Trogon Photo Tours

AUGUST 2013 NEWSLETTER - This month's newsletter contains information and photography about what depth of field considerations to make when photographing birds.  You will remember in the previous month's newsletter I said that my default depth of field for bird photography is about 1 stop down from wide open.  To read that newsletter see it here.  This month's newsletter discusses times when you should vary your depth of field and use either more or less.

3 Situations when you should use less depth of field are

1) The light is low and you don't want to increase your iso

2) The background is busy or distracting

3) The bird or birds are not close to youChestnut-crowned Antpitta photographed January 2012 at Guango Lodge, Ecuador.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1/25 F4, iso 4000, tripod.  This bird is now regularly fed worms at Guango.  Unfortunately the area they have him coming into is very dark at 7:30am when they call him for breakfast.  In this example I took this image wide open as the light was very low and I was pushing it to make a sharp image at 1/25 and the background was quite busy.  The iso of 4000 is what really forced me to take this shot wide open though.  We were however, thrilled to see and photograph the bird and luckily he hopped onto this nice perch before proceeding down to the forest floor for his meal.  

Rough-legged Hawk photographed June 2013 in Nome, Alaska.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1.4x teleconverter, 1/1250 F6.3, iso 1250.  This image I shot just 1/3 of a stop down from wide open.  Normally with a teleconverter on I would have liked to stop down a little bit more.  However, I knew I was going to have to crop this image some, it was already a reasonably high iso and I wanted to keep my shutter speed above 1/1000 as we were expecting the bird to take off and were hoping to get the take off shot.  We did get it but it faced somewhat away from us when it left the perch.  Amazingly this image was taken at 1:39 AM Nome time.  It's possible to shoot almost 24 hours a day in Nome in June and some of the best light is around midnight and just after. 

Bald Eagles battling on the east side of Hood Canal, WA.  Canon 5D3 500F4 1.4x, 1/1600 F8, iso 800.  In this image I did stop down 1 stop which is my default but normally with 2 large birds like this I would have stopped down more - usually about 2 stops.  The reason I didn't was that these birds were quite far away - this is cropped about 50%.  With that much distance stopping down 1 stop was enough to get both in sharp focus. 

3 Situations  when you should or can afford to use more depth of field are

1) When you have a clean background

2) When there are multiple birds involved

3) For close up portraits

Northern Wheatear photographed near Nome, Alaska, June 2013.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1.4x 1/1250 at F11, iso 800.  In this example I had plenty of light and a clean background.  After taking some shots at 1/2500 and F8 to make sure I got some images with the bird sharp, I stopped down to F11 here to get more of it's lovely perch in focus.  With plenty of light and the background a long way off there was no penalty for stopping down.  You can still see that only about 1/2 the perch showing is in focus but it was an improvement over being at F8.

Cliff Swallows and Tree Swallow, Malhuer NWR, Oregon, May 2013.  Canon 5D3, 500F4 1.4x, 1/1000, F10, iso 400, handheld out vehicle window.  This is an example where I didn't quite get it right.  While one would think F10 would be enough to get 3 birds that are fairly parallel all sharp at this close range it wasn't quite enough.  My general rule for bird photography with 2 small birds that are close to filling the frame is to stop down at least 2 stops, if not 3 to get them all in sharp focus.  Here that would have meant shooting this between F11 and F16.  In this image the autofocus button is on the center Tree Swallow which is very sharp, the Cliff Swallow on the left is pretty sharp but not quite there and the bird on the right isn't sharp.  In this situation I certainly had plenty of light to work with and the background was a long way off so no reason not to stop down further to F13 or so and shoot it at iso 800 with the 5D3's lack of noise at that iso. 

Bobwhite photographed October 2012 at Santa Clara Ranch, TX.  Nikon D7000, Sigma 150-500 at 500mm, 1/400 F13, iso 500.  This image also illustrates how much depth of field is necessary when working with  multiple birds at close range.  Here I stopped down to F13 which at 2 stops down from wide open worked out well. 

Long-tailed Jaegers photographed near Nome, Alaska June 2012.  Canon 5D3 500F4 lens, 1.4x teleconverter 1/2500 at F10, iso 800.  This image is a bit more complex in terms of ideal depth of field because there are 2 competing factors.  First getting both birds in focus you need a fair bit of depth of field and secondly even though I had a nice low angle the background could get quite busy.  I started out at F9 and saw that in some of the images both birds weren't sharp so I stopped down a little bit more to F10.  As I said generally you need at least 2 stops when working with 2 bids at fairly close range, at F10 I was just under 2 stops down from wide open.  

These aren't hard and fast rules for depth of field for bird photography, I would think of them as guidelines that have served me very well.   Keep them in mind but experiment and let your own style develop as well.