#摄影 #鸟类 #周游世界 #美国国家地理 #摄影技巧
#大鸨 #天鹅 #小翠 #褐马鸡 #鹮嘴鹬
Zhou Bin, a native of Taiyuan, is known as Dashan. Born Chinese, freelance photographer.
In the 9 years from 2008 to the present, he has traveled all over the world. More than 500 species of birds were recorded and 80,000 words of bird notes were written.
While photographing brown horse chickens at Luya Mountain, he almost rolled off a cliff; he also searched for the traces of great bustards in the cold early morning.
He said he longed for the world of peregrine falcons. Getting along with birds is also like treating family, willing to do everything to accommodate.
He is the winner of the National Geographic Global Photography Contest of Excellence in the Nature Category - "Birdman" Zhou Bin.
On August 20, Zhou Bin shared his decades of photography experience in the WeChat group of "Good Photographers". In his narration and photographs, we see the greatest kindness of a photographer to the birds.
Guest try to sleep Master how poetically waste time
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Shared by : Zhou Bin
I have been fond of photography for more than 20 years, and this time I mainly share with you the bittersweet and bittersweet of bird shooting.
I want to talk about three parts: First, how many kinds of birds are around us, and what kind of habits they have. Second, how to shoot wonderful bird photography works. 3. What special equipment is needed to shoot bird works.
Red-billed blue magpie
Any bird you've ever seen can call a name
There are about 9,000 species of birds in 156 families in the world. China has 81 families (accounting for 51.9%) 1186 species, accounting for 13% of the total number of birds in the world, more than the bird country India, more than the entire Europe, the entire North America, is one of the countries with the largest bird species in the world.
As far as the north is concerned, there are mainly summer migratory birds, winter migratory birds, traveling birds, resident birds, lost birds, and escaping birds.
Resident birds, as the name suggests, they stay in the same place all year round, do not migrate, like the weaker flight ability of the chicken birds are mostly resident birds. In the south, where the climate is relatively warm and the food is abundant throughout the year, there are many birds that are also resident birds.
Migratory birds, and then subdivided can be divided into two categories: winter migratory birds and summer migratory birds. Winter migratory birds are birds that come here in autumn and winter to overwinter and leave in spring; summer migratory birds are birds that come here in spring and summer and leave in autumn. During this time, they are also responsible for breeding, so they are also called breeding birds.
The traveling bird means that the bird species here is neither a resident bird nor a migratory bird, but a bird in the spring and autumn, in the process of migration, here for a short stay to rest and food supplementation, and then continue to migrate after full of energy.
Lost birds are birds that should not have passed through the area when they migrated normally, but for various reasons they lost their normal direction and came here. These birds are generally observed in small numbers and are not observed every year.
Escape bird refers to the caged bird escaping out and found, generally we do not appear in its living environment of the bird, called escape bird.
Three-eyed bunting
Different birds know where they are
We observe birds mainly in five environments, which are also the main living environments of birds: wetlands, streams, valleys, forests, parks.
First of all, let's talk about wetlands.
Photographing and observing birds, wetlands are indispensable quality locations. Birds also love the safe, food-rich environment provided by wetlands and are attached to them. When we walk into the wetland, we will have a beautiful encounter with the birds. I observed nearly a hundred species of birds here and listened to their singing.
Every spring and autumn, we can see the black-winged sandpiper by the lake, which is a representative of wetland birds, especially in the north. When they appear in pairs, they are like cardamom young boys and girls taking wedding photos on the coast, wearing red stockings, long legs and joy. Black wings, black pointed beak, this black is a safe black, echoing with a large area of plain white, simple and warm.
Black-winged sandpiper
Before and after each mating, they will have a prelude to snuggling up to each other and grinding their ears for a long time. And the most exciting thing is that after the passion, the male does not fly away like other birds, but returns to the female and kisses the shy bride. Whenever this happens, I am always infected and sighed by such a scene. There is no more true love in the world than this gentle romance.
However, wetlands are also a dangerous environment for photographers, requiring a certain amount of outdoor experience.
The frozen skin appears to be able to withstand the body on the surface, but in fact, it will sink as soon as it goes up. Once, when I was shooting in the wetland, the front foot sank into the frozen skin, and when the second foot stepped down, the silt quickly spread above the knee. At that time, I propped the tripod open, because of the rain boots I was wearing, I pulled my feet out, arched my body to the tripod, and got out of danger as soon as possible.
Let's talk about the creek.
The creek moisturizes the dry earth, but it also attracts the birds who can't live without water. The sandpiper is one of the birds that stay here all year round.
Once I drove down to a rocky low-lying area, a small ice surface with some bare shallow water in the middle of the ice, covered in green moss. At this time, a pair of sandpipers were strolling among them. I tried to get closer with the slowest idle speed, but the sound of the engines alarmed their silence. Both of them stared at my approach, looking at the ringing box.
Sandpiper.1
I curled up to keep my body from exposing too much, waiting for them to let go of their alarm. Finally, the loud and fast tee-tee-tee cry that accompanied the flight stopped, and another 2 minutes passed. I sat up slowly and straightened up, and they stopped staring at it, staying a little farther in the middle of the ice. I hurriedly turned off the low groan of the engine and continued to wait for them to adapt.
The male is no longer nervously pacing on the ice, while the female is also looking down at the water to feed. From time to time, the male will approach the female and dance around, while the female will most of the time turn a blind eye and bow her head. Only, occasionally, he would watch the male bird turn with affection. At this time, the male bird will take out the most elegant dance posture, and will also use his body to lean on the female bird from time to time, which has a somewhat provocative feeling. For nearly 2 hours, they were always repeating the intimate behavior in this way, and did not escalate again. It wasn't until a shepherd dog appeared that they both flew away.
Valleys, where there are valleys, almost all have rivers, and you can find a lot of your favorite birds from this environment.
Rivers have been an indispensable resource for human beings since ancient times, and living by water is also the choice of all animals.
In the valley environment, there is a bird called the great bustard. It has many legends, the word "bustard" itself means seventy birds, and legend has it that they are all a group of seventy gathered together.
Great bustard
The experience of photographing the Great Bustard was a long process. They begin to migrate to the Yellow River Basin in late November each winter. This bird is relatively bulky and needs to help run, but it is particularly agile, and the resting field is large and open, and it is difficult to get close to it. It can only be approached by a camouflaged car, up to 90 meters, 100 meters, it will fly.
For three years, I repeatedly had a hard time shooting in another river valley where he concentrated on wintering, but because of its alertness, I couldn't get close to the ideal distance. I had lurked early in the early hours of the cold night where it had been yesterday, but the valley was so big that it would always appear in another place looking proudly at my chagrin.
I have also crawled in the cornfield after the harvest, enduring the pain of the hard corn stalk scratching my body. The distance was shortened in my sweat, but always a few meters away. They would laugh at my childish behavior and fly to the other end of the river valley.
When I came to the valley again, I was greeted only by the male bird with a broken toe, and the female bird was never seen again for the entire winter that followed. A season of companionship, I brought it food every day, and with enough patience gained its trust and tolerance. Watch it walk leisurely in the river valley foraging for food, and watch it take off countless times.
National Geographic Global Photography Competition Nature Category Excellence - "The Great Bustard in the Snow"
The bird is a very intelligent animal, and it feels that you are not malicious, and it will shorten the distance with you. Only in this way can you shoot a close-up shot. It was this photograph that won the National Geographic Award for Excellence.
Forests are no stranger to us.
The common sense of the average person is that the birds are in the forest, in fact, the dependence of birds on humans is still very strong, and the birds in the depths of the forest are very few, often on the edge of the forest, close to humans. The nature of birds is close to that of humans, but the relationship with humans is inseparable. In the concept of bird genetics, humans are treated as a contradiction.
I walk by the common stream in the mountains and forests, and every near noon, the birds always like to come to the water's edge to bathe.
Once, while I was choosing the right seat, I suddenly noticed an Amur falcon in the stream not far ahead, taking a bath in a splash. It first soaks its body in water and shakes its wings to soak the water all over its body. Then he dipped his head into the water and shook it. Perhaps it was my arrival that disturbed it, and it flew hastily to the bushes on the opposite bank, and looked at me with some dissatisfaction.
Amur Falcon
Perhaps because of the stream in the middle, it did not fly away again, but stretched its wings to meet me, and quickly shook the water on its body, and in an instant, those splashes of water were foggy all around, and there was colored refraction under the backlight. Probably aware of my attention, he mischievously flaunted his scattered tail feathers at me, and then reflexively flew into the sky.
The park is rich in vegetation and trees, and is also a favorite place for birds.
As the seasons change, the park's birds take turns chirping and foraging here. Cushions the exhaustion on the migration road and replenishes the physical strength. The park has four seasons, and different birds appear in the four seasons, especially drifting birds and traveling birds. For example, peacebirds and small greeners are birds that are more familiar to everyone and easier to see.
common kingfisher
The red-winged blue-tailed plover is most of the time running on the ground under the forest or jumping between the low branches of the shrub, which is relatively insidious, except for the male birds standing on the branches and chirping during breeding, generally moving and foraging among the bushes under the forest, and the tail swinging up and down often during the stop is the most recognizable feature. Its area of activity is not large, and when I first come into contact, it is always difficult for me to get close, as if it is playing hide-and-seek with me.
Red-winged blue-tailed plover
Females are always bolder and will come around me and jump up and down to feed. Sometimes they will fly to the blooming flowers to catch the insects collecting honey, and the flowers will echo each other, creating a beautiful picture in the shot; sometimes they will fly in the air to kill passing beetles, the posture is light and beautiful.
The male is relatively alert, always at a relative distance, and in addition to foraging, he will jump on the branches and light up the throat, and the call is a single or double soft chuck. This is the song of its call to the female, and every time the song sounds, there is always a female bird who comes up close to listen. I observed that there was always only one or two male birds in this small group each time, and most of them were females. Therefore, the male bird's song will often change the audience, and there will always be a female bird who is touched by his singing voice, and then it will begin to be inseparable.
You know N kinds of shooting methods, and you also have to understand bird behavior
After talking about the knowledge of birds popularization, the following is about how to shoot birds well. But it is worth reminding that only by mastering the behavior of birds can we more accurately capture the posture of different types of birds.
Of course, we don't have to devote ourselves to books to immerse ourselves in hard reading, but once you encounter a type of bird or a bird, you can consult the information of such birds, plus actual observations to support it. This makes it easy to accumulate a lot of bird knowledge, laying a solid foundation for you to photograph beautiful bird works.
Red-bellied pheasant
Here are some specific ways to shoot birds:
[1] Crouch shooting method
When a certain tree is full of fruit or flowers, some kind or kinds of birds will come uninvited, for food, and for several days. When the season comes, some birds will prey on fish and shrimp in and around the relatively fixed waters, or leisurely, if they walk on the water, from time to time to prey on small meals; Or lightning can not cover the ears to fly into the water, and then the fish and shrimp fly, perched on the branches, rock heads swallow food taste. In this kind of environment, you can avoid the pain of running and laboring, waiting for work, and squatting leisurely. With the astute focus again and again, the asuka fruit eating chart and the asuka fish chart were born.
For example, brown horse chickens, they are more secretive, suitable for squatting.
Brown horse chicken
Ordinary kingfishers also need to be patient, because the feeding area is relatively fixed. You can lock the focus in a fixed area and fix the shot. Generally, if you want to shoot a bird well, you need a season, good luck for 10 days and a half months, and slow for two or three months.
The grey starling is more common to us, but it is particularly beautiful when the wings are fully opened.
Grey starling
I would like to add that it is also a way to lure them with food, but it requires us to have professional knowledge and professional guidance, and you can't give them something harmful to them.
[2] Pursue the shooting method
The fact that there were birds here last year does not mean that there were birds here this year; having birds here yesterday does not mean that there are birds here today. Finding birds is a basic skill that bird shooters must master. The so-called pursuit method is based on the characteristics and laws of different habitats, migration and breeding of resident birds, migratory birds and traveling birds, and in the corresponding seasons and areas, the way of mobile search is used to obtain shooting opportunities.
On the one hand, birds are highly mobile and random, and even in relatively familiar areas, it is impossible to wait for rabbits; on the other hand, in relatively unfamiliar areas, it is difficult to accurately grasp relevant information, so that people to birds are there, so they can only actively search. Pursuit shooting can be done on foot, or it can be done by car, the car has a large range of activities and has a certain degree of concealment, and the car is an important tool for photographing wild birds.
Alpine vultures
The car is both good camouflage and maneuverability, suitable for shooting large birds and birds with a relatively large range of activities, and it is relatively easy in a certain range. We call it car photography. Many birds are not afraid of four-wheeled cars, but they are afraid of two-legged people. If you approach by car, you can quickly get close to a certain range, but if you walk close, it will fly away very far.
Shooting birds is the same as shooting beautiful women, everyone has a most cute and beautiful moment, which is also a basic principle of our shooting.
[3] Bird Medium Summoning Method
It is to use the recorded birdsong to elicit the birds. Although in our ears birdsong is just a sound with a different pitch or a song, or a noise- sound, for birds, it is their dialogue and communication. If we can master and control the bird song, you can realize the dialogue with the bird, and when you want to shoot a certain bird, only you come to the activity area of the bird, say a few bird words, and the bird will come and let you shoot. This method is much better than food seduction.
Coal
Thrushes, wrens,, etc. are very sensitive to sound, and as long as you release the sound, it will fly. The wren is that if you want to make a sound near its home, it must find the sound source before stopping. This is a good opportunity for you to shoot.
The birdsong we use is recorded on the spot and put on the spot. Cell phones may not fit well because the sounds that birds can hear are sometimes very low-frequency. It would have been easier if I could speak birds.
[4] Preset focus shooting method
Before the bird appears, focus and fix the focus to wait for the bird to arrive. This technique is suitable for photographing the flight of birds during fixed-point shooting. Drive the shutter as the bird appears within the expected range, recording the bird's flying gesture one by one.
Blue Emerald
Our "cannons" for bird shoots all have buttons that pre-set the distance. For birds that fly faster, it is easy to focus on the cliffs and leaves, so it is suitable for this method.
Shooting birds generally uses a large aperture to ensure that the birds are conspicuous in your picture. The birds themselves have camouflage colors, and basically I drive to the maximum, distinguishing them from the background. This requires long-term training.
[5] Asuka slowly follows the law
is a photographic method used to photograph fast-moving objects. What does the picture of the bird film look like? It's a dynamic, artistically striking photo — a clear or basically clear bird that animates a blurred background. This is especially suitable for bird photography with complex backgrounds, and it is possible to deal with relatively clean and beautiful backgrounds in this way.
Generally suitable for shooting large birds, if too small to fly too fast, it is not easy to chase.
whooper swan
The loess slope is not very good to shoot clearly, and it is very beautiful to use the slow door to pull into an oil canvas.
Don't be reluctant to buy a good tripod and drop the camera
Choosing and purchasing shooting equipment in one step is a summary of the experience of bird friends in shooting practice, and it is also the experience of bird friends who buy back with RMB. Bird shooting is a kind of shooting behavior that requires the support of special equipment, when choosing equipment, we should choose some professional equipment that can be in place as much as possible according to the equipment situation at that time, and do not choose, give up, and choose wandering in many bird shooting edge equipment.
Facts tell us that fringe equipment will always make you pay the same time and energy as others while not being satisfied with the work. As long as you fall in love with wildlife photography, you'll end up giving up fringe equipment and opting for the ultimate device. This is determined by the actual objective needs of bird shooting. Get closer, don't toss, save money for your own.
Specific equipment needs: a camera with high-speed continuous shooting, a telephoto fixed focus lens, generally choose 500MM, 600MM is better. A set of tripods and gimbals that are light enough and stable, as well as some accessories such as shutter lines, telescopes, and high-speed memory cards.
It is difficult for us to take general equipment to shoot birds, and we need professional equipment. The fixed-focus telephoto lens can be in place in one step, and the picture quality taken by the zoom lens is still not as good as the fixed focus. Canon, Nikon are OK, if you don't have bad money, you can buy Lycra's customization.
It is not enough to buy a lens, and it must also be equipped with a light and stable tripod, which can reduce a lot of your pain. Stability must be good, there are a lot of people around me who have dropped the camera because they are reluctant to buy a tripod.
Auxiliary things must have a high-speed memory card, because bird shooting requires continuous shooting, so it needs a memory card of more than 125M per second; the shutter line is used for fixed focus shooting.
What does a telescope do? We are always very tired of carrying cannons, and the telescope is convenient for us to recognize the birds that need to be photographed. For example, the Peacebird, I recognize him from a long distance, I can immediately analyze its habits, easy to shoot.
@Jill: Will you wait a long time without getting the ideal shot?
Generally not, as long as you have the knowledge of birds, you will be rewarded by going out to shoot every day.
@Yubin: Will there be wild beasts, snakes, poisonous insects or anything when shooting in the wild?
This is often encountered, and we have to have the knowledge of survival in the wild. Wear rain boots, outdoor shoes tied well, poisonous insects you have to wear long sleeves ah protection, the beast do not worry, it sees you faster than you.
@Seven-Seven: Can we see the emotions of the birds?
Definitely. Once I saw the red-tailed water plover being dumped by his girlfriend, he was in a particularly depressed mood, and he was not in the mood to eat every day, so he came to our bird to take a look, sneaked around and barked twice and left. Later, after finding a new girlfriend, I came to the feeding point very early every day, and I was very diligent in finding bugs to call my girlfriend to eat, and my emotions were particularly full.
@Vijay: Will the photos be processed later?
The main post-production is the secondary composition, and the color grading is very little, because it will be thought of when shooting. I generally like to shoot with metering and side backlighting, so that the three-dimensional sense of the bird will be stronger. Birds shoot you in order to accurately catch its look, there will be a lack of composition, you can leave some room to facilitate secondary composition.
@Jill: Does Teacher Zhou have any recommended books? About various shooting methods.
National Geographic's "Introduction to Bird Photography" book can be found online.
@shuangshuhong: I want to know how to shoot the background to have such a beautiful visual sense?
Telephoto prime lenses are particularly good at anti-glare and especially good for suburban imaging, so when shooting with a large aperture, the background will be blurred very well. When the background is complex, you can use the follow-up shooting, and shooting the bokeh foreground is also a good way to deal with the background.
@Shrimp Skin: How long is the maximum time to wait for the squat shooting?
See how far you shoot. I shoot brown horse chickens for several years in a row. I waited up to 3 days for a single shoot, and I was in the tent to take a satisfactory photo.
@ Han Juan: Teacher Zhou, who took the names of these birds, many of them are particularly complicated, have you ever encountered a very beautiful and nameless bird?
The person who gave the name is generally who found it and who took it. Like the Chinese one, the great bustard has been handed down. What is common to the world is not what we call. At present, no beautiful bird without a name has been found.
@shuangshuhong: Teacher, I would also like to ask how the bird shoots the bird so beautifully, and its feather color and the whole form are so artistic.
Good shooting is related to a solid photographic foundation. If you want to use good light, if you shoot at noon, the texture and color of the bird's feathers will not be so good. In addition, it is necessary to capture the most beautiful moments in posture. The red-billed blue finch usually doesn't bother to look at it when it's standing, but it's beautiful when it lands. A very loyal bird like a swan only marries once in a lifetime. To express its holiness, I have used a high-profile treatment to express its beautiful character.
@That Fan: Is there any effective experience in the exposure of bird shooting?
Attention is paid to adding and subtracting from exposure, and the bird is the main body of metering with spot metering. If the background is relatively bright, such as birds in the sky, birds in flight, pay attention to increase exposure, generally two to three levels of exposure.
Edit / Kong Qiqi
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