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| © Shaun Cunningham |
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6. Backlight right. Swans look dramatic when backlit, especially when splashing in the water against dark backgrounds. Sunrise and sunset are good times to silhouette birds against dramatic colors. Look for ripples, patterns, and reflections in the water to add further impact to your image.
7. Act quickly. Waterfowl can be fast, and often require speeds of 1/500 sec or less to freeze their motion. Don't be afraid to boost your ISO to keep a fast shutter speed. I often shoot at ISO 400. But don't overlook using slow shutter speeds for creative images. For instance, if you're panning birds in flight, try something in the 1/15- to 1/125-sec range. The idea is to render the bird sharply while blurring the background.
8. Expose accurately. Preset your exposure as soon as you arrive at your location. Either spotmeter a midtone or use automatic exposure with evaluative metering. Darker- or lighter-toned birds may require some exposure compensation. I'll often work up to 1 stop in 1/3-stop increments to either side of the meter reading. And digital shooters have the advantage of not only instant image replay, but also the histogram. Study it! I like the histogram to stack up as far to the right as possible without clipping the highlights.
9. Predict your focus. When photographing waterfowl in flight, use your camera's predictive-focus mode, and lock the sensor onto the bird as early as possible (usually this requires a half-press on the shutter button). Then, continue to hold the sensor on the bird as it moves toward you. I try to keep the sensor on the bird's head or neck while shooting. To help with faster focus, set the focus limiter on your lens (if you have one) -- that is, tell the camera to search for subjects only beyond a certain distance. This will keep your lens from wasting time hunting for subjects in the foreground.
10. Make space. When photographing birds in flight, don't center them in the viewfinder. That makes for a static image. Instead, give them room to move in the frame. Leave some open space ahead of the bird -- this will imply that it is going somewhere.
Shaun Cunningham, 52, is a retired optician turned pro nature photographer based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. See more at www.shaun-d-cunningham.com.
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