One of the most beautiful birds I saw in the Pantanal was this orange-backed troupial. As usual, small birds that fly incredibly fast are incredibly difficult to capture. This one kept coming to a feeder in front of the lodge where I was staying, and I know that sounds like it would be easy to capture. Well, yes and no. It was easy to get the bird drinking from the feeder, but who wants a feeder in the picture? Answer: no one. So, first I had to get a picture of it where I could then position it -- using Photoshop -- on a natural looking background. Then, I really wanted to get a shot of it in flight. That took almost two hours, and all I could get was the bird flying up to the feeder. So, both of these photos required the background environment to be changed digitally if I wanted attractive images (I used the pen tool in PS to cut them out). There was no other possible way to do it because the bird was lightning fast when it flew and it was impossible to capture it such that it filled a significant part of the frame and was in focus. My settings for the flight picture were 1/6400th of a second, f/5, 4000 ISO. In retrospect, I should have used more depth of field because the tail and the front wing is sharp but the eye isn't. Still, given the difficulty of getting this, I'm happy with it.
3 Comments
Nov 27, 2016, 9:06:11 AM
Jim - Ian -- may I use your question and my answer for the Dec. issue of my eMagazine, Photo Insights? If so, I would need your city and state, please. Thanks. Jim
Nov 27, 2016, 9:04:54 AM
Jim - Hi Ian, It's a very good question. The limitation of using flash is distance. If the flash-to-subject distance is significant, the recycle time of the flash slows down a lot. That means you won't be able to get sharp pictures. If you can place the flash close to a nest or feeder, then it could work. You'd need a remote trigger, of course.
Nov 27, 2016, 8:53:32 AM
Ian - Hi Jim, On the subject of fast flying small birds, would a slow burst of flash been an asset to freezing the speed, or was too fast for that. I tried this method of a pre placed flash with radio control at a feeding station for finches and Blue Tit's etc. that I came across at the back of a road side café, so it was an impromptu shoot. They were incredible to catch on the wing(that should read "try and catch") the shots I got from this off the cuff shoot were not of a very high standard, I didn't have much time as I was travelling North to get Landscape shots which was my primary objective. I will strive to perfect the technique required to catch these illusive little cratures.