Field craft for bird photography

[tessnell]

What would you define as the 5 most important field craft techniques for photographing birds. The photography bit is easy - its getting close enough that is the problem.

[ARGON]

Lots of waiting around involved.

[Maccattack]

Main craft is not to be put off by not finding what you wanted , you will almost always be rewarded for hanging around , not necessarily with what you expected tho.
Keep going back to places and copy stuff you pick up in good forums.
I find the photography bit hard especially if I miss a shot.The other hard bit is keeping your family happy!
Cheers Malcolm

[stevo]

For me patiently sitting in the car using mealworms placed around a natural perch within camera range has worked a treat for me this week lots of shots of Redtarts,nuthatches great tits & robins feeding young even had spotted flycatcher briefly.


Steve.

[Kev Lewis]

Patience, patience, patience, patience and umm pat... Luck

[JeffH]

Originally Posted by Kev Lewis

Patience, patience, patience, patience and umm pat... Luck

Yes indeedy ........and, depending on the species you're after (some are much more tolerant of human presence than others), either a good hide or camo gear and a good knowledge of your subject's habits/behaviour

Jeff

[agrumpycow]

Originally Posted by Kev Lewis

Patience, patience, patience, patience and umm pat... Luck

So that's where I'm going wrong

[eeyore]

patience (as may have already been mentioned, once or twice )
knowledge of your target species
ability to sit or lie still for long periods of time
ability to recognise a good location both from an ecological and photographic point of view
and yeah..luck

[peterjclarke]

There is an old saying that goes something like this...'To become a better nature photographer you first need to become and better naturalist'

Studying your target subject, it's behaviour, habbits etc then plan out what you hope to achiveve and how you hope to do it. I recently photographed a fox and her cubs over about four weeks in a friends garden. I started with my hide about fifteen metres away and put food (catfood and jam) near the den. Then they got used to both the food being put out and the hide. I would spend between three and fours hours mainly around late afternoon/early evening (when the light was on the area I wished to photograph them). Then they got used to being photographed (sound of the shutter) and me being there. I moved the hide closer by about half a metre every second day until I was about five metres away from their den and then started to lay trails of food from the den area where I had been feeding them to the spot I had chosen for my photographs. Of course it took about fifty hours in total but seeing a female fox and her cubs just three metres away was a wonderful experience alone and I did make some nice images. I've posted some of them below but I did not quite get what I wanted and the boldest of the cubs developed a nasty eye infection and it was clear that I would not get the images I wanted with the cubs eye looking so bad. Although Foxes are mamals and you are more interested in birds the same thought process and techniques are involved.

[GME]

Er, not really much help for your thread, but just had to post a reply to Peter as I just love the fox photos, particulary the first one - looks like she's just plotted some mischief and can't wait to carry it out!!

Sorry, but as a new member and an enthusiastic new photographer I had to say they're great.

I think that situation clearly shows how important patience and determination are to get the shots you really want.