Weaver bird in the aloes
At this time of year in the Klein (Little) Karoo area of the Western Cape in South Africa, the birds feed off the pollen in the flowers of the prolific aloes - ...
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At this time of year in the Klein (Little) Karoo area of the Western Cape in South Africa, the birds feed off the pollen in the flowers of the prolific aloes - and get their faces covered in the pollen.
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Jul, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken near a little country town called Calitzdorp in South Africa. We were on holiday, staying on a farm in the countryside and there were many wild birds.Time
Around 9am. There were light clouds so the light was nice and soft.Lighting
It was still fairly early and there was thin cloud cover, so the light was quite soft.Equipment
Nikon D7100 with the Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6 lens (which I love - the autofocus is quick and accurate). I often use a monopod, but on this occasion I was shooting handheld in order to be able to move quickly to shoot the many birds in the garden.Inspiration
I was focused (!) on shooting birds on a fence for a series, when I noticed this weaver on some nearby aloe plants. Its face was orange from the pollen off the flowers - but I saw that I could frame it between some leaves. With birds I find you have to quick on your feet and take your chances when you get them!Editing
Very little. I mostly use Lightroom and in this case I slightly increased exposure and added a touch of saturation to increase the intensity of the orange nectar.In my camera bag
My favorite bag is the Lowepro Flipside 400AW; It's very comfortable for hiking, holds a good amount of gear, has a rain jacket built-in. Most of my photography is outdoors - landscape or wildlife and in the bag I have the kit 18-200mm lens which I find words pretty well for landscapes (I do a lot of panos). I carry an ultra-wide angle lens and a 75-300mm. I have a flash with a small folding lightbox in there, with spare batteries. I carry a spare battery for the camera too, along with the charger if I'm away from home. Some spare SD Cards. What else? Stuff for cleaning lenses and, if I'm away on a trip, a sensor cleaning kit too. If I'm shooting wildlife, I like to have my Nikkor 200-500mm lens (on the cropped sensor camera, that gives me 750mm reach which is adequate for most of the stuff I do), but it definitely doesn't fit into the bag and sits in its own padded bag that I sling around my neck. If I'm hiking far, I consider carefully whether to take it or not!Feedback
If I'm shooting birds that aren't terribly active - like owls - I use manual settings. For birds like these though, you really have to be able to swing the camera and shoot, without taking the time to change settings, so I set auto-ISO, set the speed according to whether I'm shooting flying or stationary birds (for this shot I was on 1/800 sec) and aperture. You have to be quick! Be alert to what the bird is doing, know that they'll often poop just before they fly, and more often than not, they'll take off into the wind. Be aware of potential framing and position the bird in front of darker rather than lighter backgrounds. Open the aperture to reduce depth of field so that everything around the bird is blurred to accentuate the bird itself. Make sure you can see the eye of the bird, ideally with a highlight - and if the eye isn't in focus, the image will be ruined - use spot focus and focus on that eye! If you're trying for a flying shot, crank up that speed to at least 1/2000, higher if the camera and light will allow.
