Ruby crowned kinglet - shooting in dim light and thick bush.

Birds have very little compassion for the plight of a photographer attempting to get a decent photograph of them. Certainly small birds, the kinds that have unlimited energy and dart from branch to branch in search of the tiniest morsel. More active than a caffeinated Energizer Bunny high on adrenalin, any hope of obtaining a focus lock is made even more challenging by the presence of interfering branches and low light. None of these factors addresses the ability of the person behind the camera or the parameters it is set at to facilitate image capture.

Out for a cloudy-day walk with a friend, I had my camera and long lens primed for the moment a bird stepped into my sights. I am always on the lookout for movement of any kind and familiar silhouettes that hint at feathers or fur. As we hiked along the trail the brambles off to one side gave reason to pause; a bird was lurking among the intertwined branches. Lurking may not be the right word, for it hopped effortlessly from branch to branch with barely a moment's rest as it foraged for food. It was a ruby-crowned kinglet; a bird about the size and shape of a racket-ball with the daintiest of beaks protruding from its head.

I brought my camera and lens to bear, but every time I came close to establishing a focus-lock my subject propelled itself onto another perch. Moments when it was still long enough to acquire it in my viewfinder were rare; there inevidibly would be a branch or leaf partially blocking the view causing the camera's focus to lock prematurely. As it journeyed through the underbrush I followed it, moving slowly so as not to arouse its instinct for self-preservation and flee. That is one of the nice things about photographing birds along popular hiking trails; they are somewhat used to humans and are more approachable than those less familiar with our kind.

Eventually, my patience and practices paid off as a moment arrived when the planets aligned; an open view with a still bird that was facing the right direction - a photograph of the rear end of any animal tends to not be all that interesting. The photo below illustrates my point. I managed to get a focus lock and one picture off before it was on the move again.

The cloudy day and modest bush density meant using a high ISO - 6400 in fact. This would be an issue with a compact camera or even bridge camera (1-inch sensor), but the APS-C sized modern sensor could handle it well. I could only manage a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. This was fast enough with the four-stop vibration reduction technology employed by the prime lens I was using, but any motion on the bird's part would be problematic. I always keep my focus on single-point-center with focus-lock being established when the shutter button is pressed halfway down. Having a camera and lens that locks focus instantaneously helps in a situation like this.

I had the aperture fully open at f/5.6. The whole event lasted five minutes but I only took two photos. Shortly after the second shot (top-most image) the bird flew off and we were back on the trail again. I got another couple of bird shots during the trip. You can see the photo I took of the Northern Pintail Duck on this post. We reached our end goal and, after a brief rest, headed back home.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen