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26.01.09

Photographing wildfowl

Words by Chris Lloyd

Walking around my local wildlife haunts with a camera and trusty pair of binoculars, I can usually pick out several species of bird, insect and, if I’m lucky, mammal. These can range from the blue flash of a kingfisher to a wily-eyed fox hiding in the undergrowth. One of the best places to visit is my local park in Essex, where I’ve discovered a small sheltered pond offering lots of potential for waterfowl images during winter.

From November on, most lakes and gravel pits around the UK begin to fill up with wild birds such as mallard, tufted duck and pochard, often already wearing their superb, thick winter coats.

Around my small, local pond, the bank is relatively flat: ideal for shooting from a low angle with the camera on a beanbag or low tripod. This lends a much more intimate feel to wildfowl portraits. And, at this time of year, there’s plenty of scope for muted reflections and mist too, creating a much more evocative and eye-catching scene.

Venturing out just after dawn, you’re rewarded with soft light, with no worries about high contrast robbing the scene of detail. In winter, the sun stays at a much lower angle, creating softer light for longer. And besides, at this time of year, dawn isn’t even that early: the sun rises after 7am in January.

For real variety and arresting images, watch for different behaviour, such as bathing, preening and courting. Even the more common and often mundane species such as mallard or tufted duck exhibit loads of interesting behaviour. You just have to be patient: I can spend hours watching through the camera’s viewfinder to capture one particular action.

Exposing and metering can be tricky. As a guide, I generally set my camera to aperture-priority and use f/8 to f/11, depending on the lighting conditions and the picture opportunity. If conditions are particularly dull and grey, then I increase the ISO setting to 400 to gain a faster shutter speed – without encountering too much noise.

Early winter mornings are often shrouded in mist. If it’s hanging or rolling over the water, lit by sunshine, it can create a lovely golden glow. I generally spot meter from the mist to preserve the wispy details, rendering any birdlife on the pond in silhouette, which can create some very evocative images. Another great but oft under-used technique is backlighting. If you spot meter from the birds’ plumage you’ll get a lovely halo effect, that’s well worth the effort.

Most common species are reasonably approachable as they’re used to being fed by passers-by, meaning that you can get away with packing light, using a 70-300mm or perhaps a 100-400mm lens. You can also feed the birds yourself, drawing them closer or to a spot of your choosing. Don’t feed them bread though: most reserves advise against this as bread is low in nutrients and contains salt. Instead, scatter bird seed on the ground: you might even be able to buy it from the reserve visitor centre. And it has another advantage: seed takes the birds a while to eat, so they’ll hang around longer, giving you more time to get that perfect shot.

While walking around the pond, lake or river, look for areas sheltered by trees or shrubs. They shade the water, changing its colour to a much richer green or yellow – great for focusing the eye on the action.

Fill-in flash can be useful for bringing out detail in the bird’s plumage, or putting a catchlight in the eye. It can also cut down on contrast when sunlight is bright and harsh, giving a pleasing sparkle to an image. Icy conditions can work well too, as the ice reflects light back under the bird’s plumage.

As most common waterfowl are mid-tone-brown, I set my Nikon SB-600 flash to a value of -0.7EV to fill-in the shadows without making the picture look false or overdone. For lighter-toned birds such as swans, which reflect more light, the flash needs to be a little stronger, so setting a value of between -0.7 and -0.3EV usually gives accurate results.

These days, with autofocus systems being so accurate, I do tend to rely on it for action shots. On my Nikon D2X, I set AF-C because it constantly refocuses; it’s invaluable for capturing fast-flying birds such as mallards when quick reactions are essential. For birds in flight against a rich blue winter sky I find it’s best to use Matrix multi-segment metering.

Shooting digitally means I’m unhampered by the expense of processing and can enjoy all the benefits of instant feedback, so I shoot away to my heart’s content. It’s great to be able to constantly check my results and tweak my settings to nail the perfect shot. I prefer to shoot Raw files, so that I can post-process the images on my computer. It’s wonderful sitting there nice and cosy assessing the morning’s work. But don’t just take my word for it!

KIT BAG

Binoculars aren’t just for bird watchers – they’re for photographers who want to photograph wildlife, too. When choosing a pair, look at the numbers next to the model name: they’ll read something like ‘8x42’ or ‘10x50’.

The first number refers to the image magnification they offer (between 8x and 10x is a versatile range for spotting UK wildlife). The second digit represents the diameter of the light-gathering end of the binoculars. The bigger the number the better they’ll be at gathering more light and allowing clearer viewing, particularly in less than ideal lighting conditions.

Manufacturers such as Nikon, Opticron, Olympus and Pentax all provide a good range to choose from; most good camera retailers will stock a comprehensive selection. Look to spend around £50 as this should buy a pair suitable for most occasions. If you want a high-end pair, look for Swarovski or Leica whose ranges are certainly not cheap, but offer the finest in balance and viewing.

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