You may start second-guessing your equipment and begin looking at the hottest camera deals, but there’s a problem: you would need about R200 000. Your bank balance prepares to fight back and you contemplate whether you really need both your kidneys…
Here are some options that may help you create great photographs in your own garden, together with some low-budget ideas that will keep your organs where they belong.
Lighting
The most important consideration when taking bird photographs in your garden is lighting. Position yourself with the sun at your back. It’s best to get soft, early-morning light on your subject – it enhances the colors and captures the highlight in the bird’s eye.
Background
A common problem with taking bird photographs in your garden is that inevitably you include an unnatural (and possibly unsightly) background, such as a fence, boundary wall or window. Instead of these artificial elements ruining your shot, try this: go to your local hardware shop and buy about a 2m x 2m length of light brown shade-net. Place it approximately two meters behind your birdfeeder to act as a backdrop. This will simulate a natural, veld-like impression behind the bird and there won’t be any leaves or branches to clutter the background. It also adds depth to the shot, which enables your subject to stand out as the star of the show.
Feeding stations
Denne historien er fra September/October 2019-utgaven av African Birdlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Denne historien er fra September/October 2019-utgaven av African Birdlife.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
EXPLORING NEW HORIZONS
Keith Barnes, co-author of the new Field Guide to Birds of Greater Southern Africa, chats about the long-neglected birding regions just north of the Kunene and Zambezi, getting back to watching birds and the vulture that changed his life.
footloose IN FYNBOS
The Walker Bay Diversity Trail is a leisurely hike with a multitude of flowers, feathers and flavours along the way.
Living forwards
How photographing birds helps me face adversity
CAPE crusade
The Cape Bird Club/City of Cape Town Birding Big Year Challenge
water & WINGS
WATER IS LIFE. As wildlife photographer Greg du Toit knows better than most.
winter wanderer
as summer becomes a memory in the south, the skies are a little quieter as the migrants have returned to the warming north. But one bird endemic to the southern African region takes its own little winter journey.
when perfect isn't enough
Egg signatures and forgeries in the cuckoo-drongo arms race
Southern SIGHTINGS
The late summer period naturally started quietening down after the midsummer excitement, but there were still some classy rarities on offer for birders all over the subregion. As always, none of the records included here have been adjudicated by any of the subregion's Rarities Committees.
flood impact on wetland birds
One of the features of a warming planet is increasingly erratic rainfall; years of drought followed by devastating floods. Fortunately, many waterbirds are pre-adapted to cope with such extremes, especially in southern Africa where they have evolved to exploit episodic rainfall events in semi-arid and arid regions. But how do waterbirds respond to floods in areas where rainfall - and access to water - is more predictable? Peter Ryan explores the consequences of recent floods on the birds of the Western Cape's Olifants River valley.
a star is born
It’s every producer’s dream to plan a wildlife television series and pick the right characters before filming.
