How To Photograph Kingfishers Diving?

This article provides tips and tricks for photographing diving kingfishers, a rewarding experience for wildlife photographers. Alan McFadyen, a wildlife photographer since 2009, captured a photo of a kingfisher he spent six years trying to capture, capturing 4,200 hours and 720,000 photos. The hardest images are those of a kingfisher diving for fish, but the rewards are significant. If time is limited, some photographers offer hide rental services.

To capture a kingfisher’s riveting dive, it is essential to ensure the camera is compatible with the bird and works from all directions. The key to capturing a kingfisher’s movements is to get as close as possible without disturbing them. To achieve this, increase the shutter speed and increase the ISO, as noise is a preference over missing a shot and is often not noticeable in prints.

The high ISO is acceptable depending on the photographer, with some preferring more grain and others preferring a more natural look. If the bird is close, the ISO should be adjusted accordingly. Overall, capturing a diving kingfisher is a rewarding experience for wildlife photographers.

What shutter speed is needed for water?

How fast or slow to create the look you want? If it’s silky, cotton-candy water you’re after, shutter speeds of around 1/8 second or slower are what you want. For freezing the action, you’ll want at least 1/250 second, and faster is better.

What is the best shutter speed for bird photography?

ISO: In daylight hours you should stick to a low ISO of around 100 or 200 to avoid introducing grain to your images. With bird photography we need to maintain a high shutter speed (around 1/800th to 1/4000th), so you will likely need to increase your ISO to achieve proper exposure in low light conditions.

Aperture: Your lens’ aperture number, or f-stop, controls the amount of light that enters your camera. It also controls depth of field. An aperture of f/2.8, for example, will allow more light to hit your camera’s sensor in less time than an aperture of f/10, which is great for freezing motion when photographing birds in flight. A low f-stop number will also create a shallower depth of field and a creamy background blur known as ‘bokeh, which helps to make your subject (i.e. the bird) stand out from the background. Note that most lenses are sharpest at around two stops down from wide open. For example, a lens with a maximum aperture of f/4 will be sharpest between f/8 and f/11.

Adjusting Exposure Compensation. Once you have dialled in your camera settings, your job is to become a master of exposure compensation. This means looking at the camera’s light meter reading recommendations and thinking about making the image brighter (+1, +2, +3 stops) or darker (-1, -2, -3 stops) depending on the result you would like.

Focussing. Most cameras have the option of changing the auto focus from ‘One-Shot AF’ to ‘AI Servo AF’. This will allow you to continuously focus on moving birds, tracking them and maintaining focus as they move. Many photographers prefer to use ‘back button focus’ and only use the shutter release button to take the photographs in short bursts, with the drive mode set to ‘High Speed’.

What shutter speed and aperture for wildlife photography?

Which settings you should use for wildlife photography?Shutter speed: 1/250s to 1/2500s depending on the animal.Aperture: f/2 to f/6 depending on your lens.ISO: 200-800, depending on the light and what you’ve set shutter speed and aperture to.

What shutter speed should I use for wildlife?A high shutter speed.

Which aperture is best for wildlife photography?A wide aperture.

What is the best shutter speed for underwater photography?

The metadata from thousands of published images shows that shutter speeds of 1/125 to 1/160th of a second work well about 90% of the time underwater. These speeds are fast enough to prevent motion blur from camera movement, as well as the movements of most animals that are in a relaxed state.

Typically I start with 1/160 and leave it at that setting until I need extra reach in my aperture range.

At the faster end, you will dramatically limit the amount of light that hits your sensor. If you go from 1/125th to 1/250th, your shutter is only open half as long. You have lost what we call one stop of light.

What camera settings to photograph kingfishers?

My camera setting is usually set to between 1/400 – 1/1000 shutter speed, F8 aperture (It’s where the Sigma 150-600c is sharpest), and auto ISO of a maximum 6400 ISO.

The majority of the time I’m using my Nikon Z50 which is a crop sensor so noise can be an issue. That’s why I limit it to a low ISO. If the lighting is too low, it forces me to wait for better lighting or look for a better angle/solution. I’m a big fan of using Topaz DeNoise for noisy shots and that helps clean up and sharpen my low-light images.

A silent shutter is a must for photographing Kingfishers. They are so easily spooked by noise.

How do you blur the background of a bird in photography?

If you want that background to blur beautifully. You’ve got to make sure that you zoom in and get close to your subject. If you make the mistake to park too close to your subject.

What ISO and shutter speed for bird photography?

ISO: In daylight hours you should stick to a low ISO of around 100 or 200 to avoid introducing grain to your images. With bird photography we need to maintain a high shutter speed (around 1/800th to 1/4000th), so you will likely need to increase your ISO to achieve proper exposure in low light conditions.

Aperture: Your lens’ aperture number, or f-stop, controls the amount of light that enters your camera. It also controls depth of field. An aperture of f/2.8, for example, will allow more light to hit your camera’s sensor in less time than an aperture of f/10, which is great for freezing motion when photographing birds in flight. A low f-stop number will also create a shallower depth of field and a creamy background blur known as ‘bokeh, which helps to make your subject (i.e. the bird) stand out from the background. Note that most lenses are sharpest at around two stops down from wide open. For example, a lens with a maximum aperture of f/4 will be sharpest between f/8 and f/11.

Adjusting Exposure Compensation. Once you have dialled in your camera settings, your job is to become a master of exposure compensation. This means looking at the camera’s light meter reading recommendations and thinking about making the image brighter (+1, +2, +3 stops) or darker (-1, -2, -3 stops) depending on the result you would like.

How to photograph underwater?

So here are a few tips and basic underwater photography principles that will help you take better photos when you are just starting out.Get close to your subject. … Use natural light in shallow water. … Think about image composition. … Shoot up. … Focus on the eyes. … Try using manual white balance adjustment. … Keep progressing.

At one point or another, most divers start taking an interest in underwater photography. Many want to capture the memories of their undersea adventures and share them with their family and friends; some are willing to really learn the craft and create images worthy of getting published in magazines and websites; others still are simply looking for a new challenge. Regardless of where you fall on that scale, underwater photography can be incredibly rewarding, and yes, a bit tricky at times. So, here are a few tips to help you get started on the right fin.

Note, if you decide to dive with a larger camera system, check out the special buoyancy aids, such as arm floats and port floats. These will help in getting your rig neutrally buoyant.

Camera Housing. Most mainstream camera manufacturers produce their own range of underwater housings which are generally rated to 30 meters (100 feet). Stronger versions with higher depth ratings are available through specialized underwater gear manufacturers, such as Nauticam, Ikelite, Seacam, and others but tend to be more expensive.

How to photograph a diving kingfisher?

Equipment: The set up is a raised pool. The cameras are positioned at one end and auto-focused on the point where the bird enters the water. Switch over to manual focusing to fix the lens at this focus. The camera is fired by a wireless remote from the comfort of the hide around 30 feet away.For kingfisher diving the following equipment is essential.

1. A tripod.2. Focal length around 200mm. eg. for Canon users the ideal would be 100 – 400 or 70 – 200 f 2.8.3. Wireless remote release with ability to change channel on transmitter and receiver. Minimum range 30 feet. (sounds obvious but make sure it is compatible with your camera). This must work from all directions and not just facing the camera. OR 10 meters extension shutter cable.4. To ensure a decent hit rate a camera with at least 6 frames a second is best. Buffer of at least 10 frames. Minimum 1/4000th second capability.5. The action is extremely fast and you must be accepting that conditions may dictate high ISO. For birds entering the water perhaps up to ISO 6400 if the conditions are not bright. The best shots in my opinion are of the exiting bird. Thankfully they are much slower at this point and it is possible to capture sharp images at around 1/1500th-1/2000th second therefore lessening the need for such high ISO. You will also waste lots of images. My test shots have a bird in them around 50% of the time and most of these it is not in a perfect position. Hopefully most dives will result in at least one usable image and with around 30 dives predicted per session you should be left with plenty of keepers. (this prediction is based on the behaviour of the birds last brood and is by no means guaranteed)

Ethics. There has recently been some debate regarding the ethics concerning baiting and kingfisher photography. The first point is the safety of the bird. One method commonly used to direct the kingfisher to the spot you wish it to dive is to submerge a glass tank. Whilst I am not aware of any occurrences with the bird entering from the side and hitting the glass I accept this is a possibility so have designed my method to eliminate this risk. My container is padded and can only be entered from directly above thus ensuring the safety of the bird at all times.The second and perhaps more contentious issue relates to the use of live bait. There is no way around this, kingfishers eat fish! My fish are sourced either from a fish farm or fishing lakes that are so heavily over stocked if I wasn’t using the fish for feeding kingfishers they would be removed and left to die on the lake bank. Every fish that is provided by myself means the birds take one less from the river.

What time of day is best to see kingfishers?

7. The early bird catches the …….. Kingfishers are particularly active in the early morning. They need to eat regularly and wake hungry. They’re up bright and early in search of food. So, get ready to set your alarm.

8. What time of year?. You’re most likely to see kingfishers during and after the breeding season between April and August. This is because they’re out and about more as they’ve got extra mouths to feed. A pair of kingfishers may have to catch at least 100 small fish a day to feed their young.

But winter is also a good time to spot them, as there’s less greenery around to hide them from view.

How to photograph whales underwater?

A wide-angle lens with a dome is going to be your friend when photographing whales underwater— typically between 11 and 35mm with the sweet spot around 15-20mm. If your housing unit/lens does not allow you to adjust zoom, remember to set your focal length before putting your camera into the housing.