Ravi Neelakantan

Hi,I am a beginner trying to learn photographing birds...Everyday morning I go to the terrace and try to snap whatever birds I get to see,near and afar...I have a Lumix GX85 camera with Lumix 100-300mm Lens and mostly i get to see only small birds like the cuckoo,Myna ,Pigeons and crows,Vultures (in the skies atleast 100 meteres distance)...I manage to get decent shots when the birds are still and nearby (a distance of 10 metres or so) and the sharpness goes down as the distance increases.I am trying my hand at Birds -in-flight photography but the birds being small and as they fly at a distance beyond 10 metres,I have not got a single satisfactory result so far,except a few which were more by chance than anything that I did....I maintain a High shutter speed in general and shoot handheld.I am also trying to learn developing raw images on my own using the free silkypix software.Sharing a snap of the Cuckoo I took today that I was lucky enough to get away with a Shutter speed of 1/40 (Aperture Priority F 7.1 SS 1/40 ISO 400 Focal Length 300 mm Handheld) and developed using silkypix.
I would like to hear from the vastly experienced people here any feedback or suggestions to improve the quality of photos taken at distances greater than 10 metres.Thanks.

Cuckoo (Aperture Priority F 7.1 SS 1/40 ISO 400 Focal Length 300 mm Handheld)

(Download)

olemikey Loc: 6 mile creek, Spacecoast Florida

Good job! and welcome to the forum. You are on your way! Keep doing what you are doing and practice, practice, practice. Experiment, it will pay off. Don't be afraid to post more.

CO

Great shot! It's very well focused. You got the critical focus right on the bird.

For a 300mm focal length you will want to shoot faster than 1/40 sec. The Lumix has a 2x crop factor. That means you would want to have a shutter speed of a least 1/600 sec. without image stabilization turned on if hand holding the camera. You can have a slower shutter speed with image stabilization turned on. It turned out great this time but I would try to get the shutter speed faster next time.

For birds in flight:
Does the Lumix GX85 have a continuous tracking focus mode? Use continuous focus and the camera's continuous drive mode for birds in flight. Make sure the lens image stabilization is turned on. Try to use a shutter speed of 1/1250 sec. or faster for small birds.

gary8803

Nice shot good composition. The shutter speed is important for wildlife picture because wildlife moves which will make your picture blur. The slowest I would go is 1/500 for large animals and 1/1000 for birds. But in very poor light slow it down just to get a picture.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

Nice shot! It is difficult to get the exposure right for dark feathers and your shot is well exposed and well composed. There are some very good birding websites with tutorials and tips. Here's one that I've bookmarked with some great tutorials. http://mikeatkinson.net/ Also, recommend you join a local Facebook birding group. You will get to see photos of all your local birds by people of all experience levels and its a great place to post your photos (in addition to UHH of course). As far as improving your skills, I recommend you start by studying the science of photography and improving your techniques. Again, you can get a lot of information and tips online. Equipment wise, your going to want a tripod if you don't have one already. Really learn and understand all the features of your camera, which will serve you well for a while. You will know when you are starting to outgrow it. Many starting birders sing the praises of the Nikon Coolpix P900 (now being replaced by the P1000), which have a very long reach. Good luck. I know I really enjoy spending time photographing birds (turtles, snakes, frogs, and alligators, ...) in some of our state parks here in SE Texas.

Ravi Neelakantan

Thanks CO for your kind words of encouragement.Yes,I got away with that slow shutter speed in the cuckoo snap.I generally keep it around 1/1250 or higher so as to be ready when the bird takes off and yes,the Lumix has a continuous Focus mode and I tend to switch between AF-S(for stills) and AF-C (for motion).I was experimenting with a feature called ETC(Electronic Teleconverter) in the Lumix and this is not the same as a Digital Zoom(which is also a feature in the camera and I learnt that it is better to avoid this).The Electronic Teleconverter(ETC) multiplies the Zoom Range by a factor of 1.4 and as I was exploring this option ,I managed to take two BIF snaps (a Myna and a Pigeon).I am attaching the same here.I have to say that I was a bit lucky here in that I snapped them as the birds took off from their still position.
One downside is that with the ETC feature enabled,the snaps cannot be captured in raw and the Jpeg quality has to be brought down a bit to gain that extra reach.
The Pictures posted are straight from the Camera and the Exposure and sharpness were left untouched .Not able to record in raw is a definite disadvantage with the ETC feature.

Pigeon F 6.3 SS 1/1300 ISO800 Focal Length 100mm with ETC feature (Equivalent Full Frame Focal Length 283mm)

(Download)

Myna F 10.0 SS 1/2000 ISO800 FL=300mm with ETC (Equivalent FF FL=851mm)

(Download)

Ravi Neelakantan

Thanks Gary and Strodov for your encouraging words of advice...Yes,I visited the site you referred to and it is quite interesting.I quite appreciate the warm response from each one of you.

Ravi Neelakantan

Thanks very much olemikey for your kind words of appreciation and encouragement.

sergio

300mm is not enough for birds in 90% of cases.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

This is Micro Four Thirds. The 300 gives you an "equivalent field of view" equal to 600 on a "big" camera.

MartyfromWNY Loc: Rochester, NY

Ravi,

May I ask where you're located? Your cuckoo picture is very nice, as others have noted. The reason I'm curious about your location is that the bird is not an American cuckoo.

Ravi Neelakantan

Sorry Marty for not responding earlier...I am based out of Chennai,India.