“Waders” , The word itself justifies itself. Still making it clear. Waders are birds commonly found along shorelines and mudflats that wade in order to forage for food in the mud or sand.

I started Birding and Bird Photography around two and a half years back. Lack of knowledge, left me with one place that I knew about with a sufficient or what you can say, recognizable population of birds. As of then, sighting of any single bird was a great matter of success for me. I am from DURGAPUR (WEST BENGAL, INDIA), and the place I am talking about is Durgapur Barrage. It has always been one of my favorite place of birding still now.

As a beginner, waders have always been a great subject to me. Shooting waders with 300mm was of too much interesting. I first visited the place on OCTOBER 2015. And I still remember the happiness by seeing a little ringed plover.

Will now be sharing some of the images, tips and the on-field experience with waders.

KEYS

#1

APPROACHING: Approaching a wader for photographing or making video clips is much easier than tree birds. And there are exceptions like always. However, coming back to the point. Crawling to the subject makes you go unnoticeable while moving close. This doesn’t only provide you clear sharpness of your subject, but also allows you to have a close look towards the behavior of these beauties. I was on 300mm then, and hence moving close was the only option I had then. Crawling is an art and one needs to expertise it if one really fantasize about waders.

#2

FRAMING: If you go through the photos in this article, you will be surely noticing a great scope of clear background. Yes, it does. WADERS or shore birds give you high chances of making great images with great backgrounds. For most of the shots just start clicking ground level shots, which creates a dynamic effect in your photos, as well as eliminates most of the distracting parts of the background. Making use of the shore water or sand or mud creates great effective images. If you are on 300mm or greater focal length and you go REALLY CLOSE to the subject, I would like to suggest you a few things

Lower your focal length a bit. this would allow you to catch actions with a proper frame space. Don’t fear to crop the images later. Observe the movements and behavior of the subject properly. if it get down a bit and takes a position of leap, understand that it will take a flight and you can make a brilliant shot out of that. For plovers, they stretch out their wings first and then take a flight, this applies for pratincoles too. Make proper use of the available things in front of you. sometimes distractions create great images TRY BACK LIGHT IMAGES DURING THE GOLDEN HOUR AS ONE BELOW. CREATES A HUGE EFFECT WITH THE WATER.

#3

UNDERSTANDING THE BEHAVIOR : Waders are generally friendly and allows close approach. However approaching close and getting a simple shot is less dramatic than a beautiful frame while the bird is searching for food or is hunting fishes or just the moment before it takes a flight.

And these shots are only possible when you make a way out to observe or see their behavior. timing is important to take the things right. You need to understand what a bird is going to do in the next step and once you do so, everything is right at your hands, you are just a click apart from making a beautiful frame.

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#4

CAMERA SETTINGS :

SHUTTER SPEED : 1/640 and higher. If you want action shots that’s the thing which is first and foremost important for you!

Aperture : f/7.1 or higher. If you are real close go with f/8 if light allows you. This makes more of the subject come under the focus range.

ISO : As per allowance of light.

Exposure bias : On an open field and sunny day keep it -0.7 or -0.3 as per the light you have. this is to make the white regions proper rather to have an over exposed white regions, this even gives you a better feather clarity too.

Metering and focus : One can try two kind of combos* for this part Spot focus and spot metering : This keeps just a specific part under focus and the spot metering keeps the focused point properly exposed Spot focus and center weighted metering : this too keeps a specific region under focus and exposure is correctly set for the center of the frame.



#5

CAMERA SAFETY : Your gear is your prime importance and taking a ground shot may affect it with moisture in the mud or with water or anything.

keeping a bean bag is recommended. While you keep the camera on ground, keep the bean bag below first and then adjust your camera. It will keep it safe.

Hope you have a great month ahead. If you liked my article please give a review and follow my blog.

Thank you!