Puffed_Up (4-500)
A male Red Bishop frequenting our garden. This bird is transforming from its non-breeding to breeding plumage. When the transformation is completed the Red Bish...
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A male Red Bishop frequenting our garden. This bird is transforming from its non-breeding to breeding plumage. When the transformation is completed the Red Bishop will be black and red.
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Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Aperture f/6.3 ISO 6400 Shutter 1/2500 Focal Length 421/1 
Garsfontein, Gauteng, ZA
Oct, 2015Views
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Fall Award 2020
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my garden.Time
More often than not, when "shooting" birds, opportunity presents itself anytime of the day. The birds and their behaviour are unpredictable. In this case the photo was taken on 23 September 2015 at 12:58. Although this is early spring in South Africa, the sun is harsh but that was the time this bird decided to do his thing.Lighting
My first priority is to get a sharp shot with some catch light in the eye if at all possible. Fortunately we have three palm trees that provide a reasonable shadow for that time of day. I prefer not to use use fill flash, but rather make use of the AWB and similarly for the ISO.Equipment
I use a Canon 7D mark II and Sigma 150-600mm (C) lens protected by a Hoya UV filter and that's it.Inspiration
My personal goal is to photograph 500 diffirent Southern African bird species. In my case this usually results in the first shot of a specific species to be just that, a record. This is then followed with more dedicated searching and looking to improve on the first photograph in terms of quality of the picture and the behaviour of the bird. The picture depicts a male Souther Red Bishop at the start of the breeding season busy transforming his feathers. The breast feathers and the front of the head becomes totally black with red feathers around the neck and back of the head. The "puffing" of the feathers is typical during the mating season to attract females.Editing
I do my utmost to avoid any post-processing simply because my knowledge of these programmes are extremely limited. I prefer to show how it came out of the camera! In this case I was forced to crop the photo to get rid of the tail feathers of another bird.In my camera bag
I use a Canon 7D mark II and Sigma 150-600mm (C) lens. Sometimes I use a tripod or mono-pod but most of the time I have a bean bag over the window of the car or in the bird hide for stability.Feedback
I firmly believe in a thorough knowledge of your equipment and subject. This knowledge, supplemented with dedication and practice will stand anyone in good stead. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, but then learn from your mistakes. Even if you use a compact camera, get away from the auto settings asap. My "recipe" is a manual setting of the shutter speed (1/2500) and the aperture (F6.3) high speed continuous shooting and spot metering while AWB and auto ISO compensates for the rest. Even at an ISO of 6400 the noise in this picture is almost invisible. It is argued by some that bird photography is the most difficult genre in the field of photography. So, if you like a challenge, go for it!
