As I strolled the pathways at Presqu’ile Provincial Park during the spring bird migration, I was amazed at how much easier bird photography has become thanks to the technical innovations in photo equipment. I have the ability to hand hold my telephoto lens and get sharp images. Using the telephoto lens without time consuming manipulation of a tripod is something I thought I would never do, but hand holding the camera has rewarded me with many bird photos. Panning can be done with ease and I can react quickly to those action shots of birds in fight. Technology has also helped increase the image size and decrease the weight of the equipment.

The secret for hand holding a telephoto lens and getting sharp images is vibration reduction. When using a lens with vibration reduction, it is possible to hand hold the lens at 400mm with a shutter speed as low as 1/60 of second and still get a sharp image. The lens will also recognize panning from camera shake which is excellent for action shots. Hand holding and no tripod means a reduction in the weight of the equipment I carry on long and difficult hiking trails. To reduce even more weight I remove the tripod mount on my AF VR Zoom-Nikkor ED 80-400mm lens. The removal of the tripod mount requires the lens to be handled in such a way to give it maximum support, although the weight reduction is worth it. These changes have made heavy and cumbersome equipment a way of the past for me. This freedom of movement enabled me to jump quickly from my vehicle and dash across a marsh for pictures of a blue heron on the hunt. Free from the physical restraint of a tripod I was able to get numerous photos on the blue heron trail in Prince Edward Island.

The ability to change the ISO with every frame on digital cameras has been very helpful to me in photographing ducks diving. I can easily change to a higher ISO and obtain a faster shutter speed which is great for capturing pictures of ducks as they surface to the top of the water. The rapid movements of the ducks does not cause blur in the picture while using the faster shutter speed.

Digital equipment also helped to enlarge the size of the bird in the picture. When I purchased the digital Nikon D200 camera I learned that the DX format sensor on digital camera is smaller than the area on 135 format film camera. When I used my AF VR Zoom-Nikkor ED 80-400mm lens with the D200 camera there was a magnification effect of 1.5 which gave me the ability to take pictures from the vehicle or even from the window of my house and get excellent size images. This noticeable increase was advantageous when I was photographing the rose-breasted grosbeak from a window of my house.

For the colour accuracy of my feathered friends I use white balance with normal to vivid colour setting and sRGB colour space. What type of file I use is another area I have to consider. I have found that capturing my images in raw file is convenient because it gives me the flexibility for modification in the future. Large file sizes are the result but I find the raw file worth it. The digital file seems magical with all the shooting data stored within it. Record keeping is a breeze!

I make use of 3D colour matrix metering with some plus or minus adjustments, accompanied by dynamic-area AF focus and continuous-servo AF. Aperture priority is another one of my favorite settings because I can set the aperture for the depth of field and watch the shutter speed which is set automatically by the camera. The reason I watch the shutter speed is to ensure that it is fast enough to capture movement without blur. The combination of the above settings have proven beneficial to my work.

All of these technical settings may sound complicated but the truth is they have made photographing much simpler. Once the settings are established I can focused on the composition of the photograph.  Using a digital camera allows me to check the exposure of the pictures immediately, allowing me to fine tune exposure and increase the quality of photos. I look forward to further technical innovation in photography that will open up a new world of spontaneity and creativity.