Newbie here - please help :)

[LincsSteve]

Hi all

Steve from South Lincolnshire here, I am new to the forum and am after some help please.

I am looking to get more seriously into bird watching and photography and would love to have some good places to begin the learning process.

I have just invested in a Canon 500D and am waiting for my CANON EF 400mm F5.6 L USM lens to come so am ready to get out and start!

Any tips for a beginner on using the equipment above and also some good sights to go and get 'shooting' would be great.

Thanks in advance for your time in reading this and I look forward to reading any suggestions that may come.

All the best,

Steve

[big bill]

Hello Steve ,welcome to the site firstly,as to your photography aspect of bird photography starting out if yopu have a garden I would start there and practice on the birds that come into your garden,using a tripod if required to ensure sharp and shake free images if not go to your local park and practice there.
I hope this has been of some help I have the Canon 400D and still shoot quite a lot in the garden improving on images that I have on file and in different surroundings.
Best of luck

[nigel_b]

Hi and welcome Steve. Practise, practise and more practise. Looking forward to seeing your results.

[squishy]

practice, and get close to the subject! Even with a nice shiny 400mm L (i'm envious ) you'll still need to get close to get the kind of detail that makes photos stand out

also, a good mode for general birds is aperture priority mode (where you set the aperture and the camera does the shutter speed). for the absolute best sharpness that lens is capable of (and indeed, pretty much any lens) you should stop down the aperture a couple of stops

[Ollie]

Hi Steve and welcome.

You have already been given some good advice by other members. Another thing I would mention is go to your local parks where the birds are already used to having people around them and often allow a closer approach than would be normal.

I use the Canon 400mm f5.6L USM lens and you have made a wise choice. It's a cracking lens and capable of excellent results. If you need any help with settings just shout, but as squishy said aperture mode is the way to go for bird photography. Basically you set the aperture value which depending on how close you are from the subject needs to be between F5.6 and F8. The camera takes care of the shutter speed itself.

There is a bit more to it than that but basics first. I would also recommend a a monopod or tripod to get the best from this combination because the 400mm F5.6L USM lens has no image stabilisation built in so some form of support is advisable.

As I said if you need any further help just say so.

[BlueJam]

One of the most obvious things is to get in as close to the subject as you can. It is also one of the most difficult things! Massive improvements in your results when you manage to start doing this though.

[squishy]

if you are hand holding, try to keep the shutter speed faster than 1/600th sec.

a general rule for hand holding is not to let the shutter speed go slower than the focal length (so at 200mm you want faster than 1/200th sec), and on your APS-C, the 400mm is actually multiplied to over 600mm

have fun

[LincsSteve]

Hi all

Many thanks for the replies

I am still reading the Canon manual at mo and trying to get my head round its features .

Once the 400mm lens arrives I will then begin the serious task of practising like correctly advised. Rest assured I will be back asking questions, please excuse me if when I do they are pretty basic, I am at a low level of experience with this type of equipment .

All the best

Steve

[LincsSteve]

Hi all,

I can now show you some of my first images taken with my new camera equipment as listed above.

Please feel free to comment on the images, I want to learn more and more to acheive the best images of birds I can.

So here goes!!

Mallard


Swan


Long Tailed Tit


Great Tit


Blackbird


I look forward to your comments

I forgot to add that the images apart from the Swan are cropped and no other adjustments have been made.

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by LincsSteve

Hi all,

I can now show you some of my first images taken with my new camera equipment as listed above.

Please feel free to comment on the images, I want to learn more and more to acheive the best images of birds I can.

So here goes!!

I look forward to your comments

I forgot to add that the images apart from the Swan are cropped and no other adjustments have been made.

Hi Steve.

Your first images are pretty good. The Long-tailed Tit and the Great Tit are a little over exposed and this has lost the detail in the whites.

There is no exif information in your photos so I can't tell what settings you used. As a general rule though if you are shooting birds like Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits with patches of lighter colouring you need to under expose your photo by at least - 1/3rd of a stop sometimes - 2/3rd's depending on the lighting conditions at the time.

As I previously mentioned I use the Canon 400mm F6.6L USM lens and I routinely set the camera to under expose all my shots by- 1/3rd of a stop. Under exposing is better than over exposing. If the shot is under exposed you can adjust the exposure in your software much more easily than an over exposed shot.

All photographs from a DSLR will also benefit from a little sharpening in software as well

Apart from that you are doing ok. Keep shooting and posting on here for advice and you will be fine.