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AlanB313

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I've been working on some more night birding. Here are a few photos to share, I'm learning so any comments welcome! I'll make a few observations of my own on successes or "needs work" categories but feel free to add!

For the more recent poorwill, I took my TC off with the intention of getting close enough for 300mm. My 500mm PF is getting repaired at Nikon. These are only lightly cropped. The older poorwill shot I have posted before (sorry about the re-post) but I wanted to show it in context to the new ones.

Successes:
  1. Finding the birds! More level terrain in the right habitat seems better for photographing. Trying to photograph downhill didn't work well. I haven't found them in a visible position uphill. Moonlit nights are better.
  2. Getting closer. Both subjects here took a slow, careful approach. For the poorwill, about 20 mins. The Western Toad was a little more "compliant".
Needs work:
  1. I didn't notice I had my aperture set at f/5.6! I intended to use f/4 for both subjects. I was so excited about getting really close I didn't pay enough attention to my camera. Rookie mistake.
  2. At the same time I didn't notice that my ISO was very manageable. On previous occasions in similar conditions it was above 10000. I could have sped up my shutter to 1/250 or more. Fortunately I was able to lay flat on the trail with my camera on my fist on the ground. I didn't take a beanbag, but will next time.
  3. For illumination, I'm using flashlights rather than a flash. Constant light seems to help. When I turn the light off, then on, the bird is gone. So I'm concerned the flash may only give me a few chances, but I'll try it. At least this time my ISO didn't go through the roof. Probably because we were pretty close. The older photo is with car headlights from a distance.
  4. I had my wife holding the flashlight to illuminate the bird. I should have had her move around so the shadow would be directly behind the bird. Next time I'll take the LED flashlights we used, but also take an incandescent flashlight to get a warmer color. The LED lights help find the birds in the distance.
  5. On some of the poorwill photos I should have had my wife open the flashlight beam up rather than a direct spot light. The shadow wouldn't be so harsh.
  6. I'm going to buy Steve's LRC book and move into that program rather than just using NX Studio. Maybe I'll be able to edit for a little more warmth in the lighting.
So, I have some work to do, but I'm happy with progress in finding and getting closer!
Thanks in advance for any comments, Alan
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aolander said:
Amazing you can find these little guys. Good work!
Click to expand...
Thanks! There were a bunch of nights where all we get to see are gleaming eyes and a bird quickly hopping into the brush....warmer nights seem to help as insect activity is greater. That's why I got so excited when I was able to get close that I didn't mind my camera settings well enough.
But I was happy that I finally had some images to share after seeing so many fantastic ones here on the forum. And learning from the discussions.
 
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