Nature Photography: Can a Bridge Camera Get the Job Done?

Consider the Striated Heron. It is a tiny heron (40-48 cm long) closely related to the Green Heron of North America and the Galapagos Heron.  My wife and I were out walking and she saw this bird perched on a liana that swings above a small waterfall and plunge pool. It was misty and the sun was behind the bird, so I was not sure if I could get a decent photo. 

I started taking photos in black and white using my grandmother's old Kodak camera. Fifty years later I am still fighting the urge to conserve film- that is, only to press the shutter if I am reasonably certain the result will be worthwhile. Nevertheless, in this instance I managed to quickly aim and shoot, relying on the camera's autofocus capability.  Fortunately the lens was already in the middle zoom position (178 mm, on a zoom range from 4.3 to 357 mm).  The photo is not cropped.
 

Luckily I did not wait for the perfect moment else I would have missed my opportunity. Just after I took the above photo the heron flew down and took up a stealth hunting posture standing on an old log at the front of the plunge pool. The bird was now closer to me, and I was able to zoom in on the head and upper body.  This is the full zoom (357 mm, equivalent to a 2000 mm  telephoto lens in an ordinary SLR camera). Because the tricky lighting conditions seems to confuse the autofocus I switched to manual focus.  The shutter speed is 1/60 of a second. Amazingly, despite not using a tripod, the photo is reasonably sharp.  



Here is my last photo. Do you see a white line to the right and behind the bird? No, it is not a lens flaw; it is part of a spider web.




Can you shoot worthwhile nature photographs using a bridge camera? I hope I have convinced you the answer is "Yes, you can". 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Visit to Sungai Congkak- Part 1

Image
This was my first MNS outing since my retirement and since COVID.   For a long time we were restricted to trips of 10 km or less.  Now we can travel- so long as we remain within Selangor. Insiders refer to the Malaysian Nature Society as ‘makan non-stop.’   Hence, naturally, our meeting point was the Eng Soon Hoong coffee shop in Hulu Langat.   My review is here Five Stars for a Traditional Breakfast .   After breakfast we drove an additional 11 km to our destination.   Why didn’t we find a restaurant closer to our destination?    In the Islamic calendar it is the fasting month of Ramadan.   Accordingly, all the Malay restaurants are closed during sunlit hours; buka puasa begins at sunset. In Bahasa Malay (and on the Waze map) this location is Kem Latihan & Rekreasi Sungai Congkak.   For monolingual English readers ‘latihan’ is practice or training.   Also did you   notice that ‘ch’ is rendered as simply ‘c’ in Ma...
Read more

Black Giant Squirrel / Tupai Kerawak Hitam

Image
Introduction Black giant squirrels are widely distributed- from Nepal to Vietnam and as far south as Java.  About 10 subspecies are presently recognised.  With further study, it is likely some subspecies may be promoted to full species status.  In that case, our squirrel would be officially become the Malayan giant squirrel. Momentarily frozen: a serpent-eagle was flying just 2 -3 metres above the canopy. How is a giant squirrel different from an ordinary squirrel? Characteristic plantain squirrel black giant squirrel       Head & body length 15-22 cm 34–37 cm Tail length 21 cm 42 cm Weight 160-260 g 1.0 -1.5 kg Age 4 years in the wild. Up to 10 years in captivity. 6+ years in the wild. Up to 19 years in captivity. Description A medium sized squirrel...
Read more