Whatbird.com

About a month ago I chastised myself and by implication "we" birders in general... for not taking advantage of local birds in our collective areas that are "Rare" in other areas.

The subject was Abert's Towhee at the time but then I thought about the Hummingbirds that we have in Arizona.  As I got into the identification more, began to realize that some of these little buggers are just difficult.  AND some can be identified with better photos.  Matt, was always quoting about "P10 and R5" and I'm scratching my head trying to see the P10 as the "darting devil" makes a banzai pass overhead or comes to the feeder and tucks his wings.  Or even worse the little guy/gals slow their wing rate to a mere 35 flaps a second while they take a drink.  

Photography... must be the answer.  But HOW??? Many of my shots in the field show the wings but mostly as a blur.  

I have been doing some experimentation with strobes and am beginning to see some improving results.  A series of posts will show the progress and techniques.

The first post is the results of positioning three strobes crudely around the feeder.

Focus was an issue as you will see... but look at the wings on this shot.  There is a distinct outline/shape of the wing.

Normally I would not post this stuff but it represents part of my learning process.

Camera Details Nikon D2x, 105mm 2.8 Macro lens, One SB-800 speedlight, 2  Su-r200 lights.  Picture details F2.9,ISO 250 Shutter 1/250 Autofocus on

Fraser

 

The next shot is shot with more care to positioning the strobes and F13.  The smaller aperture helps with the focus and depth of field.  Also this is in manual focus... as I try to predict where the bird will be.  F-13 also limits the light.  Strobes are now set at 1/128 power.   The strobe power is the lowest that it will go. 

Still at ISO 250 and 1/250 speed. 

Beginning to get better results.

Fraser

The next shot is with a black cloth background.... I like this effect but still need more light.  I had to lighten this shot in post processing which adds noise.  Also on this shot More attention to light strobe positioning... problem is that you need to have the flash source close to the bird... but if it is too close then the bird will not come to the feeder.

Same setup as the second post.

Again strobe positioning has been changed and probably why this one shows improvement.

 I like this shot but from a photographic standpoint, there are improvements to be made.

Fraser

This one... I abandoned the black background and repositioned the lights. 

There is too much texture on the background... next time that will be fixed.

Same setup as last.

Fraser

This will be the last post tonight, and the only change here is Camera angle.

Fraser

Well one more for tonight.  The Identification of the bird is the driving force in the photography.  While not diminishing the challenge and the fun of achieving better results, still the bird and it's identity is the objective.  The last two shots show the tail clearly and if you look at the outer tail feather on the white bottom portion, there is a black center to the feather.  This is a distinctive mark for the Immature Male Anna.  Just imagine trying to pick out this field mark while looking through your field glasses at a Bonsai bomber moving from one flower to the next.

The next improvement for this type of strobe shooting is more light, and do a little more experimentation with light positioning.  A back light would be nice I think and If I can solve the light problem I'll try that next.  I'm going to be eating beans for quite a while... I'm afraid.

Fraser

Photgog:

The strobe power is the lowest that it will go. 

Still at ISO 250 and 1/250 speed. 

Two things in the quote that I don't get.  Why, if you are buying another light are you setting the current lights at the lowest it will go?

If you are trying to get the finest detail, why not force an ISO of 100 and compensate accordingly?

What are you seeing in your shots that make you think that you need a back light?

 

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Latest Birds: Black-throated Green Warbler, Pine Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Rufous-backed Robin, Crissal Thrasher

Matt... There are two ways to stop movement... in this case to stop the wings.  One way is to use extremely fast shutter speed.  My camera will go up to 1/8000 sec shutter speed.  This might work fine but with fast shutter speed you need a lot of light.   The light requirement of course is Flash.  My camera will not coordinate  flash with any shutter speed faster that 1/250 of a second.  It can be set lower/slower but that is an experiment that I have not done yet.

The second way to freeze movement is with the strobiscopic effect.  Photographers for years have been using strobes with film to freeze motion.  You may recall seeing bullets being shot and photographed... to my amazement and enjoyment.  In this case Strobe photography is my only option... without having to buy more stuff.  I already have strobe flashes, one big one and two smaller.  These are remotely controlled, wirelessly, and syncronized as to flash duration and amplitude (volume) of flash.

The strobe time duration is minimized by setting the strobes on the minimum volume of flash.  In other words, by using the lowest setting I get the maximun opportunity to freeze the wing flap.

The problem is that I have three things working against themselves.  Smaller aperture help with the depth of field but need more light.  Minimun strobe output give me the shortest time duration but chokes me on the amount of light available for a Hi F-Stop photograph.  The other need that the photographer is trying to fill is detail in the shot.  A slower ISO helps with this detail ... but here we go again... more light is needed.  MO, MO light.

Back lighting... well this might be a good thing, maybe not.  In portrait photography, there can be some kind of magic achieved by having the hair line illuminated and by strategically placing secondary light sources.  The picture with the black background... might be enhanced with  a silver lining showing the outline of the wings.  Don't get me wrong here... I'm happy to have taken these shots and will continue to take different combinations.  I guess that it is like having a great glass of wine.  That glass from Napa Valley was great but what about the wine from Sonoma Valley.  Surfers are always looking for the perfect wave... you get the picture.

There are at least two lines of logic here, one to capture the bird in a great wildlife setting... or the "National Geographic" shot... another is to most accurately document the the bird.  Control of the background and creative lighting might be the way to achieve the "live shot documentation".

I don't want to get away from the demands of wildlife photography... in this case birds... the First objective is to get a good enough photo to identify the bird... or a ONE rating... the second objective is to get a Great shot of the bird... or a TWO... the third objective is that National Geographic shot... or on my scale... a THREE.

Thanks for the question.

Fraser

 

I now get the strobe minimization, very interesting.

OK, stand this on its head.  If you can go 1/8000, why bother using a strobe to stop the movement?  Just put on a spot light and go to a higher shutter speed. (?) 

You have given me an idea.  The next time I set up a shoot I am going to use my construction spot lights under the bird as I always shoot in full sun.  (probably doesn't work otherwise I would have read about it)

So to summarize, in order to lower the ISO you need to use 5 more strobes for the increased light demand.  Stop eating beans and go to rice.  

Regarding the "3" shot, easily covered.  Use an f-stop that blurs the background, break off the plastic perch on the feeder and replace it with a twig, you're done.

 

 

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Latest Birds: Black-throated Green Warbler, Pine Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Rufous-backed Robin, Crissal Thrasher

Thank you for the question... remember here that this is a learning process for me... and as I researched something about the strobe timing... I found out that the camera can synchronize the strobe at 1/8000 of a sec.  I took a photo and explored the EXIF data and indeed the shutter speed was 1/8000. 

Stay tuned for the next rendition/expermintation which perhaps might be tomorrow night... but it has been so hot here... 115 today, that I see few Hummers now even in the evening.

The idea of flooding the area with big lights might work... but remember that it is fairly important that you retain the ability to attract a hummer to the feeder.

Fraser

This morning, before the heat flurry here in Arizona there was/is quite a bit of activity at the feeder.  I captured two shots and present them here for comparison.  This shot was taken with a shutter speed of 1/8000 and ISO of 100, F-stop of 3.2...  there is plenty of light here but the wings are not frozen.  Also the strobe is set to "Through the lens metering" 

Fraser

The second shot, captured within seconds of the first... shows an apparent focus issue but interestingly enough shows almost an identical pose... It appears that with the flash speed is slow enough for the bird to react and recoil from the feeder.  It is not scientific to conclude this yet but these little wing beaters are very quick and can react faster than WE can even see.  Again ISO 100, Shutter 1/8000 three strobe flash, F3.2. 

Fraser

First of all, this is an interesting read.  Thanks for sharing!

 

Photgog:

Matt... There are two ways to stop movement... in this case to stop the wings.  One way is to use extremely fast shutter speed.  My camera will go up to 1/8000 sec shutter speed.  This might work fine but with fast shutter speed you need a lot of light.   The light requirement of course is Flash.  My camera will not coordinate  flash with any shutter speed faster that 1/250 of a second.  It can be set lower/slower but that is an experiment that I have not done yet.

 

From what I've read, the D2x supports Auto FP high speed sync, but you have to enable it via custom setting e1 (set to 1/250 (Auto FP) ).  It also only works with SB-600/800/900 flashes, so depending on what you have, it might not be an option for you.

EDIT:  Never mind, I guess you already figured this all out  

Anyway, here's an article that explains it in detail:

http://www.rpphoto.com/howto/view.asp?articleID=1026

 

--"J"

Thanks lyceel... yes the flash coordination I did get... but don't assume that I know it all... and feel free to contribute again.  This is a learning process for me and the results are beginning to improve.  There is another big flash coming to address light issues but it will not be here until the end on next week. 

For now more from this morning.  This time with a different lens.  70-200 mm 2.8. 

Strobes back to minimum and F11, ISO 100, 1/160 speed.

The wings are not fully frozen but detail is improving on the bird.

Fraser

This is the same picture cropped to show more detail.

Fraser