- 5 weeks ago
Dear Friends,
My 7 non-technical tips to help you get better wildlife photos and footage.!
Hope you enjoy and find of some value..!
all the best
g
Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
01:36 - Tip 1 : Research
05:09 - Tip 2 : Fieldcraft
07:54 - Tip 3 : Apps
11:41 - Tip 4 : Shoot at Eye Level
14:58 - Tips 5 & 6 : Weather & Light
18:22 - Tip 7 : Don't obsess over expensive telephotos
19:20 - Outro
Please note as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Complete list of affiliated links to my favourite gear & clothing plus other resources I am happy to recommend:
https://georgesblonsky.com/resources/
Affiliated links to equipment, kit & clothing you see in this video:
Vlog Camera - Panasonic Lumix S5: https://amzn.to/3FEHEQk
Blackmagic Pocket 6K: https://amzn.to/418DFDB
Sigma 60-600mm: https://amzn.to/3G2FIRu
Tripod - https://amzn.to/43lO28H
Manfrotto Fluid Head - https://amzn.to/3Gt4A58
Samsung T5 SSD: https://amzn.to/3KmLUWN
Craghoppers Shirt: https://amzn.to/42aGcOv
Revolution Race Trousers: https://amzn.to/3AZCXxk
Website:
https://georgesblonsky.com/
PATREON:
If you'd like to support this channel please visit my Patreon page below.. thank you..!
https://www.patreon.com/geop
My 7 non-technical tips to help you get better wildlife photos and footage.!
Hope you enjoy and find of some value..!
all the best
g
Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
01:36 - Tip 1 : Research
05:09 - Tip 2 : Fieldcraft
07:54 - Tip 3 : Apps
11:41 - Tip 4 : Shoot at Eye Level
14:58 - Tips 5 & 6 : Weather & Light
18:22 - Tip 7 : Don't obsess over expensive telephotos
19:20 - Outro
Please note as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Complete list of affiliated links to my favourite gear & clothing plus other resources I am happy to recommend:
https://georgesblonsky.com/resources/
Affiliated links to equipment, kit & clothing you see in this video:
Vlog Camera - Panasonic Lumix S5: https://amzn.to/3FEHEQk
Blackmagic Pocket 6K: https://amzn.to/418DFDB
Sigma 60-600mm: https://amzn.to/3G2FIRu
Tripod - https://amzn.to/43lO28H
Manfrotto Fluid Head - https://amzn.to/3Gt4A58
Samsung T5 SSD: https://amzn.to/3KmLUWN
Craghoppers Shirt: https://amzn.to/42aGcOv
Revolution Race Trousers: https://amzn.to/3AZCXxk
Website:
https://georgesblonsky.com/
PATREON:
If you'd like to support this channel please visit my Patreon page below.. thank you..!
https://www.patreon.com/geop
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:09Music
00:09Music
00:09Music
00:10Let's go.
00:41So, hello, good morning my friends, I hope you're all doing very well.
00:45It's been a few weeks since I was able to bring you a video, mostly because of weather.
00:53We had Greek Easter as well, which there was a lot of tourists up here and people visiting
00:59family and what have you for the week, and all of that caused a bit of disturbance in
01:04the area, which meant that any time I tried to sit and photograph anything, somebody would
01:09inevitably turn up and the birds would fly.
01:14But I thought I would come today to these fields here behind where I live in this village here,
01:22to the farmland, where I'm less likely to bump into tourists and have a look around, see
01:30what birds and bugs I might find.
01:34And along the way I thought I would give you a few tips to help you with your wildlife and
01:42bird photography.
01:44So, to start off, my first tip would be research.
01:52And that basically comes in two styles of research.
01:58The first is what I would call an academic style of research, whereby you look up on the
02:03internet, on your laptops or desktops, what have you, and research whatever species it is
02:10that you're keen on photographing.
02:15And I wouldn't limit myself to whatever Wikipedia says either.
02:20So on your Google search, go further down on the list, on the search results, and dig into
02:27some of those scientific papers that you might find, PDFs, what have you, produced by
02:33people studying biology, zoology, and have a read.
02:39And those might reveal a lot more in terms of behaviour than the standard listing on Wikipedia
02:48or even in the Collins bird guide.
02:54And knowing behaviour will help you better plan your trip to be able to photograph the animal
03:06and photograph the behaviour that you want.
03:08The second form of research is actually just getting out into the field, spending hours observing,
03:18and seeing for yourself the kind of behaviour that the animals display.
03:26And in so doing, you actually can pick up tricks, little tells, if you like to use a poker term,
03:37that the animals might do before displaying a particular behaviour.
03:42So, for example, with the great crested grebes, to try and get, I mean, they, throughout the
03:50day, they will do their normal courtship behaviour, where they mirror each other.
03:56But if you want to get the behaviour where they actually hold the weeds in their mouths, and
04:04they actually move their, wiggle their flippers, and go up, and breast to breast, you can look
04:14for that behaviour.
04:15Basically, they'll do the normal mirroring, then they'll drift away from each other, and
04:19if they both dive, you know they're going for seaweed.
04:23And then they'll both come up with it in their mouth, low head, they'll approach each other,
04:27and go up and do that behaviour.
04:30So, learning to actually predict that sort of thing will really help you nail the sort
04:36of images that you want.
04:38And the other thing with learning behaviour is that you're able to tell a story with your
04:45images, which are always going to be more powerful and more compelling as images than if you were
04:52just taking a picture or a video of a bird on a branch, not doing anything in particular,
05:00at most singing.
05:02So research, and research again, that's my first tip.
05:09So tip number two is field craft.
05:14And there's two aspects to field craft.
05:17The first is being able to read the signs as you go through nature.
05:26So you're walking along and you might see something, and that could be a telltale sign of a bird
05:33or any other kind of animal.
05:37So in my case now, I spotted on the bush, as I was walking up the track here, that one
05:43of the topmost leaves of the bush there is full of bird dropping.
05:51So there's a stick that protrudes, a twig, a small branch that protrudes above those leaves,
05:58and so I'm assuming that it's a favoured spot for birds to perch on.
06:06I'm not sure which birds use it, but I'll hang around here for a moment and see if something
06:12comes along to sit on that perch.
06:15The second aspect to field craft follows on from the first point I made about researching
06:27your target species, because when you know the kind of ground your target species likes
06:38to inhabit, whether it's nesting, foraging, oh, it's a golden oriole just flew past, sorry,
06:47I got distracted, yeah, knowing where it likes to live, where it nests, what it feeds on, will
06:55help you be able to firstly locate it, locate areas where it might exist, but it'll also give
07:04you an idea of how to approach that species, whether wearing a ghillie suit and sitting in
07:11a field will help you, whether being in a hide, or whether you can just walk down a track because
07:18they are habituated to human activity and they're not that worried, so, okay, and it
07:27is a corn bunting that's using that, it just flew onto the perch, onto that little twig, and
07:39there, and he's just sitting there calling, yeah, so, being able to spot things like that
07:44will also help you find locations where you can photograph and film birds or mammals, whatever.
07:52Okay, so that's my tip number two.
07:54Okay, and that brings me on to tip number three, which also relates to the other two, and that
08:04is your phone.
08:07There are a multitude of applications that you can use that will help you in the field.
08:17Most obviously is something like the Collins Bird Guide, which is a fantastic reference.
08:26A second one, which I absolutely love, is called Seek, and basically you can upload a picture
08:36of this, or you can point the camera at the back of your screen, and it will identify, or
08:45try to identify any kind of animal, plant, flower, that you might come across.
08:53It's not always successful in identifying it, but it will put you in the ballpark at least,
09:01so if it can't find the exact species, it will tell you what family, usually, it thinks
09:09it is in, and it is a really good source of information, so I'll put a link to it in
09:17the description
09:18below if I can, but you should be able to find it both on iOS and Android.
09:24It's called Seek, S-E-E-K.
09:27Okay, the second app, which I absolutely love, is called Merlin ID, Merlin Bird ID, and again,
09:42I think it's both Seek and this one, Merlin, are free to download, so with Merlin you can
09:48actually identify by sound, so I'm just on the edge of this copse here of poplar trees,
09:57and there's lots of bird song, but I can't see any birds, they're all quite high up in
10:02the canopy, but it would be nice to know what they are, and that is if you can't already
10:08identify by song.
10:10So, you can click on sound ID, and I'll do a screen record of this actually to show you
10:18as I go, and you can hit the record button, and it says it starts listening for birds,
10:27and it'll start picking them up, and as soon as it picks up the bird song it starts identifying
10:35the birds, and it gives you a really good idea of what is in your location, and that gives
10:40you an idea of what's in the, what's in the area, and how you might go about photographing
10:46it if you know what it is.
10:50So for example, there's a Golden Oriole somewhere in there, and I know that they love their fruit,
11:02fruit, so I might try and find fruit trees in the area here, and try and position myself,
11:08so for example, I know that there's a couple of fig trees down there, and I know that the
11:12Orioles love figs, so I might try and position myself along there, although at this time of
11:18year the figs are not quite ripe yet, so they might not be going for them.
11:24But you get my point, it gives you an idea of what's in the area.
11:28So yeah, tip number three, try and find apps that will help you identify both species and
11:39locations.
11:42Okay, so I think we're up to tip number four, and tip number four is to try and not do
11:52exactly
11:53what I'm doing right now, which is shooting up at the belly of birds, which is of course
12:02a lot easier said than done.
12:04I'm sure this is the tip that you've probably heard more than any from most photographers,
12:10wildlife photographers, is to get at the animal's eye level.
12:16And it really is an important one, because getting to their eye level, regardless of what
12:22it is, whether it's a bird, whether it's a fox, whether it's an ant on the ground, getting
12:28to their eye level brings you into their world.
12:32It creates a far more compelling and immersive image.
12:39It also gives you the opportunity to take advantage of your shallow depth of field on your focal
12:45length, whether you're shooting macro or on a telephoto.
12:50You want an image that has a nice bokeh to it, lots of blurry background that will actually
12:57make the subject of your picture really stand out.
13:03Obviously there are times like this, with these Spanish sparrows that are as a colony nesting
13:09in the poplar tree behind the camera there, going absolutely crazy.
13:15But just sitting here and observing them, there are certain twigs that they come out on that
13:19you can photograph them on when they perch briefly to rest.
13:24And the other main observation for something like this is that they're all flying backwards
13:29and forwards into the field behind me here, and they're coming back with bits of grass and
13:35straw and what have you.
13:37And I just peeked around the back there, and it's just been harvested, so there's lots of
13:42cut grasses which they're taking advantage of and bringing it up to their nests for nesting
13:49material.
13:51So I might even try and go back there and try and capture them actually foraging for the
13:57nesting material, and that way I can actually get to their level, get a shot of the sparrows
14:03at their own eye level.
14:04So I'll go and give that a go now.
14:07I'm in the moan field, and there's rows of the cut grass, where they've made strips of
14:16tiles of the moan grass, and the sparrows are all going in that.
14:20It's a little bit difficult because they disappear.
14:22They're so small they disappear into the grass, but it should give you an idea of what I mean
14:28in terms of changing angle.
14:31If I can just focus.
14:35Some of them are carrying huge bits of grass as well.
14:43Okay.
14:44I think I got some footage there, which I'll show you just to illustrate what I'm talking
14:50about in terms of getting to their level.
14:53Okay.
14:54So I think that was tip number four.
14:58Okay.
14:58So I think we're up to tip number five, and that is the weather.
15:05Don't be scared of the weather, regardless of what it is, whether it's a bright sunny day
15:10like today, or pouring with rain.
15:15Use it to your advantage.
15:16So the standard advice for, I mean it's, what time is it now?
15:23It's probably around 11 o'clock I reckon.
15:2511 o'clock, exactly.
15:29On a bright sunny day as today, is don't bother going out to shoot.
15:34And I think that's a waste of time, because you can go to a wooded area, such as this orchard,
15:40or a wood proper forest, and the extra light that is coming into that forest from the bright
15:47sunshine, lifts the light generally in an otherwise dark wood.
15:54And you get nice dappling of sunlight, and you can use that to your advantage as well.
16:01And all of that means if you're shooting in a slightly brighter environment in a forest,
16:07you can lower your ISO, get better quality image.
16:11So, you know, it's a question of shooting something appropriate to the weather conditions.
16:18And, like I said, don't be scared of any weather.
16:20So, in the rain, if you go to a lake, and you can shoot the raindrops on the water with
16:27whatever bird it is that's on the water, and it can look amazing.
16:31Plus, the bird will be full of raindrops on its feathers, which will look stunning.
16:36Same is true for snow.
16:38If it's snowing, you have all these beautiful flakes falling, and if you photograph something
16:47that's more black and white, so a greater spotted woodpecker, black, white, and red,
16:53in a snowy environment, will really set it off.
16:57It'll look amazing.
16:58So, just try and use the environment.
17:00What else?
17:02Mist can make it look rather mysterious.
17:06If you have a really cold morning, you can try and photograph the breath of animals,
17:13birds, whatever.
17:15So, yeah, just use the weather to your advantage.
17:19Kick yourself out properly for whatever the weather is, and go out and shoot.
17:26Don't be scared of it.
17:28My sixth point follows on from that, which is basically shooting at dawn and dusk.
17:35You have the blue hour and the golden hour, which are some of the most beautiful light
17:42to photograph and film in.
17:45So, definitely you want to be taking advantage of that as well.
17:49You need to be getting up early, getting yourself into position before the wildlife comes along
17:56that you're targeting, and you want to stay out late.
18:01So, yeah, get used to getting up at three, four o'clock in the morning, getting out there,
18:07and waiting until the light happens.
18:09And the same is true at the other end of the day.
18:14Stay longer than you think.
18:16Go home after everybody else, and you might just come away with images that nobody else has.
18:22My last bit of advice, I think tip number seven, is to not let the lack of a long telephoto
18:34lens
18:36stop you from going out and filming and photographing wildlife.
18:43There are other ways around it.
18:45So, for example, you could get a hide, you could get a ghillie suit, any number of ways.
18:54And, you know, there's nothing wrong with having a more budget lens.
19:00It doesn't have to be a 600 f4 worth ten, twelve thousand pounds, dollars, euros, whatever.
19:11You'd be surprised at the quality of images that you can get, even on the more budget end telephoto lenses.
19:20And that brings me to the end of this video.
19:23So, I hope you found some value in it.
19:27Thank you so much for watching, if you've made it this far especially.
19:32So, I look forward to seeing you again.
19:34Thanks so much, and bye for now.
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