Stork-Billed Kingfisher
For this blog, I want to cover my experiences around capturing some images of a beautiful little bird, the stork-billed kingfisher. I will touch on preparation, equipment and my experiences on the day showing some awful shots taken before I captured some that I was happier to share!
The stork-billed kingfisher(SBK from now on!) is widely but sparsely distributed in the tropical Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India to Indonesia. I had seen several images on local Singaporean Facebook pages - nature groups and the like - but had never gone out of my way to capture him myself. However, my interest grew, and I paid more attention to these posts, taking note of locations. I would recommend following local nature pages for anyone interested in this type of shot - you can see the birds and animals in your local area, get advice on equipment and other photographic tips that may come in useful.
Here’s a pic of the camera used for most of the images, although I will add that I added the extender halfway through the shoot.
The body is a Sony A7riii with a battery pack added to the bottom. My other camera system is the Canon 5d mk4, but that can be a heavy piece of kit - the Sony mirrorless offers weight savings and produces good results. The lens isn’t the fastest 600mm offered by Sony, but cost consideration came into play and, in my view, this offers better value for money for most people. The extender fits between the body and lens and takes the effective focal length up to a whopping 840mm. For weight and stability, the tripod support is on the lens collar rather than on the camera body. For this shoot, I used a Gitzo carbon fibre tripod with a gimbal head.
Now, onto the location and the SBK photos!
An iPhone panorama of the location - Singapore Quarry in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. It really is a beautiful spot - I saw several other birds as well as a family of Long-tailed Macaque monkeys.
To add some context around later shots and maybe give some insight around the shoot, I shall now post some images taken before I got the ones I really wanted. I have included them to highlight that it isn’t just a case of turning up and snapping - sometimes patience is required :-)
My first sighting of the SBK was when he flew overhead and perched way up high in the trees above me. Even at 600mm, this was the best I could get. Obviously not a “good” shot and you can barely tell what the bird is - but, for illustrative purposes and to keep the story going, I’m including it in this blog. At least I knew he was in the area, that was a good thing!
I next saw the little guy perched on a tree on the other side of the quarry. This is a “straight out of camera” shot with zero editing. Yep, it’s rubbish - even at 600mm again, he’s too far away. Although at least you can kinda tell the species. I wanted to see if there was anything salvageable from this shot, so I took some more at this range and did some editing…
A different source image, but taken from the same range and edited. Still not great and barely shareable, but it is more clear that we are looking at an SBK. However, still a long way from the type of shot I was after. But, thankfully, after some more waiting and plenty of useless shots, he landed on a perch far nearer to my shooting position. At this point, I added a 1.4x extender to my camera, taking the available focal range from 600mm to 840mm.
To perhaps give some idea of the differences between iPhone images and “proper” camera equipment, this was a shot of the bird taken on my phone, zoomed in to the maximum. It’s rubbish, but at least you can tell what kind of bird it is. Camera phones have come on a long way in recent years and they can take some great images. I have shared iPhone shots of landscapes and food many times and been happy with the quality. But there are times, such as here, when you need “proper” gear. Let’s move on to the main images now, taken on the Sony.
Well, here he is - and he’s a beauty! I was absolutely thrilled when he came into camera range and sat for a while on this perch. This image was shot at 600mm with a shutter speed of 1/1250 at f6.3 and ISO 2,000. I have been very pleased with the Sony body and lens, this set-up is now my gear of choice for this type of shot, ahead of the Canon.
The wee fella stayed on the same perch and I extended the focal length to the maximum available - 840mm. Extenders have the downside of making the underlying lens slower, so this was shot at f9 on aperture priority with an ISO of 1,250 and a shutter speed of 1/320. As the bird was stationary, I was ok with a shutter speed that was relatively slow in relation to that focal length. Using a sturdy tripod helped in that regard.
As a rough rule of thumb, to avoid ‘camera shake’, you ideally want a shutter speed that is no slower than 1/focal length. So at 200mm you would want 1/200, at 600mm you would want 1/600 etc. However, elements such as image stabilisation and tripods come into play so I was happy with 1/320. Apologies, a little bit technical, but perhaps of interest to some.
Now, I am really happy with this image and it is not often I say that about my snaps. That said, the holy grail would be a “behavioural” image - i.e. the bird in flight, eating a fish etc. I didn’t get any of those, but I did get the next one…
This was one of the few behavioural shots I managed to catch, but I was pretty happy with it - we get a decent view of him stretching and cleaning his wing. One last technical comment - all on the shots from the Sony were taken on “burst mode” rather than single shot. This improves your chances of capturing little nuances of movement that may transform a good shot into a great one.
Well, this image is the last of the images in this blog, but I shall be returning to the same location and trying again - putting into practice the learning points from this experience.
I hope you have at least enjoyed some of the images and insights into the processes behind achieving the last few shots in this blog. The preparation, the equipment, the waiting - and then the thrill of finally snapping something worthwhile! I have to say that I was incredibly happy just to see this wee bird and to catch some decent shots was the icing on the cake.
I shall finish up with some links to websites where I have images on sale in different forms - prints, jigsaws and other merchandise. Please do have a look!
2021 calendars and greetings cards
Fine Art Prints and other merchandise
Mugs, prints, stickers and other merchandise
Well, that ends the shameless self-promotion, so, until the next time - stay strong, stay safe, be kind!
Fatman xxx