Cockatoo
A cockatoo on a tree branch.
A cockatoo on a tree branch.
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Aug, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at Grants Picnic Grounds in the Dandenong Ranges which is in Australia. People go there to walk around while being surrounded by the trees, feed the local birds that come down and also to visit the gift shop. It is a great place to have a coffee and snack then do some photography.Time
It was afternoon so the challenge was the white feathers of this cockatoo, I love a challenge. Seeing as I didn't have a photo yet of a cockatoo I was super excited when I got home and discovered I had captured it on a branch that actually looks like a cockatoo has being there (they tend to dig into anything wooden like verandah post etc. which isn't usually liked but I think it gives it more of a natural setting.Lighting
People tend to say the worst time to photograph is midday when the sun is harsh, I think I was somewhat lucky that there was some overhead branches (there was many trees) shading this bird. Having said that, some of the harsh light still got through but I like that it also gave definition to the marks in the tree branch.Equipment
I used the Canon 5D mark 2 with a 70-300mm 4-5.6 lens at 300mm. No tripod or flash.Inspiration
I love nature and I find bird photography a rewarding challenge. I love that you can capture their personality and often find myself drawn to finding new ways to do that. Sometimes I like to get in close and show off all the colour and detail in the bird but here I wanted to capture some of the environment. Sometimes you have to think quick to get the shot, here I was fortunate that the bird stayed for a while and wasn't moving around much.Editing
It was cropped some and I toned down the highlights in camera raw to bring back more detail in the feathers.In my camera bag
Currently I have a Canon 5d mark 2 with a macro lens and the 70-300mm. However, I just purchased an Olympus OMD EM5 mark 2 which I absolutely love because it is small and lightweight and best of all it has amazing image stabilization which may seem like a minor thing and not worth giving up on the 5d mark 2 but I have very shakey hands and this saves me the heartache of missing a shot. I got it with the kit lens which is a 14-150 (which is technically roughly 28-300mm) and a macro 60mm (120mm on 35mm).Feedback
I think when it comes to any photography patience and practice are key but since most of us really just want to start getting the shots we want straight away some things I could advise are, watch for angles when photographing birds on branches, here I liked that the branch goes from almost top right corner to left bottom corner. Keep the aperture to a small number like f4 or 5.6 so that you get the background blur (bokeh), you could try an even smaller number if your lens has the option but you may not get all the bird in focus and if you are using a long lens with a background (the other trees) that is far from the bird, it will pretty much blur out from around f5.6.
