Well, was heading to meet the rest of the CS group for today's SBG outing and just happened to pass by Heliconia Walk when I saw a flash of movement in the corner of my eye - looked and realised it was a sunbird - had to stop and take a few shots as I hadn't seen sunbirds at SBG before.
Wanted to share what I learnt from taking these type of shots for the first time and getting some advice from the experienced birders here. All shots taken handheld with my consumer grade 70-300mm lens.
First thing I realised was - these little buggers are QUICK! and don't stay still for too long, so you have to be pretty fast to be able to get a shot of them.
This one just left vapour trails for me to sniff when I tried to take a shot of it.
#1: "Catch me if you can.... haha, too slow"
They're also very shy and sensitive to motion, so no loud noises or sudden movements. You need to patiently wait for them to land and slowly creep into range. If you're shooting handheld with a consumer grade lens, don't be afraid to raise the ISO to 400 to get acceptable shutter speeds as they are mainly in the shade - got quite a few of blur shots handheld. About the only time they'll be in one place for a while is to have a drink
#2: "Boy, all this camera dodging has made me thirsty!"
#3: "OK, where's my next drink ?"
Because they are so skittish, you don't get much time to frame and compose your shot properly, so it's often a case of sneaking up on them and firing away and hoping to get a few good shots and doing the cropping later.
#4: "Hah, caught you!"
#5: "Defying gravity..."
All in all, had a fun time this morning - hope to catch some more in the future.
Constructive comments appreciated.
Wanted to share what I learnt from taking these type of shots for the first time and getting some advice from the experienced birders here. All shots taken handheld with my consumer grade 70-300mm lens.
First thing I realised was - these little buggers are QUICK! and don't stay still for too long, so you have to be pretty fast to be able to get a shot of them.
This one just left vapour trails for me to sniff when I tried to take a shot of it.
#1: "Catch me if you can.... haha, too slow"
They're also very shy and sensitive to motion, so no loud noises or sudden movements. You need to patiently wait for them to land and slowly creep into range. If you're shooting handheld with a consumer grade lens, don't be afraid to raise the ISO to 400 to get acceptable shutter speeds as they are mainly in the shade - got quite a few of blur shots handheld. About the only time they'll be in one place for a while is to have a drink
#2: "Boy, all this camera dodging has made me thirsty!"
#3: "OK, where's my next drink ?"
Because they are so skittish, you don't get much time to frame and compose your shot properly, so it's often a case of sneaking up on them and firing away and hoping to get a few good shots and doing the cropping later.
#4: "Hah, caught you!"
#5: "Defying gravity..."
All in all, had a fun time this morning - hope to catch some more in the future.
Constructive comments appreciated.
