Last month I had the pleasure to attend and lead some small workshops at the Biggest Week in American Birding festival in Ohio. I was there on behalf of Sony, but now that I know this event exists, I’d likely go back even if I wasn’t asked to teach.
If you’ve never been, all I can say is WOW. This is a huge event. I was told that they predict anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 birders come in to town for this. Not all of them go to the actual event by the way, but let me just say this place was packed. All of the hotels sell out, parking lots fill up… it’s crazy to see how big it really is.
Anyway, during the week I got to witness a lot of photographers out shooting. I would NEVER be “that guy” that walks up to people and gives unsolicited opinions and I hope you would never do it as well. But since I have a website, I can use what I saw as a learning experience and hopefully give some thoughts to help you. Enjoy!
Gear and Settings
I didn’t get to shoot that much, but I did capture a few barn swallows and some other random little nameless birds here and there. Nothing amazing, but it was great practice and some pretty cool action shots.
Everything was taken with my Sony a1 ii and 200-600mm lens. Settings are below and everything was processed in Lightroom for most editing, Topaz Photo AI for Noise Reduction and Photoshop if there were any distractions to remove.
Pre-capture Rocks! (Sometimes)
Before this week I hadn’t found much use for the new precapture feature in the Sony a1 ii. I shoot mostly larger birds and typically the pre-capture feature hasn’t been something I’ve used. I found it left me with way too many photos to go through and ate my my memory cards and batteries faster than I wanted. But this week, I found a whole new respect for this feature with the smaller birds. They are 100% impossible to anticipate and anyone that says that’s not true is either A) A liar… or B) Superhuman. While pre-capture comes with it’s drawbacks and I wouldn’t use it all of the time, with these small birds I was able to capture action photos that I would never have before. Have you used pre-capture before? Let me know your thoughts below.
The only downside about pre-capture is that it goes through your batteries really fast. So just be prepared for that. I’m used to going out for a 2 hour morning shoot and barely going through 20-30% of a battery. I went through an entire battery in just about 2 hours. Oh, and it left me with a lot of photos to go through. The good news for this situation is they were easy to spot and delete because they were usually empty scenes with no birds in it at all 🙂
Sometimes Too Much Gear Holds You Back
I noticed multiple times over that I saw people with huge backpacks and all of the gear in the world with them. I don’t want to pretend that the way I shoot is the only way, but if you follow me you probably know I’m an absolute minimalist with my gear. I bring a camera and lens and I carry it with me. Now, I totally understand that not everyone wants to be like that and that sometimes packing the gear and managing the gear is something they like. As an example, my buddy Blake Rudis is kind of that person. We’ve gone on photo trips where I have a tiny backpack that weighs 10lbs and he has a huge 50lb backpack with him that contains everything he owns.
But… and this is the big but… it never slows Blake down. He knows what he has, and he knows when, how and why to use it. That’s not what I noticed with many people that week. I saw a lot of people get bogged down with just too much. Too many choices, too much gear, too much changing, searching, maneuvering, etc. So if you’re one of the big heavy bag people that bring everything when you most likely only need a camera and a long lens, I’d like you to be honest with yourself and ask if you really need it. Sometimes trying to be prepared can have the opposite effect, and actually hinder your experience.
Rain Gear Messes People Up
I learned this a couple of years ago in Alaska and it was reinforced this week. One morning it was raining a bit and some people put rain gear on their cameras. It became painfully obvious that they had never done this before. In trying to protect their camera, they missed every opportunity to capture cool photos because they didn’t know how to put this rain gear on and work the camera with it.
Remember, you’ve spent thousands if not tens of thousands on your camera gear. I get that you want to protect it. But if you’re going to do that, also remember that you bought that gear to use to take photos with. And if you don’t know how to take photos with the rain gear you have, then you need to practice it more. I watched tens of thousands of dollar of gear go unused because people were fumbling around with plastic and zippers and compartments, while others were capturing photos.
The Need for Practice
I feel like this often falls on deaf ears, but I have to say it anyway. I saw way too many people with $10,000 of camera gear… the best of the best… and not know how to use it. It shouldn’t come as a surprise because I totally understand that gear is fun. I’m an avid golfer and I see it all the time. People with the best golf clubs, the best balls, dressed perfectly and all the latest gadgets. But they can’t hit a ball. Gear is fun and I’ll never be one to say that it’s not.
But we also have to learn to use it. I was out one morning and the bird action wasn’t great. But there were lots of not-fun-to-shoot birds that were moving around quite a bit. So this was a great time to practice. But I noticed several people weren’t even shooting.
No sweat… I get it… the birds that we were shooting weren’t great. But it was still good practice. I just figured they didn’t like the birds and they must be really good shooters. Well, when the time came to to take some photos, I realized they were not. Again, totally okay and I understand everyone needs to learn. But several people had about an hour to shoot, AND with some one there to help them and answer questions. But they chose not to.
I won’t beat a dead horse. Be real with yourself. Don’t let important shooting situations be the only time you take your camera out if you’re not familiar with it. You won’t get better that way, you’ll just get frustrated.
On a personal note that relates to this, I knew I wasn’t capturing portfolio quality birds. Barn Swallows are not considered to be one of the “cool kid” birds like Eagles and Ospreys, but it was still fun. I enjoyed being out there and the practice was good for me.
People are Fanatically Crazy About Naming Birds
I already knew this but wow, was I reintroduced to how crazy people get if you don’t name a bird. One day, I was out alone following a little yellow bird. Some one walked by me and asked what I was looking for and I said “some little yellow bird I’ve seen flying back and forth”. I won’t go deep in to the lecture I got, but needless to say this person felt I should try to name birds.
The takeaway… remember that not everyone feels the same as you. I don’t name birds because… well… I don’t really care. If the bird looks great (to me) and is doing something great, all I want at that point is to take a photo that makes me (and hopefully others) go wow. Knowing the name of the bird doesn’t change that. You may have your reasons, but remember just that… they’re YOUR reasons 😉
Your Expectations Sometimes Defy Reality (and hurt your enjoyment)
This was an interesting one, and here’s a great example of how your expectations can actually change your enjoyment of something by not having realistic expectations. Now, you know me, I always have to relate things to personal experiences and my golf obsession is the perfect one.
I play golf with some very good golfers and some very poor golfers. I don’t care what your handicap is by the way… as long as you’re fun to play with that’s all I care about (I’m a 13 handicap by the way… made it down to an 11 last year). Anyway, one very poor person I play with, will hit his ball on the green and start talking about making that 40 foot putt he has left (the ball isn’t close to the hole by the way). Then… when he doesn’t make it, he gets irritated. The problem is that EVERY golf statistic will show there was only an 4% chance a PGA Tour pro would have made a putt that long, let alone them. And I’ve watched it take away from their enjoyment of the game – put simply they have very poor expectations, because putting is hard, and they were going to miss 99 out of 100 of those attempts.
I saw this a lot with people photographing little birds. I mean LITTLE. You know, those tiny yellow ones I was talking about 😉
Anyway, I was really surprised at how many people who didn’t consider themselves very good bird photographers thought they should be able to take a photo of say, a cardinal, flying. Folks… it’s nearly impossible to get a close and sharp photo of a small bird flying. You are the elite of the elite if you can do that consistently. Yeah, I get that somebody reading this will leave me a comment on how good they are and how easy it is, so please don’t… because it’s not.
But the point is, it’s hard. I’m not saying you can’t get a photo of a small bird that’s sharp, but I can bet you it won’t be close and you’ll most likely have to crop away 98% of your photo to see it and all of the upsizing apps in the world won’t make it a good photo. Small birds in flight are hard to take. That’s why you don’t see a ton of them out there. And more than that, I don’t think they’re that great. An eagle just soaring in the air is nice, but most of you know if you’ve taken that photo you’ll tire of it quickly. You want the bird doing something interesting and flying, while a challenge at first, isn’t interesting. And most of those small birds aren’t doing anything but flying and usually look like small missiles in the air. If you want the shot for the challenge of it, then by all means do it. If you want it because you think it’s going to win best photo award it probably won’t. Either way, realize it’s the hardest photo in bird photography to take, and you will fail 99% of the time.
A Great Event and Thank You
It was a great event and I really enjoyed myself. I also met a lot of nice people so a big thanks to Sony for having me there and to everyone I got to meet along the way. Enjoy!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Really enjoyed the read. Thank you
love the part about the bird ID…went on a walk with Audubon group once – they even work just by bird song AND know the name of the tree where the sound is …humbling experience
Such a good article Mark. Thank you. Totally agree about the gear. Just me and my Nikon D500, Tamron 150-600 go birding. I too know folks who are name and “chirp” fanatics. Enough already! Here’s my names, LBT little brown tweet, LWT little yellow tweet. Whatever. My shooting day is complete if I get to capture my favorite, GBH Great Blue Heron!
I went to Magee marsh for the first time this year. What I figured out is my favorite lens (Nikon 600mmPF) has to long of a minimum focus distance (13 feet). The birds can be very close and sometimes I needed to back up to obtain focus, which tended to put vegetation in my way. I have recently bought the 180-600 (8 feet minimum focus distance) zoom lens which will give me more flexibility.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I perked up even more when I saw you were using 200-600mm lens. Were you hand holding it? The reason I’m asking, is I just got the Nikon 180-600 lens and my gut tells me I should only use it with a tripod. That is not always possible, so if you were handholding yours, maybe there is hope for me. Thanks.
Hi Patty. If I want the best photos and I don’t have any video recording to do (for teaching purposes only), then I handhold all the time. If you see me on a tripod there’s a reason for it and I’m usually not happy about it because it’s extremely restrictive and I know I’ll get less photos.
Thoughtful and helpful takeaways, especially about pre-capture (sadly, my a1 ii has been languishing unopened for 3 months). Magee Marsh and nearby areas are sure a birder’s mecca. I went several days each spring for 30 years…until the sprawling festival. Across the lake in Canada, Point Pelee has all the same birds, with more space (so their festival isn’t an issue), although taller trees. I chuckled at your brush with the Bird Police — they mean well but can’t help themselves. 😄 Hey, if you’re appreciating nature in a responsible way, and being considerate of others, your ornithological knowledge is not on the table!
Hi Matt,
My camera has pre-capture, but I’ve never tried it. Maybe I will now!
Thanks,
Jules
Hi Matt, Loved your post. and totally agree with everything. Who cares what the name of the bird is. If its a good – terrific.
Incidently loved your barn swallows. Being a senior citizen, I need to only carry essential gear. I love my bird photography, and love your articles.
Hi Matt
I already knew that you are a great photographer and a great video teacher. You have now said that you are a medium-good, obsessive golfer. So far so good. What I did not really appreciate before, and what you have not directly said, but have now revealed, is that you are a practical philosopher with a lot to say about human relationships, pleasure…and statistics.
Thanks Martin. Never been called a philosopher before 🙂
Great article. As a fairly new small bird photographer, your comments were right on. I loved the comment on gear taken. It’s all I can do to handle camera with 500mm lens searching for the birds, and capturing their movements. As I am constantly watching the birds with camera ready to swing into action..who has time for a backpack look see? Should mention I’m old, another reason to keep it simple. By the way, I never would have guessed Ohio as a prime birding location to take photos. I live in Florida, but will now be more open minded. I always enjoy your posts.
Excellent article. One of your best. I’ve done lots of bird photography, mostly waterfowl at Florida wetlands and your analyses are spot on relative to gear, subject matter and attitudes. If I get a good shot, THEN I may try to learn the name of a bird. But I usually don’t really care. I shoot with the A7RV and A7CR so no pre-capture but batteries still go relatively quickly, more so with the A7RV. Just now returning from Alaska. I brought 2 rain covers but shot without them in light rain. The only issue being rain drops on my filter. No camera malfunctions at all. That might not be the case in really heavy rain.
I went to the event for the first time this year. I am chuckling reading your notes, especially the one about bird ID. When asked the same question, I just always say “I shoot first, and ask Merlin later.” And no, real birders don’t think that’s funny.
I’d be honored if we’re ever in the same place at the same time and you want to give me unsolicited advice.
I’m going to steal your response “shoot first, and ask Merlin later”. Exactly the way I shoot. It’s the only way with small birds.
I love your comments here about the bird festival in Ohio. They were very helpful to me. I love bird watching and doing bird photography. I try to practice on whatever I see. Good comments on not carrying a lot of gear. Golf analogy is wonderful. Also, enjoy golf.
I went on an excursion once with a group of birdwatchers (two of my family members are avid birders.) Turned out we had different priorities. The birders checked off the birds on their lists and were ready to go. I wanted at least an hour to capture behavior, work the scene, have different light, etc. The birders did know the names, however. I always enjoy your reports and perspective, Matt.
I never heard about Pre-capture. As I read your article, is that something like Burstmode?
My most used gear: Nikon D7500 with Sigma 100-400mm.
I was along with you at the Thursday outing and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it! If nothing else, it just just great to be out talking photography with you and the other folks in our group. I thought the pre-capture feature was cool, but like you, I prefer raptors and don’t think it would be a necessary feature for me. By the way, I was the guy who mentioned the new version 4 of Topaz Photo AI……thanks for a great morning!
I’m in total agreement about naming birds. I will sometimes look one up in the app on my phone, but I’m not all that concerned with names either. I’m also not very good at shooting birds. Most of my photos of birds are pretty static. That doesn’t mean that I’m unhappy with them, they just aren’t what some people would call “exciting”. My gear (Canon RF 100-500 L) doesn’t have the reach (or I can’t get close enough) for most small birds, so I’m forced to do some fairly extreme cropping at times. Still I plug away, mostly doing landscape, but also anything that catches my interest, including birds.
Thanks for all of the great info and observations. I have been going to Magee Marsh for the last four years. Usually don’f go to the event itself because of the crowds. We usually go the week before the event and deal with a lot less people. We also live close enough to the Marsh that we don’t have to worry about hotel bookings!
It is a great practice time to try and catch those little rockets flying through the air!
I shoot a lot of small to medium sized birds. You are absolutely correct that their behavior is unpredictable. I have used pre-capture since I bought my A1 II in December. I find it has significantly increased getting the pose I’m after and the sometimes better ones I would not have captured otherwise. The benefit is worth the burden of a lot more rejected photos.
Hey Matt – watch out, you may get hooked on birds! Happened to me at Maroon Bells when the ranger told me that those (beautiful!) little yellow birds (Yellow Warbler) are very hard to shoot and almost nobody gets good shots ( Game on!!) A few years (and many thousands of gear dollars and lotsa practice) later, I’m going to the Black Swamp (and locally too) and nailing those little beauties – and so many others too. Download Cornell’s free Merlin bird app for quick & easy id to fill in your keywords to build your bird cred. There’s a lot of joy in shooting birds as you’ll soon discover (and with sponsored Sony gear, you’re all ready to soar!) Have fun!!
Hey Matt – watch out, you may get hooked on birds! Happened to me at Maroon Bells when the ranger told me that those (beautiful!) little yellow birds (Yellow Warbler) are very hard to shoot and almost nobody gets good shots ( Game on!!) A few years (and many thousands of gear dollars and lotsa practice) later, I’m going to the Black Swamp (and locally too) and nailing those little beauties – and so many others too. Download Cornell’s free Merlin bird app for quick & easy id to fill in your keywords to build your bird cred. There’s a lot of joy in shooting birds as you’ll soon discover (and with sponsored Sony gear, you’re all ready to soar!) Have fun!!
Thanks Grace. Downloaded Merlin 5 years ago. Cool app… I don’t keyword though so not much use to me 🙂
All good, common sense. I forwarded your comments on making a golf putt to a golfer friend.
This may be cheating, as it’s not exactly catching the little guys flitting from tree to tree much faster than I could ever react. I finally accepted that I would spend a lot of futile time trying. However, the little birds have such gorgeous wingspans when they’re in flight that I really wanted to capture them, and cheating or not, I’ve gotten more successful shots in the week that I’ve been doing this than I had in the years before. Here’s what I did (build it and they will come…): I set up a birdbath to attact them to the garden. it sits off the ground and under the branches of a tree for perching reconnaissance. With clean cool water every day. they do indeed come. I put my Sony 300 f2.8 on a tripod about 15 feet away, tucked up against the house where it’s somewhat unobtrusive. The birds seem to take offense at my presence, so I prefocus the lens on approximately the center of the birdbath, and then set a wireless remote to trigger the shots. I can see from a distance (and from inside with the cool a.c.) when a tree percher is about to dive down to the bath, and get ready with the remote. It’s hard to get them coming down. BUT – after they splash around, and you’ve got them in focus, you can tell when they’re about to launch, and with the right tracking selection, and a wide and tall focus area, you can hold down the remote and get them leaving the bath in full wingspread. I just started doing this recently and today it dawned on me to add some colorful flowering pots behind the birdbath so that there’s interesting foliage and color behind the takeoff – the 2.8 blurs that out to a soft but colorful background that really makes the bird pop – if you’re lucky enough to get him in focus. The shots won’t all be perfect, but many more of them will be than was the case just trying to grab focus as they move across your backyard. I’m still trying to decide which focus area works best to track them out of the bath and up as they rise. If anyone knows of any software that shows the file data down to that level, please let me know. PhotoMechanic and Lightroom don’t get that far into the weeds, so I’m trying to keep track manually, which is pretty tedious. It IS cheating, methinks, but it’s working pretty well, relative to catching them in flight.
Even though I’m not doing much photography now, this article was very enjoyable and made me feel better about my own instincts to carry my camera with a long lens and no rainwear.
Hi Matt, I love birds and we have a wondefu variety here in the Western Province of South Africa. I am a bird lover and membet of the local bird club where we live.
I know exactly what you mean as I do not know their names but love to photograph them. When I post a bird, I look it up on Google lens or my bird book. I often hear that I am not a birder as I should know their call and names.
I really don’t care as long as I get a good shot, which is tricky enough. I am 76 and happy that I can still hold my camera and take good photos.
I am an avid follower of yours and love the way you go about your posts and videos. I would never want to miss one.
I loved your narrative and as a birder and golfer appreciate your thoughts about birders and their equipment. I am not one of those, I stay home when it rains, just like the birds.
Thanks for always bringing up a new point of interest.
Kindest regards
Diana
Hi Matt.
Having read this article and watching some of your videos, I can only say that if we were to meet we would probably end up agreeing about everything. Regarding Pre-capture you are spot on. I have been an Olympus/OM Systems user for 50 years and have found Pro-capture to be invaluable. I am assuming that Sony’s and OM System’s functions are the same in that the user can set the number of frames and their interval both before and after depressing the shutter button?
As to gear, I carry as little as possible – usually two bodies and two lenses (not around my neck)!! Arthritis for a 77 year old requires it.
Looking forward to your next hints and tips.
Take care
John
P.S. Photographer, Golfer, Guitarist (and a few other passions) – all need constant practice.
I have OM System OM1 with Pro-Capture. Have not used it a lot but it can be handy for sure.
Thanks for the information – makes me think about my approach.
Matt,
Great article and good observations. I think they are all spot on. I went to the festival for the first time this year and plan to go again. It was a blast. I am an avid birder who tries to get the best shot of whatever bird I am taking pictures of. Patience is the key, because you miss almost as much as you succeed. Kind of like hitting a baseball, to use another sport. The big plus is that you are so close to those little birds it makes it great fun. Maybe we will run into each other there one of these years! Take care.
I agree with the difficulties in shooting small birds. Sometimes it’s easier to find their nest and camp out there. The birds need to slow down a little. This presents a somewhat better chance of getting the photos you want. It’s what I do for swallows.
Hi Matt! Great thoughts! Practice! Love your approach to photography and editing. Thx! Lori
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and your perspectives from the BWIAB event.. I was not aware of the scope of this event and it’s something I’ll plan to attend next year. I much prefer photographing the shorebirds and wading birds I find in the southeastern US coastal states, but the Great Lakes coastal areas offer good opportunities, too.
The photos you posted are quite good and getting in some practice is always worth it. Thanks again!
Being someone from an area where birds are tamer and more tolerate of people, did you find shooting at Magee more challenging?
Not really. There were plenty of birds and they didn’t seem to mind us at all.
Nice festival week info. Up until this article I’ve been very happy with my Canon R7 and the most expensive lens I ever bought, the 100-500 RS-L.
You’ve made me want to trade in the body for one with pre-capture.
I’ll keep trying to get small bird action shots like that, but Man o’ Man you nailed it
Hi Matt, I love birds and we have a wondefu variety here in the Western Province of South Africa. I am a bird lover and membet of the local bird club where we live.
I know exactly what you mean as I do not know their names but love to photograph them. When I post a bird, I look it up on Google lens or my bird book. I often hear that I am not a birder as I should know their call and names.
I really don’t care as long as I get a good shot, which is tricky enough. I am 76 and happy that I can still hold my camera and take good photos.
I am an avid follower of yours and love the way you go about your posts and videos. I would never want to miss one.
I loved your narrative and as a birder and golfer appreciate your thoughts about birders and their equipment. I am not one of those, I stay home when it rains, just like the birds.
Thanks for always bringing up a new point of interest.
Kindest regards
Diana
Hi the r7 does have a pre shoot function where it continuously records and captures 0.5 seconds prior to shutter release. If you google it there are a few videos on how to set it up.