Birds
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Birds are an obvious subject for photography; they come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours, they are in every location, they perform a wide variety of activities ... and they can fly. For those that become addicted bird watching never tires and many there are who combine their love of birds with their love of photography. However, just because other people do it is no reason not to do it oneself, and so it is that I have enjoyed many hours photographing birds and processing the shots.

Photographing birds however is a challenging task because they are normally reluctant to let you close and are often fairly small, meaning that a decent telephoto lens is essential. 300mm on a cropped sensor lets you in the door, but for the small birds and the very shy birds you really need double that. You also need IS or a tripod, since exposures of at least 1/300, (the minimum to handhold a 300mm lens), may not achievable in less than bright sunshine. A tripod is no good for the kind of walking around that birdos normally do so it's a monopod or IS.

Photographing birds in flight is a great joy when you pull it off, but it is rather tricky. Depending on the size of the bird you may need a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec or even faster and they move so fast across the field of view that it can be difficult to keep them centered. Then there is the issue of focus, and a quality predictive servo mode is essential for sharp results. Really good shots of birds in flight are very cool, but they demand an excellent camera and good technique, (probably acquired through much practice).

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Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
1/640 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Mixed Family" (Portland, 2006)

Ducks are common the world over so I didn't expect this shot to be of any interest, but there is something about the composition that is pleasing.

Perhaps it is the contrasting colours and textures of the ducks, the water and the reeds.
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
1/500 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Swans" (Portland, 2006)

The lagoon in town has a bird hide on its shore, which the swans are very used to, so it was no trouble to creep in their and take a few shots at full zoom.

Even then, the amount of cropping required to give them the necessary prominence is excessive, demonstrating that small zooms just won't cut it with birds.
Picture Canon 400D
Tamron 70-300
300mm (480mm)
f/8
1/500 sec
ISO 400
A Mode

Full Size

"Grass Parrots" (Lake Hamilton, 2008)

This was one of my first attempts at bird photography using a 300mm telephoto lens. Unfortunately the lens/body combination had a bad tendency to front focus. This was one of the best results from a bag of failures.

*Note that I had to keep the ISO at 400 to keep the shutter speed high enough to avoid camera shake, and this was a sunny day!
Picture Canon 400D
Tamron 70-300
300mm (480mm)
f/5.6
1/500 sec
ISO 800
A Mode

Full Size

"New Holland Honeyeater" (Portland, 2008)

I just had to capture this New Holland Honey eater amongst these orange flowers in the late afternoon light. I had to use ISO 800 to avoid camera shake, which meant a slight image degradation, but better than no shot!
Picture Canon 400D
Tamron 70-300
300mm (480mm)
f/5.6
1/1000 sec
ISO 400
A Mode

Full Size

"Great Egret" (Lake Hamilton, 2008)

The Canon 400D - Tamron 70-300 combination simply wouldn't focus properly and most of my shots were failures. This one was almost in focus and the composition was so good that I kept it. The white Egret against the grey water and green Sedge gives the picture a pleasing serenity (IMO).
Picture Canon 400D
Tamron 70-300
300mm (480mm)
f/5.6
1/1000 sec
ISO 400
A Mode

Full Size

"Female Magpie Lark" (Lake Hamilton, 2008)

The focal plane positioning in this photo was about as good as it got for this lens/body combo, (this was after I gave the body the famous mirror tweak). Focus is still not really sharp but it's ok. Catching the bird with lunch in its beak was a bonus!
Picture Canon 400D
Tamron 70-300
300mm (480mm)
f/8
1/500 sec
ISO 400
A Mode

Full Size

"Pied Cormorant" (Lake Hamilton, 2008)

When I took this shot I thought the focus was pretty good, it wasn't until I got the D60 that I found out what sharp really was. You can read about my adventurers with Canon's congenital poor auto focus and Tamron's poor quality control elsewhere on this site. Still, it's not a bad shot...
Picture Canon 400D
Tamron 70-300
300mm (480mm)
f/8
1/180 sec
ISO 400
A Mode

Full Size

"Raven in the Branches" (Lake Hamilton, 2008)

I like the Australian Raven and this is probably still my best shot of one. Of course, the problem is getting feather detail when they're all so black. I used a little lighten shadows to bright out the detail. Love the white eye.
Picture Canon 400D
Tamron 70-300
92mm (147mm)
f/5.6
1/350 sec
ISO 400
A Mode

Full Size

"Peacock in the Gardens" (Hamilton, 2008)

The Peacock is without doubt one of the most spectacular birds on the planet, even without its tail being erect it makes a worthy subject. Because of the shape of the bird a bit more DoF would have been beneficial, but I was intent on keeping up the shutter speed and thus kept the aperture wide. More proof that IS is essential on any lens longer than 50mm.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/5.6
1/500 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Chestnut Teal Family" (Portland, 2008)

One of my first real world shots with the Nikon 70-300 VR. The female is in focus but the male is slightly out. This is always going to be a problem with bird group shots unless they line up in a neat row. You can also see some feather movement which demonstrates the importance of high shutter speed in many bird shots. Ducks are constantly moving and 1/1000s would have been better.

Anyway it's a reasonable shot, showing the male's distinctive plumage and the family setting.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/5.6
1/250 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"White Faced Heron" (Portland, 2008)

This is the money shot; when I saw this I decided to buy the lens. Although not prime sharp, the level of detail is very good and certainly much better than could be achieved with the 400D. Don't forget this is at full telephoto and full aperture!

IMO the background perfectly suits the subject; the green algae on the rocks matches the bright yellow of its legs and the grey of the water goes with the grey plumage. Probably still as good as any of my bird shots.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/8
1/125 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Royal Spoonbill" (Portland, 2008)

A spectacular bird isn't it! When you have a subject this good any reasonable shot will be worth keeping. The background and the reflection are pretty damn good too.

There is a bit of motion blur from the beak, and I would have done better to have held the shutter speed higher. I was using f/8 to get a sharper image but should have opened the iris and/or raised the ISO. This illustrates the importance of constantly checking the parameters.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/8
1/200 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Silver Gull on the Bridge" (Portland, 2008)

Silver Gulls make good subjects because they are attractive, medium size, they remain still when at rest and they let you get close.

The focus in this shot is as good as it gets. Apart from the superb sharpness, (at f/8), check the focal plane positioning on the railing: absolutely perfect! This is the way it should be. Thanks Nikon!
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
220mm (330mm)
f/5.6
1/320 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Magpie on the Nature Strip" (Portland, 2008)

Magpies make good subjects for the same reasons as Silver Gulls. This one let me get very close.

Like the Silver Gull on the bridge this is fantastically sharp, in this case because it wasn't at full telephoto. Check the detail in the plumage! I upped the exposure later to bring out the eye colour. You'll need to look at the full version to see it, but it's there!
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/8
1/160 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Spur Winged Plover" (Portland, 2008)

Not in my opinion the handsomest of birds, but the Spur Winged Plover has its own distinctive character in more ways than one. I think this shot works particularly well on account of the unusual contrasting background.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/8
1/320 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Starling in the Willow Myrtle" (Portland, 2008)

Starlings are not popular with bird observers in Australia due to their aggressive feral attitude which forces out the more peaceful native birds. Nevertheless there is no denying that they have a attractive call and that the male in his mating plumage of metallic blue and black cuts a handsome little figure.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/8
1/400 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Mating on the Wire" (Portland, 2008)

Catching birds mating isn't going to happen everyday, so when you see the chance you simply have to take it.

Birds move their wings quickly when they mean business, and mating is a case in point. 1/400 sec is certainly not fast enough to freeze the Starling's wings. Again, my excuse is that I wanted maximum sharpness but perhaps I would have been better served with greater speed.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/8
1/640 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Silver Gull's Head" (Portland, 2008)

You've gotta get close to get a bird's head shot! This doesn't happen much even with a 300mm lens on an APS sensor. Silver Gulls are one of the few that will let you get this shot. Look at the bird's expression and the detail in its face. That's the beauty of photography: when you get something you can't see with the naked eye.

And sharp! You can see each tiny feather round the eye! If your SLR can't get that detail, then sell it, and buy a modern Nikon.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
300mm (450mm)
f/8
1/1000 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Silver Gull Flying" (Portland, 2008)

Well this isn't the greatest shot of a bird in flight, but it IS sharp and it's the best I've got so far. As I said in the intro, this shot is tricky and requires practice and correct technique. No doubt I will add better ones later as they come to hand.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 70-300 VR
240mm (360mm)
f/8
1/400 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Gulls on the Rocks" (Portland, 2008)

Any one who thinks that all Gulls are the same should look at this pic. Each gull is physically different and has its own personality.

I put this shot in because I love the group dynamic, the group has more character than the individuals. The simplicity of the composition accentuates this, there being nothing to distract you.