to be off balance. I also see the eye sparkle and the bird eating - not just resting. With the Merlin, I like the position of the Merlin facing out from the top of the only tree with the head turned slightly  seeming to scan the area to locate a small bird for dinner. Perhaps a slightly higher position would be even better. I think there is certainly room for improvement in the shot but the eye twinkle is there slightly and I like the artistic appearance of the small limbs surrounding the bird making the setting almost show the violence this small bird is capable of bestowing. The background grey - while realistic - is lacking.

Here is a Rock Pigeon perched on wire with front light but at an angle. In the following photo the shadow cast by leaves on the breast part of Rose-ringed Parakeet makes it artistic as if a body art In the following photo the front-top light details the face and breast of this White-throated Fantail  

This broke a few rules.  The light was harsh and late morning, but the dramatic contrasted black and white of the snow geese is emphasized by the light.  In some situations the rule of thirds is difficult to use.  The blur is from trees branches in the foreground, which was unavoidable at the time from in the woods. This one had top lighting of the wild turkey and no glint in the eye, but the expression seems to make up for some of the broken rules. Getting close to the dark-eyed junk makes up for some of the top lighting and almost makes it look like back lighting. The breast of the bird seems to work as the contrasting background for the beak.

Because these two were looking in opposite directions, I chose to center them in the composition. This choice gives each bird some gazing distance within the frame.

I made a point of backlighting these photos since I usually do not think about this lighting option. I liked the effect. 

One last post on the topic same photo but cropped differently. In the first photo I filled the frame so broke some rules, no space in front of him, photo was taken directly in front of him so he appears as so..flattened and lacking some depth, doesn't adhere to rule of thirds.. second photo respects the classic bird photo a little more....he has space in front of him, adheres more to rule of thirds etc. It would have been better without the cluttered background still i got interested in this shot because it reveals something interesting .. the anatomy of his tongue.  

I tried doing something a little different on the  first photo.... American Robin in a stand of Hawthorn trees December 7th, 2020 ..photo is in the rule of thirds but not a typical bird photo as he is not facing the camera.  I wanted to see what would turn out with him facing away from me. I like the hues in the photo of the red Hawthorn berries in combination with the grey on his feathers and his layered feather structure all blurred as in classic bird photos....but as i said with a difference. The second photo of an Eastern Kingbird was taken somewhat as an afterthought.  I was leaving a marsh and I noticed him preening in close proximity to me. I figured oh what the heck, "Take one more shot." It has turned into one of my favourite shots .. I like the quality of the catch light (a term I now know from taking this course) up in the corner of his eye, photos is sharp, nice blurred background and it is a portrayal of bird behaviour showing as well great detail of his feathers. There is a sense of vunerability about him as well .. not sure if i am describing it correctly but i just feel something special about this photo.  

I got lucky with this image. I had the opportunity for a quick shot of this pair of Cedar Waxwings, but noticed that if I stepped just a little to the left there was a deep shadow in the background, which is what I was looking for. I took the quick shot to make sure I had a photo then stepped to the left and recomposed for the better shot. Nikon D500. f/5.6. 1/800. ISO 2500. I chose to center subjects to achieve symmetry and illusion of mirror image.                                   i

This image is with a super-telephoto at max zoom, 1/500th, ISO 250, f6.3.  I find the sinuous neck pose quite visually compelling.  The original image is about 9000x6000, with crisp feather detail that is lost with this downsampled upload.

Has anyone used a Field Scope instead of a telescopic lens? It is supposed to attach to a camera and an I-phone using adapters.

I took all three of these photos at the leather stocking trail in NY and especially like the Golden crowned kinglet, because of how close I got to the bird, with only a 250mm zoom lens! The thrush is also one of my favorite because it is following the rule of thirds.

For this assignment I really concentrated on using my manual settings while trying to get the "classic" bird photo using the rule of 3rds.  For the Song Sparrow I really liked how the branch in the foreground as well as the background were blurred while the bird itself was still in focus.  I spent a lot of time with this female Ruby-throated Hummingbird as she darted back and forth from the feeder to this tree and like how she's wrapped around the tiny branch.  I love how the Gray Catbird really stands out from the creamy green background.

A wide open aperture and high speed created a nicely blurred background while the dew is still visible on the morning grass. Brewers blackbird

I took these Rufous Hummingbird photos with side lighting. I especially like the way that the fascia frame the bird.

The top photo of a yellow-crowned heron (I think) is backlighting following the rule of thirds. The middle photo of the Tree Swallow is side lighting and follows through rule of thirds. Finally, Snowy Egret is front lighting.

Melissa's photo on the side-lit Eastern Towhee:  Why did you shoot at F/7.1 instead of keeping it wide open and dropping down the ISO?  Wouldn't that have created a better quality image (less noise from higher ISO)?  I was just curious because I always try to shoot wide open unless I want to increase depth of field to capture multiple birds or for maybe a habitat shot.

I spent a long time (45 minutes) trying to capture the spirit of this Black Phoebe - this is the only photo of many that follows the "rules".   I also was getting used to my Canon Powershoot HD50SX so there were some technical issues. But by using large aperture , I love the shallow depth of the field and how it highlights the bird. The Snow Egret violates the rule of thirds but it still isn't a bad picture!        

Used the Rule of Thirds in the first picture and in the last picture of the Canada Goose I broke the Rule of Thirds and the Goose is right in the middle of the picture. I really like both pictures, so I could go with using the Rule of Thirds but also breaking it when necessary. The middle picture of the Canada Goose is showing shallow depth of field when I was playing around with my aperture settings. Loved the assignment.

While I lived in Florida for some time, I've never been able to capture decent images of Osprey...until one appeared in my backyard to munch on a tasty fish caught from our lake.  During the photo encounter a Bald Eagle and Hawk circled the Osprey watching for an opportunity to swoop down and steal the fish.  But the Osprey would not have it and spread its wings around the fish to hide it from any aerial attacks.  Both images are using the rule of thirds.

Dickcissel with backlighting Barn swallow with subject in focus and background blurred Bald eagle side lighting

I live in the desert so there isn't much in the way of sit spots or car-blind birding.  I went to different locations for each photo.  For the common bee eater (bottom) I placed the nest hole in the upper right-hand 1/3 of the photo and photographed the bird as it exited.  There is a lot of space in front of the bird, to move into. The white spectacled bulbul (middle) was in my bird-bath and I broke the rules by putting it dead center, but I wanted to show motion.  I aimed low (belly-water interface) and got that in focus (F 5.7) and took a medium slow shutter speed of 1/125 of a second. Finally I broke the rules with the pale rock finch but was so happy that I got water drops on its face/throat.  I probably should have moved it to the left 1/3 of the photo and had more of the water in front of it, to the right.

  I worked with the rule of thirds in both these images. The first, common yellowthroat,  and the second, sandhill crane photos were taken on an overcast day so the lighting was not as dramatic. I was more focused on exposure-light meter to prevent them from being too dark.

I love how the painted bunting came out crisp but the leaves in the foreground and background are blurred almost creating a frame. This doesn't follow the rule of thirds bit the blurred edges draw the focus to the bird.

Well, these were shots that were done wrong. First the Chipping Sparrow had harsh noon sun overhead but it lit up his hair do. The Red-winged Blackbird had both the fore ground and back ground in focus, The House Finch was in the rain, no sun. I took the shot out of my sun room window. I still liked some aspect of each of these even though they don't go by the book.

Plain ole house sparrow with side lighting. That really makes the feather texture pop.Sorry this isn't a bird-but I used spot metering on this mink's face like Melissa did on the crow to get his eyes, plus backlighting to highlight his fur. It's really hot here today and the birds just weren't out! I'm learning to change my metering mode to accommodate different situations.

The Dove is following the rules I think!  The Cattle Egret doesn’t but we wanted to include the Bull with it.  Not sure where the Killdeer fits in but liked the shot!

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Sometimes I'm just happy if I can get a photo of a bird that is all in the frame, exposed correctly and in focus! But I must say the lighting makes all the difference to the end result and really makes that bird 'shine'! Here are my offerings. Side lighting, rule of three and a slightly different rule of three just to make you smile. Hopefully! 😊

Photo is more interesting when using rule of 3rd's. The creamy background makes the main element stand out. I left the leaves on the right side to balance out the image.I took this photo at 1/1250, f/6.3 with ISO 500. I also touched it up a bit in Lightroom.

The picture of the American Oystercatcher, taken on my day trip pilgrimage to Cape May yesterday, follows the rule of thirds. The background is blurred in the Red-Tailed Hawk picture. For the Bald Eagle (taken on July 4th!), I broke the rule of thirds. The angle of the bird flying away, and the lack of anything but blue sky beyond it, made it look better to me this way. Fun fact, the Eagle and the Hawk (wasn’t that a John Denver song) were taken only 12 minutes apart, both using the car as a blind, sort of. The Eagle was too far away to care about me. I saw the hawk perched on a wire as I drove home from where I’d just seen the Eagle. The road was very lightly traveled at the time, so I was able to turn around, go back, stop underneath, and take the picture through the sunroof.

This is a photo in which I think I broke some of  the rules.  The photo of the Secretary Bird is taken with the negative space behind the bird rather than (the traditional) in front of the bird. I did this to emphasize the Secretary Bird's rearward facing plumes. I think this Bee Eater photo is more in line with usual bird portrait rules, creamy background, rule of thirds. There is no catchlight in the eye but the iris is clear and evenly lit.

Here is the same backlit photo of the juvenile western bluebird against a darker background. On the last two photos with the black phoebes (there is a juvenile and its mom). I tried to work on the composition and and trying (rule of 1/3.) 

I went to my local public park to experiment with what Melissa taught in this lesson. I first put all the settings Melissa recommended on my camera and then tried to find birds and photograph them in different light, and background, paying particular attention to the fact that their eye was lit and there was nothing in the background. I decided to go full manual and see what I could come up with. I was very pleased with the results and I can't wait to experiment again. Here are 3 views of the same juvenile western bluebird - front light, side light and back light (same background - blue sky).

Here are original and cropped images of the only time in 3 hours of waiting that this American Flamingo at St. Marks NWR in Florida opened its wings.  I was glad to be able to create the final image using the Rule of Thirds and was also pleased that the shorebirds in the background did not distract from the flamingo.  ISO 1250, f/10, 1/4000  / Canon 7D II, Sigma 150-600 Contemporary Lens

In this case when I shot this Yellow Warbler and used the thirds rule, there were pros and cons. The pro is that I could see the tip of the branch, which created nice balance and closure.  However, the bird is a bit small in the field. So I decided to break the rule and center the bird.  Ideally, I could have negotiated with the warbler and got him to move up the branch a bit. That wasn’t happening though!  :-).

Talk about missing a shot! I got the settings right but the autofocus on my camera has lots to be desired. 

One of the things I really enjoy is photographing the birds that come to my backyard. Sometimes they get close enough for a nice portrait without worrying about the "rules". But they are just guidelines.

I try to follow the "rules" especially rule of thirds as I find it creates a more pleasing photo. But I am perfectly happy to break rules - sometimes it works for the particular image and sometimes, it is all one can achieve especially when shooting fast moving animals or birds. I also prefer to give my subjects more room in front to move into but if I don't have time to compose that way, I am comfortable so long as there is some room in front of the subject. My preference is to shoot at f/5.6 or larger apertures to create an out-of-focus background but again, for fast moving birds or animals I will use f/8 or f/11 to ensure the subject stays in focus. The photos, of the Frogmouth and Chimango Caracara, are all examples of nicely blurred backgrounds. The Tui illustrates a common background when shooting birds - featureless blue sky and also is an example of shooting upward in lieu of at eye level - fairly common as birds roost in high places.

Regarding crafting great bird photos in general. Making camera adjustments  such as exposure compensation, ISO, aperture or shutter speed. Please elaborate a little regarding the possibility of missing a shot while making a camera adjustment (one possibility would be to have two cameras available)and the possibility to make adjustments post production using editing software.