Chapter
1
Introduction
and Overview
1.1 Introduction
This is the
online version of what I hope will become
a highly useful reference for all bird enthusiasts wishing to improve
their
ability to capture aesthetic and/or useful images of living birds,
using digital imaging technology. The intended
audience is quite wide, ranging from casual watchers of yard birds to
the most serious students of ornithology. Although much
of the book will deal with issues related to the selection and
effective operation of digital imaging equipment, I will be dealing
with a fairly wide range of equipment, including not just the
ultra-expensive, top-of-the-line, pro-photography gear, but also the
more
economical solutions generally available to the masses. I will also be
addressing aesthetic issues, such as the framing of the bird, the
effective capture of behaviors, and the manipulation of
color and light and other image properties both in the field and in
postprocessing. I think you'll
find that while there are many books available on digital photography,
there are very few that focus specifically on digital bird photography, and probably none—other
than this one—that (1) are as continuously
updated by the author, and (2) are totally
free.
The only prerequisite for reading this book is
to have a keen interest in capturing fine images of birds. At the
outset I
don't assume you know anything whatsoever about cameras or digital
imaging technology. In fact, I'll be providing quite a lot of
information about modern camera technology, and I'll be
presenting it in what should be a very accessible and understandable
level for any reasonably mature reader. Some of the sections may delve
into technical details that you don't find particularly interesting;
feel free to skip these on a first reading, and to possibly come back
to
them at a later date, after you've assimilated the more immediately
applicable information.
Fig.
1.1: Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in North Carolina. This photo was
selected as the cover image for a nature calendar. Obtaining a
black background
like this can be achieved via the use of appropriate angles and flash
ratio. The
cropping geometry and placement of the subject in the final,
cropped image
could be improved. All of these issues are discussed at length in
this book.
1.2
A Note
about Editions
A note is in order
regarding this online book and how
it relates to the print edition of this work. The print edition, which
is only tentatively planned at this point, will most likely be a
shortened and more accessible version of this lengthy online
edition. The online version will retain the advantage of being
more frequently updated, though the print edition may be useful to
those readers in a hurry or wanting to read it away from the computer.
Note also that there are (for now) two online
versions of the book: one with figures adjusted for Windows monitors,
and one with figures adjusted for Macintosh monitors. Because
PC's and Macs (prior to OS X version 10.6) use different gamma
settings, images formatted for one but viewed on the other will appear
too bright (washed out) or too dark. The issue of gamma in
web-based distribution of bird photos is discussed in section 16.2.4.
Finally, the
online edition is, unlike the print edition, entirely free, though obviously “free” in this case means free access—not
free of any copyright. Both
versions of the book are copyrighted by the
author, who enjoys little or no financial gain by sharing this
information, so please respect the rights of the author (you can read
the fine
print by clicking here).
Donations and
purchases of the author's other books
and prints are much appreciated,
and will help defray the cost of hosting this free edition of the book.
Fig.
1.2: White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) in Florida.
Several techniques used in the capture of this image are described in
this book,
including the use of shallow depth-of-field to isolate the subject, the
use of external
flash to achieve better color and detail in the subject, and the use of
extreme angles
to bring the bird to the viewer's level and—in the case of
waterbirds—to compress
the surface of the water to a smooth, narrow band.
1.3 Brief Outline
My goal with this
book is to be
as comprehensive as possible. Using an electronic—and
therefore easily updatable—distribution format
should advance that
goal considerably. The text is currently divided into four main parts:
I.
Equipment
II. Technique
III. Postprocessing
IV. Distribution
These four parts span what I see as the full range of technical,
logistical, and artistic aspects of bird photography. I give a
brief
description of each section, below. You can skip to any section by
clicking on “contents” in the navigation pane to the
left (you may have
to scroll up to see it) and then clicking on the section to which you'd
like to jump. Just be aware that if you skip ahead you might bypass
definitions of terms that you'll need to know in order to fully
understand later sections of the book. You can
always skip back again and search for those terms and their definitions
(a glossary and subject index will hopefully be
added in the near future, to make this easier).
Part I of the book encompasses all equipment
issues, ranging from cameras and
lenses to essential accessories such as flash units and memory cards.
Part I also discusses the construction of a digital darkroom (i.e., a computer
system for digital postprocessing of images), though a thorough
discussion of digital postprocessing
techniques is deferred to Part III of the book. For those readers who
are just now trying to decide what camera or lens to buy (whether as a
first camera or as an upgrade to your existing setup), this section
should provide many, many useful pieces of advice, both specific and
general. As the technology
continues to advance in the months and years ahead, I hope to keep this
section up-to-date with regular revisions.
Part II gives concrete advice on the most
effective use of all this
equipment, specifically for photographing wild birds. A thorough
treatment of camera operation is given,
with an emphasis on the successful use of flash. You'll learn how
to best utilize the camera's settings to achieve
the proper exposure
(brightness and contrast), depth-of-field
(via the aperture), noise characteristics, and color fidelity when capturing both
the bird and its surroundings. Advice is
also given for homeowners wishing to turn their yard
into a bird-photography studio.
Part III delves into the bewildering but
essential topic of digital postprocessing.
Since the industry standard in terms of image processing software
continues to be Adobe's Photoshop,
the
emphasis
will be on the use of this particular software, though several
other tools will be discussed as well. I believe this information
is fully as important for artistic bird photography as that contained
in the previous sections. Having a sense for what is possible in
postprocessing will definitely influence your technique in the field.
Finally, in Part IV we will consider
alternatives for distribution
of
digital images, with an emphasis on distribution
via the internet. Some practical advice
regarding print
distribution is given as well.
Fig. 1.3: Black
and White Warbler (Mniotilta varia), before and after artificially
changing the image's background. Techniques for digitally
enhancing images in
Photoshop will be discussed in great detail in this book.
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