There is an ad currently running on the telly for some sort of icecream confectionary and has someone with a friend how wants a bite of the icecream. Said friend keeps popping up in the most embarrassing moments asking, “Can I have a bite”
Thought the actions and expression of this little kite to its sibling was a bit like the ad. You settle down for a quite rest on a branch and someone comes to disturb.
The pair were actually preening and this one thought it might help by picking through the neck feathers.
We have been struggling a bit this week with very average weather and haven’t been able to put in much time either with the local kites or some other birds we’ve been monitoring.
So the weather doesn’t help the attitude either.
Had an interesting online discussion with a photographer who has returned from a trip with something like 4,000 images and the need to ‘process’ them. Along the way we talked about the interesting fact that these days taking a picture is ‘free’ no cost invovled and so we tend to take lots of them. Not just multi-burst, but lots of them and then hopefully edit back later.
Part of his lament was that out of the 4,000 or so images he would only spend some time on just a few. The rest would go unprocessed.
Even in the past couple of years the entire multi-burst concept has changed. Once you might get a camera to make 3 frames in a second. The problem for us DSLR users is that mirror has to go up and come down for the next exposure.
Now, mirrorless has numbers that match motionpicture speeds. My Dad’s old movie camera ran at 16 frames per second, many of the newer cameras exceed that by a long way.
Sure, editing is easy. Keep going till you get the good one. The one with the right expression, or the moment the bird behaves unusually, or get the perfect wing extention as it lifts of the branch, or lifts the fish out of the water.
YET
The image is the work of Neil Mansfield via Flickr All rights are his.
So while the technology is always going to help us achieve some seemingly impossibe shots, sometimes it’s luck. Sometimes it’s patience. Sometimes, perhaps its going through the 4000 shots to find the gem and the rest will just be snapshots.
Birds as Poetry —— Just because I WANDER - --doesn't mean I'm LOST 
That’s a delightful shot of the siblings. I smiled at your mention of the burst of shots, as this morning I was up near Healesville at Badger Weir, photographing the few birds we saw but mainly ferns and fungi. I had the camera set on the high speed burst from trying to get action shots of birds last time I was out, and it just needs a touch to fire off several images. So after I had accidedentally taken three or four shots of fungi sitting quietly and not planning on going anywhere, I changed the setting! 😊
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Hi Eleanor, made me smile. It’s not a setting I use a lot and when I want it, I’ve got to fumble with the camera off subject to work out the right spot. Its easy on the Nikon’s I just never practice getting it.
Even for birds in flight I still tned to use single shot. But I use a ‘focus bumping’ technique of tapping the shutter (I don’t use back button focus) to keep the focus on the bird before pressing down.
Yes. I could just rely on the AF-Continuous setting to ‘track’ the bird, but. Y’know, I’m just to set in my ways. 🙂
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That is an ad I have noticed, and that is unusual – I usually don’t pay attention to ads! Kudos to the agency that created it! They earned their $$$$$$$$’s!
Photography is changing quickly with the advancements in technology, both in hardware and software. But I sometimes wonder how many who are just starting their photographic journey will learn the skills that were learned by many in the days of film. But that is another discussion!
I probably should use burst more often, I could count the number of times I have used it on the fingers of one hand!
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Stupidly, and I dont’ even eat Icecream I had to go to the Coles freezer and see what these things were like. My goodness they are expensive and you could buy your hungry mate a second big one and still have change!!! Marketing.
You know, I sort of border so much on the lamentation of learning the craft skills but fear to be a voice in the techo wilderness. Its simply easier to stick it into Photoshop and move a few sliders than work out what the light values of a scene are. 🙂
I guess all art has travelled this torturous path. Else we’d all be still mixing up wet plate chemistry
I don’t use burst all that much. I’m happy enough to work with the inflight I get. And as Eleanor rightly points out. Multiburst on Macro is somewhat redundant.
Mind I did work with a birdo once who managed to make about 30 multi shots of a Whislting Kite sitting snoozing on a branch. Not sure what he did with the redundanat 29 shots. But I fear that they were methodically logged in some software for later review.
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G’day David, I haven’t seen that ad yet because I rarely watch channels with commercials but I’m glad it has prompted you to show this charming photo. As for the bursts I use this feature on my Nikon, especially when there is a dramatic action unwinding, but I find out that my “bursts” comprise usually 3 shots and then it’s press that button again – must be my old school habit. Neil’s shot is really amazing – one of those great action shots we all aspire to.
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