Digital Photographer - UK (2019-08)

common mistakes

Some of the biggest pitfalls

when capturing behaviour –

and how to avoid them

1

Shallow depth of field an

aperture that’s too wide might result

in soft features. consider sacrificing a

stop of iso to increase depth of field.

2

Messy backgrounds a cluttered

backdrop will detract attention from

the subject’s behaviour. Try recomposing

so that they’re in front of a clear space.

3

Underexposure if your subject

is flying against a bright sky, the

camera can underexpose. dial in exposure

compensation of expose manually.

4

Clipped wings When framing

birds in action, it’s easy to crop out

feathers and tails. Zoom out slightly –

you can always crop the frame later.

5

Focus jumping When capturing

fast-moving birds, your focus can

accidentally jump to the background.

avoid this by setting your camera to aF

Point expansion and manually choosing

one autofocus point.

gET InTo poSITIon

Kites rely heavily on the

direction of the wind for

flight. position yourself

upwind of them to

capture them head-on

gET cLoSEr

Here, a 1.4x

teleconverter was

needed to take

the focal length to

420mm and get

closer to the kite

SoAr AWAY
birds of prey are
happier flying into
the wind as this
gives them uplift

x4© Sean Weekly

Bird PhoTograPhY