It has been one of my dreams to take pictures of wild birds, so I bought a Nikon camera (Model D3300) and Tamron zoom lens (18-270mm F/3.5 - 6.3 Di II VC PZD (Model B0008) last March. Since then, I have been trying to bring my camera with me whenever I go out of the town.
The camera has several modes such as A, S, P, M, and others. They are short for Aperture, Shutter, Progam, and Manual respectively.
The telephoto lens range from 18-270mm. I have been trying to take pictures of wild birds as big as possible, so I usually set my lens at 270 mm, the longest.
The camera and lens were delivered in March 2015.
At first, I set my camera at P mode. At that time, I expected that all of the pictures would be nice, but soon I found out that it was not true when I took pictures of a king fisher in Akashi Park.
The pictures I took were disturbed by too many twigs and the camera couldn't focus on the kingfisher. Skilled photographers may say it was up to photographer's techniques!!
Anyway, I was very disappointed when I came home and found the poor quality of the pictures.
The pictures I took were disturbed by too many twigs and the camera couldn't focus on the kingfisher. Skilled photographers may say it was up to photographer's techniques!!
Anyway, I was very disappointed when I came home and found the poor quality of the pictures.
I had been waited for the kingfisher more than 3 hours when
it suddenly appeared in front of me.
The bird stayed for only 3 minutes and soon left somewhere.
I did not have any knowledge which setting would be suitable at that time.
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I felt like crying because I had spent more than 1,300 yen or $13 for train tickets to visit the Akashi park again. The pictures were thought to be souvenirs for my husband who has been posting various pictures on his blog.
Secondly, I set up my camera on S mode. I thought it would be good because wirld birds usually move very fast. I set my camera's speed at 1,000 / 2,000 per second. However, I soon had another bitter experiences of getting too dark pictures.
I felt like crying because I had spent more than 1,300 yen or $13 for train tickets to visit the Akashi park again. The pictures were thought to be my husband who has been posting various pictures on his blog.
Finally I read some books on how to use digital camera and learned that it might be better to use Aperture mode in that case.
I usually set my camera on A mode and F5.6, for the aperture opening. It means the pictures wouldn't be bad in the fastest possible speed.
As for the setting of ISO, I learned that it would be the best at ISO100 on sunny day. However, for taking pictures of objects which are on the move, it would be more successful to set ISO at 400 or more. It allows your camera to take pictures at a faster speed.
Once I tried to take photos of wildbirds at ISO 6400 when I visited a forest. I was able to take photos of birds, but I was not satisfied because the pictures got noisy. I don't want to use higher ISO anymore. These days I usually set ISO at 400 when I take pictures of wildbirds. On cloudy days or dark places, I may give up taking photos of birds. None of any good experiences I had on such a situation so far.
I felt like crying because I had spent more than 1,300 yen or $13 for train tickets to visit the Akashi park again. The pictures were thought to be my husband who has been posting various pictures on his blog.
The poor quality discouraged me even further.
Finally I read some books on how to use digital camera and learned that it might be better to use Aperture mode in that case.
I usually set my camera on A mode and F5.6, for the aperture opening. It means the pictures wouldn't be bad in the fastest possible speed.
As for the setting of ISO, I learned that it would be the best at ISO100 on sunny day. However, for taking pictures of objects which are on the move, it would be more successful to set ISO at 400 or more. It allows your camera to take pictures at a faster speed.
Once I tried to take photos of wildbirds at ISO 6400 when I visited a forest. I was able to take photos of birds, but I was not satisfied because the pictures got noisy. I don't want to use higher ISO anymore. These days I usually set ISO at 400 when I take pictures of wildbirds. On cloudy days or dark places, I may give up taking photos of birds. None of any good experiences I had on such a situation so far.
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Notes: The photos below were taken when my husband I went to the Village of Happiness Kobe last month. The pictures I got showed some improvement, but I can still improve my techniques.
This picture was taken by my husband who was with the lens up to 400 mm.
His lens would be nice for taking photos of kingfishers, but the problem is the weight.
It is heavier than 10 kilograms with the tripod. He didn't have so much energy to move around the park, so he sat on the bench for more than 5 hours for the bird appeared in front of him.
What the patience he had!
He covered most of his face and looked like a suspicious man.
It is getting colder and colder these days, and we cannot stay at one place for a long time. We should keep moving to make body warm. It would be a tough season to take good pictures of kingfishers.
My husband has asthma and coughs often when he inhales cold air. He stays at home most of the time these days sorting out the pictures he had taken.
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