Perches - garden bird set up

Ken - as you asked, here's what I've got set up for photographing the garden birds.

This one is just outside the kitchen window. It's about 12 feet away and comes in very handy in the winter when it's freezing or when it's raining (that's when many birds feed) as I can shoot through the open window staying warm and dry.

In terms of the position I considered:

The background trees are far away so I'll get a nice out of focus backdrop.
I know that the light will always be from behind me.
I'll not have sky as a background which makes life difficult.
I can also put the big 500W outside light on when the light starts to fade

The branch is just stuck in the ground and then attached to the metal feeder at the other end. This stops the branch wobbling when a bird lands on it which is important as a lot of the time they only land for a second before moving onto the feeders. A thicker branch wouldn't move but some of the tiny garden birds do suit a thin perch.



As there's only one branch (all about stacking the odds in your favour) I don't have to worry too much about where the birds are going to land so I just set up the camera settings before the bird arrives.

First test - 400 mm at f/5.6 with ISO 100 = 1/125 sec which probably isn't going to be a fast enough shutter speed for handheld shots or for twitchy little birds.


Up the ISO to ISO 400 = 1/500 which should be fine


Then it's just a case of waiting a few mins. If the light changes whilst I'm waiting I'll just keep adjusting the ISO keeping it as low as possible but to making sure the resulting shutter speed is going to remain fast enough. Once a few birds are on the feeders the next birds naturally land on the perch. I just try and focus on the eye using centre point focus. The bird will just be middle of the frame but I know there will be room to crop the composition regardless of whether the bird is facing left or right.



The branches I just pick up from anywhere - here's my new hairy one





This is my other feeder (a bit Heath Robinson) which is in a different spot in the garden. Again there's a variety of branches stuck in the ground to provide perches based on direction of light and background relative to where I shoot from.

You can tell I have cats - chicken wire jump protection and fortified bird table







Other than that I've a peanut feeder in one of the bigger trees at the end of the garden which the woodpeckers like.

Excellent set up , works a treat

This is uncannily similar to my own in many ways! I use bits of driftwood as perches mostly, they can have such interesting shapes and textures!

xx

Ooh nice - I've got some driftwood ones too - I'll see if I have any shots of them.

Thanks so much for doing this thread Phil, you have shown me the way forward

Thanks for the tips Phil!

cool setup.

brilliant read

I so love this picture Phil, it's such a great statement from your cat: