How to get Closeup Shot of Small Birds?
Bird’s closeup shot is something that everyone wants. but everyone can not have because if you go close to the bird, she might have flown away with fear.
I have seen that photographers are very curious to know how other photographers get close up shots of small birds. if you have faced the same problem and you want to know how you can get these types of shots.
Today, I will share some of my techniques which I often follow to get closeup shots of small birds.
3 Important things that I follow:-
- Location.
- Know your subject.
- Use of the blind.
let me explain them in a brief.
- Location: Researching the location is a very important aspect of bird photography. When I have visited an unknown place, before going I’ll make sure that I have some knowledge about the location. I spent the first day on location exploring the area. have a word with locals to know more about the location like any place where migratory birds come, any lake where I can shoot the water birds.
- Know your subject: In bird photography you have to know about your subject. Know the bird’s Habitats, behavior, and sounds so that you can guess the next activity of the bird and capture the rare activity that you want. if you have not known your subject you might lose the amazing photo that you want.
- Use of the blind: uses of blind really helps for capturing the closeup shots. you can hide and allow them to come close to you so that you can capture the closeup very easily. but finding the right place for the blind is very crucial. You can use blind like artificial blind or natural blind like bushes and trees.
My own Bird closeup shot and how I took them?
Recently I was at the bank of the Chambal river to photograph Hoopoes. there was not any hoopoe in the bank of Chambal at that time, but I knew that the hoopoe would come, I may have to wait the whole day. When I visited the place last month, I had found a pack of hoopoes. After one hour of waiting, I saw a hoopoe behind the bushes, So finally I have settled down my blind and started to wait to come out. After another hour of waiting the hoopoes had come out. and I was ready with my camera. I took my first shot with settings – aperture f/6.3, shutter speed 1/500s, ISO 200. but I am not really satisfied so I have to wait till I have not got the perfect shot. You can see my first shot below.
After some time the bird comes close to me and she starts feeding. and got a chance to lay down on earth to get a good angle and clean background. The bird was going back because of movement but luckily the bird had not flue away, start feeding again. This time my camera settings are aperture f/6.3, shutter speed 1/400s, ISO 100. I have got a clean background and a sharp photo. You can see the same below. but I want to more a closeup shot so I have to wait for that.
after some time the bird got more comfortable and come close to me and again start feeding. I was ready with my camera, my setting is aperture f/6.3, shutter speed 1/320s, ISO 100. <rephrase> and got an amazing closeup shot which I wanted to capture. after I got a good shot I came home and post-processing in the lightroom. which I will share in the post-processing section.
Post Processing using Lightroom:
In this section, I’ll be sharing with you the post-Processing of the photo. This is the picture that I have captured on location(Raw file).
The raw photo was very hazy and dull so I had to do some post-processing in the lightroom.
- Firstly in the light- section, I had increased exposure, shadow, whiteness, and contrast a bit. Decreased the highlight and backness up to 50%.
- Secondly in colors-section, increased the saturation and vibration to get good colors, spacially increased the brown color.
- Lastly, I had increased dehaze, sharpness, and add some texture to the photo.
These are my experiences and tips for you about a closeup shot of a small bird. If you want to ask any questions please comment below and if you like the blog please share on social media.
