Baby blue
This baby blue tit had fledged but wasn't strong enough to get back to the nest - he spent a couple of hours hopping around the garden and is here looking ...
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This baby blue tit had fledged but wasn't strong enough to get back to the nest - he spent a couple of hours hopping around the garden and is here looking at "mum" in the tree, who made frequent trips with food before finally getting the baby bird back home.
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Jun, 2018Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my back garden shortly after this little bird had fledged. I think all the birds have just got used to me sitting there quietly with a camera - good supply of dried mealworms seems to help too - and I can get up quite close to them without them getting scared. This photo was one of a whole stack I took, some with the Mum who was close by and feeding this baby blue tit.Time
This was mid afternoon on a beautiful Spring day and the sun was in a great position in the garden - always a favourite time to photograph as most of the garden is in sunshine and I love how the light sprinkles through the trees creating beautiful patterns on the tiles. I was in the garden waiting for the baby birds to come down for their afternoon feed and down they came - this one was just so bold and fat and had such character. It was looking up at it's Mum waiting for food when I took this shot.Lighting
I wanted this photo to reflect the warmth of the sun and the brightness of the baby bird's colours - nature did it for me and it was also fortunate that the bird was in the right place with regards to the position of the sun. I was able to move around a little to get the best light for the photo without disturbing him and I was really pleased with how the blues and greens came out and how the muted greys and touches of yellow in the background complimented those colours so perfectly.Equipment
This was shot on a Canon EOS 1100D with a telescopic lens EFS 55-250 - I was low on the ground holding the camera in my hands - with bird shots like these, which are impulsive, there is no time to set up a tripod as they can just fly away in a split second and you might lose the shot - sometimes it's worth taking the risk of a slight wobble to get the shot you want.Inspiration
My love of birds - Spring is the time of new birth, new beginnings, the sight of the baby birds fledging is always a joy to witness and I wanted to share it with the world. It's inspiring to see the care of the parents, fussing and feeding, the babies fat and fluffy with their big, sad mouths, just sitting there waiting to be fed. They grow up so quickly you need to be there when it happens and if you wait and stay quiet you capture some spectacular moments.Editing
When taking pictures of birds, it's impossible to get as close as you would like, so although I used a telescopic lens, I will always zoom in and crop the image in post processing so the bird takes centre stage. I also slightly adjusted the brightness to ensure I had the best light possible. With this little one, the look on it's face was so appealing, it became priority to make sure this expression was captured so I cropped it quite a lot to make sure all this was the main essence of the photograph and all the cuteness and innocence of this baby bird was instant and embracing.In my camera bag
My Canon, three lenses, a small tripod and a soft cloth.Feedback
Being patient and quiet is key as birds are by nature quite skittish so if you want to take some good characterful shots, make sure they become familiar with you and trust you. Sit in the garden as much as you can, stay quiet, make sure there is plenty of food out, nuts, mealworms, seed, fat balls, have food hanging up and put food down for ground feeders like Robins - have a bird bath, I've taken some great shots of birds bathing and splashing, make sure there is water there for them to drink - in other words make your garden a bird heaven. Most of all you have to be prepared to wait for your shot, find out what time of day the birds come down to feed and have your camera ready!
