Shooting the Bird Feeder

When you think of a wildlife photographer you’ll often imagine a person laying on the ground shooting from hundreds of feet away with equipment that’s both the size and cost of your house. Well, that may be what it takes for a lot of shots, but getting close up with the birds doesn’t require a super long lens and a guille suit. All you’ll need is a tripod, a camera that you can set off remotely, and the right bait and you’ll be showing people the bird in no time.

Setup:

• Bird Feeder – The best type of feeder will be something that’s mobile, stable, and a height that you’ll be able to match with your tripod. You’ll get better results if the feeder is the type where you can predict exactly where the birds will perch and the direction they’ll be facing. Learn about the birds in your area and you may be able to use different types of feed to attract the specific types you want to photograph.
• Choose Your Background – Your background will make or break your shot. Be sure that you don’t have anything distracting that will detract from the image. A shallow depth of field will blur most any background into pleasing tones, but if you’re unable to achieve this effect, the selection of your background will be even more important.
• Lighting – Using a flash here is going to be difficult (explained further below) so be sure that the area the birds will be in is well illuminated. The best illumination will come from placing the camera between the feeder and the sun (but avoid casting a shadow on your subject.)
• A Place to Hide – Concealment is always a good thing with wildlife photography, but since we’re operating so close to the feeder, stealth is extremely important. The birds will quickly acclimate to the presence of your camera and tripod, but odds are they won’t be as comfortable around you. Find some cover and use a remote trigger to set off your camera.

Above is a setup I’ve used a few times. The bird feeder is a very simple design which works out great because it’s easy to move and a good height to use with my tripod in a low configuration. The circular rim means the birds can land from any direction, but by covering a section of the feed I can influence the position they’ll end up standing in. The camera has been placed between a wall of the house and a tree to make it not stand out so much (plus being near trees and bushes encourages more birds to visit.) With this setup I can sit inside the house with my wireless remote and watch the feeder through a window. (My big orange assistant loves to help with the watching for birds part, though he could use some work on the stealth part.)

The Exploding Bird Problem

Birds are skiddish. Even when they’ve gotten used to the presence of the camera, they’re instinctively going to fly away when it makes noise or the flash goes off. On most cameras, the frightening part will happen a fraction of a second before the image is captured. That’s enough time for the bird to react and start to fly away resulting in an image of blurry contortions and spread feathers that looks as though your subject has just popped.

The fix for this of course to take the picture without startling the bird, but that’s easier said than done. Here are some things to watch for and how to deal with them:

• Mirror Slap Noise – On a dSLR, the mirror needs to move up and out of the way of the sensor before a picture can be taken. This motion is what makes the first part of the very recognizable SLR camera sound. Use your camera’s mirror lock up function. If you don’t have this feature, more distance from the feeder is likely your only option.
• Focusing Noise – Even those whisper quiet internal focusing motors will create enough noise to startle most birds at the feeder. Avoid this by having your camera set to manual focus. Some cameras may also generate a beep to indicate they’re focused and ready to take a picture. This should also be disabled.
• AF Assist Light – Many cameras by default will be using some kind of light to assist with range finding and to focus in low light conditions. Make sure this light does not come on before the picture is taken. If it does, disable the feature or cover the light with something so that it can’t be seen.
• Preflash – If you’re using a flash be sure that you’re not using a setting that will emit any flashes before the picture is actually being taken. The red-eye reduction feature will emit a series of preflashes to constrict a person’s pupils which will reduce the amount of light reflected and thereby reduce or eliminate red-eye. Also, TTL flash systems will emit preflash to determine correct exposure settings. The flash, noise, and delay from these kinds of features will most certainly result in an exploded bird.

Camera Technique:

• Fast Shutter Speed – For most shots, a fast shutter speed is going to be the order of the day. How fast depends on the reaction time of the bird, but I’ve found that 1/500 is usually plenty fast to produce a nice, sharp image. At that speed you’ll need a lot of light or a high ISO for a good exposure.
• Manual Focus – If your feeder is stable and the bird lands in roughly the same spot each time then your focus doesn’t need to change. Avoid all of the issues caused by autofocus by setting the focus manually.
• Wide Aperture (But Not Too Wide!) – Having a wide aperture (smaller F number) will allow more light in making it easier to achieve a high shutter speed at a lower ISO. It will also narrow your depth of field and give you the blurry background look. That said, make sure that your DOF is wide enough so that your subject fits! The way I check is to stick two twigs into the feed (one leaning torward, the other leaning away) to mark the boundaries that the bird will sit inside. I then adjust my aperture and focal point so that both sticks are in focus. If you can’t get both sticks in focus, you can move the camera further from the feeder to increase the depth of field.
• Remote Trigger – A wireless remote (meaning that it uses radio and goes through obstacles, as opposed to infrared which requires line of sight) is a much better option here as gives you more flexibility in how you choose to hide.
• Sneak Attack – Eliminate as many causes of bird explosion (described earlier) as you can to obtain a natural looking image. Lock the mirror up, turn off the beeps, cover the lights, focus manually, and bring the cat inside.
• Know Your Flash Limitations – Flash Sync is the fastest shutter speed you can achieve while using a flash. Why this happens is a post unto itself, but basically it’s a complication between how long the brightest part of the flash lasts and the mechanics of how your shutter works. On most cameras I’ve used the max sync is in the 1/250 range which probably won’t be fast enough to freeze a startled bird. Check your manual to determine your camera’s sync speed. If it’s slower than 1/500 you may be disappointed with the results.