American robin

Japanese white-eye

[500mm, f/6.3, 1/800, ISO1600, +1.67EV]

 

It's my first posting and thanks for your great course Melissa.

Quite often I cannot help but break with the rule of thirds. For example these ducks, mix of Ringed necks ducks with scalps (?), wigeon and gadwalls, are in a line on the lake. I took this image as evidence that they were part of the 2023 autumn migration through the city. Evidence and documentation are my primary goals with such an image. If I can manage a really nice photograph, such as those of real professionals, I am extremely happy and surprised.

More successful with following the rule of thirds and of using the light, angle of view, and way of approach is this photograph of a Swainson's hawk. I had been watching the nest for several years. I knew what time they sort of did their search for food so I took my cameras and tripods to try to photograph them. This is one of the better portraits of a Swainson's hawk. 

These two photos were shot in February when I favored square format and are part of my "post a bird daily" project that I started in January.



This was shot using the rule of thirds.  The image is full frame cropped to square. The birds eye and is 1/3 in from the lower left. The following shot was also originally rule of thirds.



In the detail cropping the obscured eye looks at the viewer from dead center.

Both were shot at 600mm, F4, 1/1250, ISO Auto

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.