Wide angle lens for bird photography

Bird photographers mainly use tele lenses, but a wide angle lens can also be used to get shots of birds which really stand out from the lot. Some of my most successful bird images I have taken with a wide angle lens, and I will keep on shooting birds more like that (beside the telephoto images)!

Today I use the 14- 24 mm and 24 - 70 mm Nikkor zoom lenses. The quality of those lenses is very good.

The main problem is to get close enough to the birds. Most times this is not easy with birds, but there are some obvious possibilities to photograph birds with a wide angle lens. Although I reveal some of them here, you must remember that the only limiting factor is your imagination - or the lack of it).

Feeding tame birds

Feeding birds used to the presence of people is a good option to get close enough for wide angle shots. I have successfully done this (with dead mice) when shooting Great Grey Owls and Hawk Owls in Finland. This works best when the birds are struggling to find voles and they are starving. I believe I have actually saved quite a few owls by feeding them dead mice during the hard winter months!

Please, have a look at some of the winter owls (fed with dead mice):

http://www.finnature.fi/photo_album.html.15.html

Dalmatian Pelicans at Lake Kerkini are also pretty much used to humans, and they can be approached to wide angle distance. The local fishermen give them all the ”thrash” fish and the pelicans follow the boats like pack of dogs! It makes a great opportunity for a photographer to get really close to these magnificent birds!

Please, have a look at some of the Dalmatian Pelican images from Lake Kerkini:

http://www.finnature.fi/photo_album.html.14.html

At the feeding site

One way to do wide angle photography is to place the camera on a tripod with a remote release at a feeding site of the birds or at a regular perch.

At the nest

This is one way to get close to the birds, but it may also be the least recommended. However, if you know your birds, you will also know which species can be approached without a danger of desertion. If there are eggs or very small young ones in the nest - I do not recommend getting close to any bird nest without a
hide. But some birds come close enough for wide angle shots when you approach the nest or young ones.

Arctic Tern is a classic example, but also species like Long-tailed Skua or Great Skua are known to be quite aggressive at the nest. The latter can also be dangerous with its strong bill and fast speed. Some of the owls as well (especially Ural-, Great Grey- and Tawny Owls) are well known to be aggressive at the nest site, so they are possible to photograph with a wide angle lens at the nest site - but remember to be careful! Not only may they - they can also hurt themselves if you protect yourself from their attack with a tripod or monopod, for example.

At the bird nest site it is also possible to use remote release.

Remote releases

Using a remote control on your camera will open up a whole new world of options for your bird photography. With the remote control it is possible to use much shorter lenses than you would normally do with the birds.

There are three main types of remote releases: hard wired, infrared and radio triggers. Let’s have a brief look at all three of them.

Hard wired or cable release

This is the most reliable remote control for your camera. It has an instant response and there is no power consumption, so it will work well also in cold conditions! Half a press gives you the focusing while a full press fires the shutter. They come in different lengths and it is possible to buy 10 meter long cables and you can attach them to each other.

Infrared

One option is infrared remote releases. Their major disadvantages are the narrow field of view and a limited range, often less than six or seven metres. They also need a line of sight to operate. I have used a Canon infrared remote and it worked fine at about a 30-meter distance of the camera at least. However, that unit was a fairly expensive one.

Radio trigger

I have tried several different cheap radio triggers for my camera, but so far none of them has worked really well. I have been recommended a make called Phottix and I am going to test it shortly (it is fairly inexpensive). Apparently it works better if you put the antenna of the transmitter to your MOUTH when you press the release (sounds like a joke- but this makes you a part of the antenna)!

Another radio trigger recommended to me is called Pocketwizard, but that is rather expensive. However, reliability may need to come before the price?

If you have any experiences (good or bad) of radio triggers (or other remote releases), please mail me at jarinnature.fi

If You liked this idea, check out Wide angle lens for bird photography Album!