Lament after an imageless morning

[Ed Vatza]

I went out this morning shortly after sunrise and visited my local state park here in Pennsylvania in search of birds to photograph. (I would point out that this is an area where I have made many images in the past before getting picky.) After approximately three hours in the field, I returned to the car without making a single image. As I broke down the gear and drove home, I got to thinking a bit about what happened.

Did I see birds? Yes. I saw about a half dozen hummingbirds and lots of Common Yellowthroats, Goldfinches, Sparrows, Warblers and such. But in almost all cases, I couldn't get a clean shot at any of them. They were too high in trees (bad angles), surrounded by too much clutter (bad backgrounds), too deeply embedded in brush (bad lighting) and just too darn hyperactive to sit still long enough for a decent composition.

As I thought about this, my mind drifted back to BPN and the avian boards and many of great images I see there. As I thought about it, I realized that most (not all but count them up - it is most) images posted are of what I would consider bigger birds. Many of them are herons, shore birds, raptors, etc. Without belaboring the point, I realized that there aren't a heck of a lot of songbirds and others of their size posted.

This raised the question in my mind, am I pursuing the wrong birds? Should I be looking for more herons and egrets, ducks, and shorebirds (not necessarily the kinds of birds I am going to find in the forests and meadows around here - better head for the lakes.)? Should I be searching out raptors and such?

Should I forget about songbirds? It just seems that getting them in good light and at a good angle and with an uncluttered background and with their head turned just right is nearly impossible. Is that why there are relatively few postings of such birds? Just curious.

Done lamenting, ranting or whatever you want to call it. I think I 'll go back to macro and flowers for a while... after photographing classic cars this afternoon!

[allanrube]

Well, I generally find it is easier to shoot larger birds or, if smaller ones, shorebirds that do not live where there are many branches. Also, as I shoot more and see more excellent images on this forum and others, I am pickier than I was 3 years ago.

[Amy DeStefanis]

Hi Ed,

I know how you feel, I was advised on this board to "choose my subjects more wisely" - or something to that effect. And I have to ask myself - who am I shooting for? I don't choose my subjects any more "wisely" than I ever did before, but I do decide differently what to post. Sometimes I'm just excited about something cool I managed to capture, but I don't necessarily post it. No one is paying me by the frame. I'm on my own time. I shoot what I want. If I think that I am only allow to shoot what will pass as "art" on this forum, then it's suddenly work, and I might as well be in my cubicle.

Sometimes photography tells a story, and isn't "art", but it's worth the telling. If the birds you shoot live where there is a "messy" background, that's fine by me. One of my favorite places to shoot is on the river - and I'm usually shooting into the woods. Sorry - that just happens to be where I caught a vulture tumbling from a tree - or a Heron trying to steal a fish from a one-eyed hawk. Couldn't get out of my kayak to clean up the woods - so was I supposed to NOT shoot this incredible moment??? Yes - I was supposed to. And, IMO, you should shoot them, too.

Good lament. I've felt it too.

Amy D.

[Ed Vatza]

Well, I generally find it is easier to shoot larger birds or, if smaller ones, shorebirds that do not live where there are many branches.

I think that is definitely true and why I generally prefer my fall/winter/spring trips to the Jersey shore where I photograph herons in a rookery, wintering ducks and the shore birds. It just gets frustrating locally and when I try to photograph the often beautiful songbirds.



Also, as I shoot more and see more excellent images on this forum and others, I am pickier than I was 3 years ago.

Again I agree. And I would add the the critiques received here on the forums have also helped enormously. Picky is the same word I used. I wasn't nearly as picky last year as I am now. Last year I would have made images. This year I went imageless.

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Ed,

I know how you feel, I was advised on this board to "choose my subjects more wisely" - or something to that effect. And I have to ask myself - who am I shooting for? I don't choose my subjects any more "wisely" than I ever did before, but I do decide differently what to post. Sometimes I'm just excited about something cool I managed to capture, but I don't necessarily post it. No one is paying me by the frame. I'm on my own time. I shoot what I want. If I think that I am only allow to shoot what will pass as "art" on this forum, then it's suddenly work, and I might as well be in my cubicle.

Sometimes photography tells a story, and isn't "art", but it's worth the telling. If the birds you shoot live where there is a "messy" background, that's fine by me. One of my favorite places to shoot is on the river - and I'm usually shooting into the woods. Sorry - that just happens to be where I caught a vulture tumbling from a tree - or a Heron trying to steal a fish from a one-eyed hawk. Couldn't get out of my kayak to clean up the woods - so was I supposed to NOT shoot this incredible moment??? Yes - I was supposed to. And, IMO, you should shoot them, too.

Good lament. I've felt it too.

Amy D.

I understand what you are saying Amy. I think it comes down to you may not be able to please everyone so please the one your with (yourself). :)

I have found the feedback received on the macro/flora board and the bird boards (the boards where I post) to be very helpful. But if I come across a Ivory-billed Woodpecker, you can forget about angle, light, head turn, background, etc. I'm after the image. That is the way I am when I find a new bird - one I haven't photographed before or find a special situation like you described. But the other part of me has a five year plan that has me retiring from my cubicle and sitting out in the village green in Bar Harbor, Maine (and other places) selling nature images. That is the part of me that has gotten picky. And now as I reflect, I realize that even at those art shows, most of the bird images are eagles, hawks, owls, etc with very few songbirds and such thrown in. So maybe I need to shift where I look for images to be made with intent to sell.

[Amy DeStefanis]

Hi Ed,

You and I have similar plans. I guess the important thing is to not let the "rules" kill the creativity and the fun. One of the images I took on the river is displayed in the kayak shop where I go to rent kayaks when we go out on the river. They have gotten overwhelming feedback from nature lovers, and some customers have even asked if they can buy copies! I had a 12x18 of the Hawk/Heron framed, and the frame-shop owner said her mother was sending people by the shop just so they could see it before I picked it up, and they were coming! Even though here, it was given kind of a shrug, technically. Go figure.

I have definitely been learning a lot here, and it's given me a reason to get out and shoot, and build up a body of work. And I do keep in mind what I've learned here. In fact, I'm going to take one of Fabs/Alfred's workshops in February - and know that I'll learn a lot! This forum makes me get out and practice and apply what I already know, and what I'm learning.

Sometimes I try to pretend that I actually have a FILM camera. That makes me think a little more about what I'm shooting, and whether I want to pull the trigger. You have 36 shots (especially underwater - can't change film after 36 shots), what do you want to do with them?

If you DO run into an Ivory-Billed Wookpecker, please post it!!! I want to see! (well, unless, of course, you can't see the ivory bill... there IS a limit to Head Angle benevolence). :)

Amy

[Julie Kenward]

Ed, this same thing happened to me recently. I got to where I was being so incredibly picky about every little thing that I'd come home, look at the images I took and then erase nearly every single one. I actually got a little depressed about it for a few days because I seemed totally blocked!

I did what you are thinking about doing - I shifted gears and went in a new direction for a few days - and that totally got the creative juices flowing again. I let my standards fall back to 'normal' levels instead of 'BPN' standards. I realized a few things in all of this:

1. Yes, I have to continue to make an image when I see one, whether it will get rave reviews on BPN or not. You make images for YOU not BPN.

2. Those "picky standards" that I have now developed because of posting at BPN? They have made me a way better photographer in six months than I could have become on my own in a couple of years - and I seriously believe that. Becoming a moderator took it one step further as now I have to really nitpik an image on a forum and then apply those same standards to my work - consistently. Which...(say it with me)...makes me an even better photographer.

3. I have learned that I have two sets of standards for my work now: one for photographs I would want to submit to a contest or publication, and one set for an image I want to turn into a fine art print or an artistic creation. Each type has its own guidelines and expectations and I evaluate each image by one of those sets of standards.

4. I have become more acutely aware of what I can - and can't - do in post processing. I can certainly TAKE the image by clicking the shutter button but, if no one but me is ever going to see it because it is aesthetically unpleasing, then why click that button 20 more times? I make one or two images now and move on.

In the end, I use what I've learned here to GUIDE me but not STIFLE me. As Amy said, if you see a heron trying to steal a fish from a one-eyed hawk, heck yes you make the image! If I get home and realize it's surrounded by horribly harsh light and the color balance is all wrong and there are hot spots all over the image, then I file it away for my personal viewing or show it off in the "friends and family" section and keep it out of the forums (unless I want to show what not to do!) And always remember - every rule is a rule ready to be broken - being a good photographer allows you to know when to do this and when to walk away.

Hope this helps. I totally feel your pain!

[Jason Vaclavek]

I have had mostly an image less summer.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Ed........and all,
Aaah..........the great depression/frustration feeling. Imagine how would you feel if you had $20,000 worth of equipment just sitting there doing nothing?? This year I adopted a new philosophy just to go out and photograph whenever possible locally. No excuses......don't watch TV or do the other things later.......go out and shoot. Was every day great???........no, far from it........but my own personal standards are such that I am happy with a few great frames out of 100's or 1000'nds. When I get no "great" images........hopefully it was a nice day out practicing. In your case with the song birds (big glass rules!).........practicing your approach or angles was still worth the day out! Look at it this way.....every day out photographing builds on your abilities as a photographer.......this alone is a success.
Now...........Imagine life as a landscape photographer .............I have been fortunate to have visited many beautiful places and majority of the time...... the light wasn't right.........no clouds......too many......I just don't take the shot any more....because I had that image a while ago. What to do???........realize that every time out is different and if I don't get the image I was after.... I happen to be standing in some of the most beautiful places on earth! This just make the times I nail the shot........that much sweeter! The failures are what drive me........not the successes. I often imagine if I did not have my other job to fall back on to pay the bills and photography was the only source of income.......Yikes!.........not sure my kids & wife would know me & photo editors don't really care about "bad days".
Because of this........a bad day out photgraphing........is still a good day! Adopt this attitude.......success will follow.

[Anita Rakestraw]

Hey, Ed, I'm glad you posted your "lament!" It provided some interesting answers and ideas to think about. I definitely think songbirds are much more difficult to photograph - they are smaller, harder to see, found in tougher surroundings, don't sit still long, on and on....What I've noticed the last month or so here, is that the small bird activity has decreased significantly. The mating/nesting/raising families is finished and many of the birds have left the nesting areas for where ever they go pre-migration or at least, post-nesting. The winter birds haven't shown up yet. I wonder if that is part of what you are experiencing too? I'm still going my usual places, but now I'm making sure to take along my macro lens too and may use it much more than my big lens. And whatever I end up photographing, I consider it to be practice, practice, practice. It's a good time to try new techniques, experiment a little. If you have a local birdwatcher's group, or your paper has a nature/wildlife editor, you might make contact; sometimes they will have knowledge of sites where certain bird species are currently being seen.

[Jim Neiger]

Ed,

There are ways to get beautiful clean images of song birds. They are time consuming, require lots of planning and effort, but the results can be amazing. The most common method is the setup. Set up a perch in nice light with a nice distant oof bg, put out some food and water, and/r play a recording of the bird's song. Sit nearby in a blind and wait for that special moment. There are many fine points and details involved with this method. I don't have time to go into great detail here, but hopefully this will point you in the right direction. I once spent three days sitting in a very hot humid truck (using it a as a blind) wiating for a Red-headed Woodpecker to land on my perch. I have also spent many hours in sitting in a blind with zero results. Sometimes things come together and you get amazing images in only a few minutes. Here is a link to an example that took less than 5 minutes of my time and I didn't even use a blind.
http://www.flightschoolphotography.com/BB%20Favs%20Gallery%20Html/northern%20parula%20with%20spider.htm

[Ken Kovak]

Ed,

Jim is right about setup and how they can be productive. Some are a couple of set up examples:

http://www.ethanmeleg.com/tip12.htm

http://www.naturephotographers.net/kt0101-1.html


KEn

[Daniel Cadieux]

Speaking of setups + small songbirds, it also helps to know or learn birdsongs. I like to setup in a blind at good spot...and then just listen. I have a small pair of speakers hooked-up with a 20ft cable to my mp3 player and set it underneath an ideal perch (or setup). I sit in the blind with the mp3 and just listen for what's close-by. I can identify near birds by sound and quickly select the matching recording and hope it is attracted to the perch. Locating songbirds is as much by hearing, if not more so than sight.

P. S. If you are concerned about having the same perch show up in every image just have a variety of them surrounding the speakers...the birds will use them all. Just be careful not to overuse the recordings.

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Ed,

Well your example is one reason to always bring your macro lens and flash. If something isnt working as expected, grab your macro and start shooting B-flys, D-flys and insects. Sometimes even the macro doesn't work out, maybe too much wind, so you may need to grab a fisheye or something different a start experimenting.

Robert

[Dan Brown]

Hi Ed. This may have already been covered above, but if not, you can also remember when you are out there to shoot for "software". By this I mean play around with whats available in terms of what you can possibly do with it on the computer with "photomerge" "combining images for greater DOF" "PS filters and actions" and the list goes on and on. I have often (too often) salvaged a crummy shot by using filters and actions. Or, just DELETE!!!!!

Dan Brown

http://naturestoc.smugmug.com/

[Jared Lloyd]

I agree with Jim on all of this. Setup is key - but so is location. I have bird feeders set up outside a window in my house. I use a mix of food that is specifically formulated for song birds in this area. Around the feeders I have multiple perches set up. these are a combination of sticks, pine branches, and an old log torn up by woodpeckers with a cool little perch sticking off of it. Birds will wait their turn on the perches. When they do, I am already set up, flash adjusted, and prefocused. As for the old log, I have a bit of peanut butter slipped into some of the holes - suet works well but more expensive. Woodpeckers scale the log pecking away for bugs and peanut butter. Of course, all of this is photographed within the comfort of my own home. All I do is open a window, and drap a cloth over the opening with a hole in the middle for my lens. If its windy you can use cardboard. I litterally slide up my lazyboy to my tripod, flip on the television and kick back and wait.

As for location, some places are better than others, simple as that. I mean, if you want to photograph wading birds, its obviously better to be on the Anhinga trail in the glades than driving along a ditch in your neighborhood. For me, I go to a place called Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge for wading and shore birds. The trail there is constructed in between two man made impoundmants that have been managed for optimal bird habitat since the 1930s. Also, there is a tower at the end of the trail situated right in the middle of a natural corridor that funnels birds through just feet from your lens. I know that if I go here, I can make photographs that I am going to be happy with (as long as the light is good). On the same note, I love going to a place called Merchant Millpond State Park (its alot like Okefenokee). This is one of my favorite places to kayak and canoe, but wildlife photography is terribly difficult. The problems are similiar to what you are complaining of. So as for birds, I dont go expecting to shoot them. I do however come prepared to photograph alligators in the fall and spring because this is when they are more visible as the water tempatures have fallen below 70 degrees which is the optimum external tempature for their metabalisms. They are laying out on logs, mud banks, and old beaver lodges. I know where to find gators elsewhere, but here is the most predictable and photogenic. Black bears are the same way for me. They are all over these swamps, but I know that if i go to Alligator National Wildlife Refuge I can pretty much count on seeing at least 7 or 8 of them along the edges of the corn fields and swamps there along two specific dirt roads. This place has the highest concentration of black bears east of the Rocky Mountains. So this is where I go.

For me, its all about homework. I do alot of research on areas and make a lot of phone calls and visits to talk with park and refuge biologists. I also try and network with other photographers in the area and find out where they have found to be productive. I also do a considerable amount of research on the animals in my area. What do I want to photograph, what is the animals biology, nesting season, where are they concentrated? These are questions I ask my self. I might drive an hour to get to these places, but I greatly improve my chances of coming home with photographs that will go into my stock files.

Sorry about the long reply here. I hope this helps.

Jared