First attempts at Bird Photography (beginner’s luck) – One Shot Story

I’ve borrowed a Tamron 50-400mm lens to review over the summer. I have a few plans for it, one of which, as I have recently decided, is to try my hand at taking photos of wildlife.

We’ve recently won a contract at work with Worcestershire Wildlife Trust – albeit a video/documentary contract, but I have found myself a little inspired. I’m always taking photos when I’m out and about in the countryside anyway, but they’re usually more landscape or flora-based rather than fauna-based. The contract is video, as I said, but during the process with WWT I happened to mention that I’d be happy to throw some of my stills photography skills into the mix too. This started a conversation with one of the team there, Wendy, who as it turns out is quite an accomplished wildlife photographer.

By the time I’d had this conversation with Wendy, I’d already arranged to arrange to borrow this Tamron lens. It’s a story for another day really, but I’ve set it up with the local Women’s Football team for me and Connie to go and take some photos at one of their first fixtures of the season, so the lens loan timing was quite specific, and at the time, a month or so away. So when Wendy showed me her photos, something clicked in my head. I was 100% inspired by her shots, but knowing I had this lens on the way to me over the summer meant I felt like I could turn that inspiration into the actual practice of trying to take some photos. So, as soon as it landed with me, that’s pretty much exactly what I set out to do.

To be fair, the first outing with the lens was with the full frame Nikon Zf hanging off the back of it. But, that first trial done, I was more keen to try it on the Z50ii where the 1.5x crop factor would give me a 75-600mm equivalent, i.e. a touch more reach for snapping birds and the like.

My first outing was a bit of a bust. I got a pretty crappy photo of a pigeon from a crap angle that was too far away, and that’s was about the lot. The second outing worked out better though. I was pleased with the first shot of another pigeon on top of a grave stone, but still hoped to do better. We were on a dog walk in Inkberrow, and found ourselves wondering around the Millennium Green where there’s a bit of a duck pond. I had a few failed attempts at duck photos at the beginning of the walk, then got a few shots of some butterflies that were ok, though not amazing. Then, just as we were making our way back to the car, Hannah spotted these two young ducks on a log. I got my shot lined up, and after few initial snaps the Moorhen appeared in the background completing the composition.

It feels like a bit of beginner’s luck, to be honest, and I certainly wouldn’t have got the shot without Hannah noticing the ducks on the log, but I’m pretty pleased with it nonetheless! The biggest issue that’s I can already see coming down the tracks here is that I’m going to start enjoying this sort of photography more than I expected. Walking around in the countryside quietly trying to spot a squirrel, bird, or little bug of some sort was really quite compelling an experience. This Tamron lens is already shaping up to be the perfect choice for someone of my skill level and creative desires too!

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