Photograph Herons and Spoonbills
Herons, ibises, and spoonbills are large wading birds with long bills, which belong to the avian order Ciconiiformes. They are typically birds of wetlands, their long legs adapted for shallow water as they feed on fish, amphibians, and crustaceans. Herons, amongst other wading birds, are notoriously shy in many environments. This makes them difficult to approach closely to fill the frame adequately for a photograph. Although tame in some districts - the Anhinga Trail of the Everglades National Park in Build Bird Houses for Florida, USA, for one - such birds tend to take flight before one has even had a chance at getting close.
Steps
- Obtain an appropriate camera. Because the nature of Ciconiiformes birds differ from location to location, your correct photographic gear may be dependent on the habitat in which you intend to work. On the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades, birds such as Great Egrets and Green Herons are so tame that an extremely close approach can be made -- to within inches. Because of this, photography of herons and spoonbills can be performed with simple 35mm film Care for Your Camera. An amateur would find a digital compact camera with optical zoom very effective, easy to use, and affordable. More experienced photographers can use SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras. Digital SLR cameras afford a larger focal length due to field of view (FOV) crop which multiplies the contents of particular lens accessories used on the digital sensor by a camera-specific factor, usually between 1.5 and 2.0.
- Know your birds. Simple as it sounds, getting to know what your birds are, their feeding habits, their habitat, and their range will make photography a more enjoyable hobby. Find out where the herons and spoonbills will be and at what time. Achieve a generalized idea of their habits and distribution in your local region (or travel location) over the preferred amount of time. Try heading out to an estuary, or wetland, and write down what you see and when. Instead of going out to photograph, take a pen and notebook along with a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope. Find, study, and take notes of the birds' locations at various times of year. Soon you will have compiled a report your local ornithological society (e.g. Audubon Society (USA), Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (United Kingdom), the Ornithological Society of New Zealand, and Birds Australia) would appreciate having. Scientific knowledge is not all that you will derive from the studies; you will know where to look for the herons and at what time for photographing.
- Find the ideal location to look for herons. Birds should be sought outside of summer, because that's when most species are breeding. Unless you are fully prepared and experienced, do not attempt nest photography at rookeries (colonies). The Royal Spoonbill is an example of one species that will readily abandon its nest when disturbed. Others may be more tolerant. During winter, you might find that the coast is a good place to look for herons that exploit brackish environments. To add to this, colder and wetter climates can work to the photographer's advantage in another way. More shy species will be likely to allow a low, slow approach to relatively close quarters in rainy conditions, when birds prefer to keep down.
- Get close enough to fill the frame, or choose a wide-angle perspective to show the bird in its habitat.
- Stalking is a major aspect of bird photography; low and slow makes the unobtrusive approach. In estuarine environments (i.e. mudflats) it is possible to literally crawl through mud, lying down and edging forward in small steps. This method will not only achieve photography from close viewpoints with relatively little disturbance to the bird, but you'll also be able to photograph from an extreme low angle. This will help identify the bird as a long-legged, tall and graceful bird - the heron - rather than photographing from a higher perspective where the true individuality will not be revealed because you are "looking down at the bird".
- In deeper waters, try using a small boat such as a canoe to get close views where otherwise not possible. Great Egrets typically stalk their aquatic prey in such environments, and it is not uncommon to see them with water well up the legs. These kinds of scenes make interesting subjects to photograph.
- If you prefer a framing perspective with a wider-angle lens or camera with low focal length capabilities, show the bird in its environment. To get yourself motivated, picture a tree in the drought-swept realm of Australia, its branches home to a colony of Glossy Ibises, while the sun sets in the distance.
- Or, make the environmental image tell a story - for example, a Great Blue Heron on the verge of a river, with construction workers just {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} away, their bulldozers and diggers making way for yet another grand hotel resort. Such a place could be the Everglades National Park in Florida, which has been subject to encroachment and draining since 1905 when the idea was proposed to make it an area for agricultural interests and housing developments.
- Go for the vertical photograph. Instead of capturing the bird on an ordinary horizontal viewpoint photograph them with your camera rotated vertically. This is especially effective for moments when the heron or spoonbill is completely upright, standing hind on its legs, the neck extended and head fully visible. The results can be powerful, but the infamous Rule of Thirds must still apply here. Instead of photographing the bird in the middle of the frame as is, imagine of a set of both vertical and horizontal lines evenly squared across the viewfinder/LCD display and place the bird on one of these "intersections" in which the lines cross. Try placing the subject in one of the corners in which it appears to be emerging from. For example, if a spoonbill appears to be heading left across the frame, take the photograph with it on the right side of the frame, rather than on the left where there is no apparent space for it to virtually "move into". Alternatively, you could later perform post-processing of the photograph on a computer, where it is possible to simply crop portions with many types of image editors.
- Meter correctly, take notice of the lighting and don't overexpose white birds. Avoid photographing brightly-colored subjects on sunny days especially at midday. Not only will it be difficult to achieve standard features of a good bird photograph (such as eye highlighting and effective color contrasts), it is likely your subject will become overexposed. Do not overdo the whites in egrets (e.g. Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret), spoonbills (e.g. Royal Spoonbill, Eurasian Spoonbill) and ibises (such as Australian White Ibises). To avoid this problem on clear, sunny days, try selecting a faster shutter speed and a lower sensitivity (ISO). Your image will be appear slightly darker to compensate for the unfortunate conditions, but highlights and contrasts will be restored. The best lighting for bird photography, particularly in the white-colored heron and spoonbill subjects, is the first few hours after sunrise and the few hours before sunset. Here, the sun is at an angle and the light is often warmly focused. On overcast days, photographs can be taken all day as the clouds act as a giant "diffuser".
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