Let's avoid pitfalls while shooting birds

“Oh! I missed a nice shot, my camera refused to focus”, “The light changed suddenly and got all settings disturbed”, “Oh Sxxx ! had the shutter release button been pressed a fraction of a second earlier, I would have got an award-winning photo.” At times while we are busy making photos of birds in company of fellow photographers, we hear such annoying murmurs that suddenly distract our attention and we may get  distressing thought “ I may not be in a similar situation”. 

Let’s delve on some of such pitfalls and understand how to save our day.

Sudden change of light-Some experienced photographers prefer to set ISO on auto with its minimum and maximum limits depending on their expected requirement in a given situation. They understand that either the natural light may suddenly change or the subject would abruptly move in shade or harsh light. Therefore, auto ISO comes to their rescue. A similar situation may hardly leave time to readjust ISO by scrolling the camera menu. These days we see some cameras equipped with an ISO button close to shutter release button at top of camera body to let user adjust ISO without waste of time. It is there where it should be. This facility especially helps those who do not like to set ISO on auto. Do it as the situation demands.

Camera does not focus- This is a very annoying situation. There can be several reasons that make one to struggle to achieve perfect focus. It may be due to some shooting conditions, which can be easily handled if you have carefully read your camera manual. If the camera hunts for focus, back and front and is unsuccessful in achieving it, generally it means either the camera lacks contrast or you are trying to focus in low light.

One must understand that both DSLR and Mirrorless cameras being different in technology, they differ in focus system. It’s, therefore, necessary to understand our gear. Not only the camera, but also lenses. For instance, we must know the minimum focus distance of our lenses. How contrast detection and phase detection work in a camera.

Front focus or back focus- Most of the DSLR users often experience that while auto-focusing, instead of focusing on the subject, the camera either focuses in the background or foreground. This situation calls for calibration of camera lens and these days some cameras have built-in system for calibration of lenses. One can find this provision  by scrolling down the camera menu to look for AF fine-tune feature. Contrary to the DSLRs the problem is rare with mirrorless cameras because  these cameras focus on image sensor itself. Another reason for impaired ability of camera to focus precisely can be due to dirty contact points. Therefore, make it a habit to periodically clean your equipment.

Yet another reason for struggle with focusing can be wrong selection of AF mode. The focus mode as well as area mode work differently. One must know where to use AF-C or Continuous Servo AF focus mode  and which AF area mode is to be chosen. Remember, the central AF point gives the sharpest images. Good that if your equipment has the ability to over-ride autofocus  with manual focus.

Missing first frames – Take offs by birds are always exciting. Some of the new generation  cameras are now equipped with Pre-Release Capture system. We can get images before we fully press the shutter release button. To begin with, first set pre-release burst in camera, if it’s equipped with this facility.  With the half-press of shutter release button, or the  AF-ON button if we have set back button focus, one second of images will be recorded before actually release of the shutter.

The behaviour of birds being unpredictable, we should keep a close watch on the bird and try to anticipate its behaviour and  flight. At times it may appear that the bird is about to take off, but actually it won’t. Any repetition of the shooting process can result in accumulation of several images which would need adequate storage space in memory card.

Flying bird gets lost behind branches-Its very disgusting for a bird photographer when a flying bird which is being chased to get its clear shot, suddenly disappears behind branches of a tree. The moment it again appears, we once again aim our camera to make an image, but that moment is too short to be recorded.

The solution to such a peculiar situation lies within the camera, if equipped with facility of focus tracking with lock-on. This provision allows us to select the length of time the camera will ignore an intruding object that blocks our subject. If this function is enabled, the camera locks on to the subject and provides a variable time-out period for the lock-on functionality. This time-out can be adjusted in camera according to the delay time period as one may prefer. Practice and practice.

Do your  homework- There are some other pitfalls which can be easily avoided by simply doing our homework. For  instance, before moving out with a camera, ensure that its battery is fully charged and data card has adequate storage space. Prefer to keep at least a spare battery. Don’t forget to give a fresh look to the camera settings.

Patience and Practice- These two are the key factors that matter a lot in bird photography. It’s a common saying that the lost image is always the best image. Some photographers who find focal length of their lens inadequate in a given situation, try to be close to the subject ignoring that the bird may not like their presence and would fly away. A keen birder knows  that like human beings, the birds also prefer to be within their own comfort  zone. Our patience in their territory will reveal that some  of them not only look  inquisitive, but actually approaching us provided  we give them the opportunity.

-Subhash Sapru

A strange phenomenon

The other day I happened to come across profile of a fellow bird photographer who has mentioned a quote by Magnum Photographer Inge Morath as having said, “ Photography is a strange phenomenon, you trust your eye and cannot help but bare your soul”. Yes, we trust our eyes without paying too much attention to technical issues as these can interfere with creative aspects. No doubt a good photographer makes image with his feelings and some images do touch our soul.

Inge Morath has rightly mentioned her feelings, but her emphasis on trusting our eyes made me ponder over a question does camera sees more than our eyes. If so, how and why. The answer to this question holds more significance for bird photographers and birders who keenly observe not only behaviour and anatomy of birds, but also their morphology.

An inquisitive mind may question similarities as well as differences between the camera and the human eye. Those who have better understanding of functions of optical devices also know that camera sees more than the human eye.

I have seen many birders who first see birds with their bare eyes, then through their binocular or monocular and then make a ‘record’ photo of the bird with the help of a long lens in the given situation so as to observe and study bird’s distinctive markings. They all understand that bare eyes or say ‘unaided eyes’ need modern gadgets to see beyond their limiting factors.

The technology is fast developing thus widening the gap between the functions of human eye and the camera. While the human eye has always remained as such, the technological developments that have taken place since the invention of camera obscura have unfolded a whole new world of visual media. This process is unending and future inventions may be more startling.

When we capture an image, only a visual record is made, which is flat and has  two dimensions, but when we see the visual impact remains in our memory for a longer period of time and is of three dimensions-- length, height and has depth of field. Also, a camera can create a brighter picture as it has the potential to collect light for a longer period.

We all know both the eye and the camera have a lens and both receive light through an aperture device.  They also have a method to interpret that light as an image. In camera we can adjust light through aperture, automatically or manually whereas eyes have pupil, a round area in the iris, which controls light. In both, the camera and our eyes, the light and image are inverted by the receiving mechanism.

In eye, light is received by retina, which is almost of the same size of  sensor of a full frame(35mm) camera and is an extension of brain. Light is transmitted to the back portion of brain and image is perceived. It is because of curvature of retina that its edges are about the same distance from the lens as the center. Therefore, unlike camera lenses, the retina has corner sharpness and we also see more in corners. On the other hand the flange distance, the space between where the lens is mounted to the camera body and to the camera’s image sensor, is comparatively larger. The shorter a flange distance, the smaller and lighter a camera body can be. The mirrorless cameras have, therefore, shorter flange distance thus are lighter and smaller than the DSLRs.  In case of lenses generally the corners are not as sharp as the center of an image is.

The question remains why camera sees more than our eyes. We know the camera sends every pixel data from sensor to the computer which may result in certain distortions like barrel distortion, colour variation and vignetting. Contrary to it, eyes are not so capable because data passes through optic nerve. Eyes adjust their sensitivity to see naturally, but cameras have a feature to adjust ISO manually or let it get adjusted automatically.

Camera sensor has regular grid of pixels with every square millimeter having exactly the same number and pattern of pixels. In cameras the field of view depends on the kind of lens. On the other hand, retina, a small central area of about 6 mm, has dense concentration of photo receptors. Interestingly this portion has best resolving ability than any camera.

Although our peripheral vision has high refresh rate, our eye is sensitive to moving objects, but has not much resolution to read letters. The focal length of the human eye is the distance between the retina and the eye lens and this focal length varies from person to person. Not many know that 50 mm camera lens closely matches the human eye as the angle of view created by the 50 mm focal length is almost the same as the viewing angle of the human eye. The built-in technology of eye can’t match the ever-improving modern technology of camera.

The old saying goes, ‘eyes are the windows to the soul’. Photography makes us trust our eyes, but it is also such a magical phenomenon where silence speaks louder than words. At times its sound is more deafening than words. Let’s keep enjoying the sound of silence of this strange phenomenon of photography.

As I conclude, I am reminded of another female photographer, Maggie Steber, who has also rightly said, “The camera can open many doors, but sometimes you need to put it down and live."

--Subhash Sapru

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MIRROR TO MIRRORLESS

 

The ongoing transition from DSLR to the mirrorless may be gradual, but it reminds of the earlier transitions, especially of “manual” to “auto focus” and “film” to “digital”. While both the “manual” as well as  “film” are still being accepted and used, they are now more of a hobby. Technology keeps rolling out new developments and many innovations get accepted. Reports indicate that Canon no longer intends to produce any more flagship DSLR and Nikon has discontinued its popular D500 and no replacement has been announced.

In the recent years, the mirrorless cameras have undergone tremendous technological improvement that has given push to the camera market thus setting the pace for gradual phasing out of DSLR cameras. But this hard task master will not die at least in the near future. Let’s try to understand how good is the mirrorless, especially for wildlife photographers, who like photojournalists often question its parity with the one they have been using with trust for decades. They have accumulated an array of lenses and accessories for their DSLRs which would be hard to part with.

One of the basic observation is that  it is easy to switch from a Canon or Nikon or  any other DSLR brand to its mirrorless sibling because the menu is structured in their well-known  style with almost similar buttons as previous cameras. Therefore,  finding and using the basic functions takes hardly any adaptation time. However as mirrorless camera offers quite a few more functions and options. To some the menu may be slightly different and a little hard to find a few of its functions.

The latest mirrorless cameras are packed with a lot of new and impressive features into their rugged  bodies having drip and dust resistance. They can also be operated in extremely low temperature. Now these cameras are up-to-date in every aspect. Like a smart phone, we can easily touch their screen to focus on our subject. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth features make it easy to pair these with other devices such as smartphones to transfer large amounts of data without any wire.

Although both the DSLR and the mirrorless cameras do differ in their construction and design, yet they have similar sensors, image quality, technologies and basic features. With removal of mirror and prism, camera size and weight have been considerably reduced. Those who are used to bigger size of camera bodies to handle long lenses may find these smaller bodies inconvenient, especially if they have to wear gloves. Adapters are available for mirrorless systems so that photographers  are able to use most of their SLR lenses with full autofocus and aperture control.

In both the DSLR and the mirrorless  cameras, we see through the lens, but they have different ways to show us how will be the image. In DSLRs the optical image is reflected by the mirror and we see it through the view finder. With the release of shutter, the mirror flips upward and sensor gets exposed to the image. On the other hand, mirrorless camera being without a mirror, a live view is created and we see the image either on back screen or through the Electronic View Finder (EVF). Nowadays the EVFs are much improved with high resolution and clarity of the optical view finder. The fast refresh rate has eliminated viewfinder lag to quickly follow moving subjects. The blackout effect that we used to see while shooting continuous bursts of images is now a thing of the past. In a mirrorless camera, what we see in EVF is what we get.This  ability to see our exposure while composing an image is a significant advantage of these cameras. It also enables us to see in real time how our settings change our exposure, depth of field and more. If required, changes can be applied instantly while looking through the viewfinder. It is something optical viewfinder cannot do. The EVF is good enough to show a more clearly visible view of a scene even in low light.

The autofocus system too has been further improved and its features either match or surpass DSLRs for autofocus speed. Although the DSLR cameras are fast yet the focusing speeds on most mirrorless camera can be just that bit faster. This comes down to the fact that mirrorless cameras use many more focus points than DSLRs. In the absence of mirror, they can read sensor while performing autofocus and this is a significant advantage. Therefore, mirrorless camera’s focus is more accurate than DSLR. Also, they neither suffer from lens alignment issues nor back or front focusing issues. The Face/Eye Detection AF and Animal Face/Eye-Detection AF  are interesting features. Unlike the DSLRs, the AF sensors in mirrorless AF systems can go right upto the edges of the frame. When live-view is engaged in a DSLR, it behaves the same way as a mirrorless camera, but does not always have the same features of a mirrorless.

Before you go in for a mirrorless camera, its better to ensure that it has no trouble in achieving subject auto focus that is  AF-C in low contrast situations. Although many new mirrorless cameras have quick start up and no viewfinder blackout, yet some  mirrorless cameras take a moment to start up. It can be half a second or so to come out of standby mode.

A more prominent feature of mirrorless cameras is the responsiveness of the shutter release button. These cameras instantaneously capture photos as there is no mirror to move out of the way when the shutter release button is pressed. This is useful especially in capturing fast action, such as a fast  flying bird or any other fast action taking place. Their frame rate is also very high and the silent mode is appreciably silent. Some mirrorless cameras can record 10-bit 8K UHD video at 24, 25 or 30 FPS for extended period of time, which can be two hours in some cameras. So is the capability of sustained fast continuous shooting bursts with very high FPS  burst speed for both JPG and RAW files.

As compared to the DSLRs, the  size and life of a mirrorless  camera battery is short. The  functions like LCD display or the electronic viewfinder and built in image stabilization in camera bodies make them dependent on battery. When using long lenses, their long focal length having larger and heavier focusing elements, require a lot more power to move than the typically smaller and shorter focal length lenses. The best solution is to keep extra batteries in your bag. Some mirrorless cameras support USB charging thus having  the advantage of charging the battery  within the camera body. For this there are three options to charge--with a wall plug or a power bank or with a computer.

The wildlife photographers and photojournalists look for parity of the mirrorless cameras with the DSLRs. The hard core DSLR users may feel that the mirrorless has neither yet replaced the DSLR nor has fully reached parity with it. For many their concern is availability of lenses and focus performance while tracking subjects. The fact is they have not only attained parity, but have even surpassed the DSLR in some significant areas. Therefore, you aren’t losing out in any way if you opt for a mirrorless camera. This replies the much talked about question “does mirrorless holds key to the future”, ‘yes’ future belongs to the mirrorless.   

DSLR Camera

Subhash Sapru

Mirrorless Camera

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