Get down, stay low and wait for it

It's been a while since the last post and I just thought it'd be worth sharing a tip with you folks. This has to do with photographing waders and birds that spend most of their time at the height of our ankles. You probably already know that when you photograph any wildlife subject, it's always best to get to its eye level to make pleasing images. Now one reason for this is obviously the sense of perspective where the viewer sees the subject in a manner that another of its own would. The other reason is that if you shoot a rather short subject from a rather tall perspective, then you lose the chance of getting great bokeh. This is because there's very little separation between the ground and the subject as against the subject and objects on the distant horizon.

So regardless of how difficult and painful it may be, do make an attempt to match the eye level of your subjects especially when photographing birds that forage at ground level. Today's photograph of the common sandpiper illustrates what you could achieve by getting to the eye level of your subjects. Even if it means lying on some hard rocks with garbage on one side and dung on another! And yeah, one more thing. Once you've chosen a spot to lay down and wait, just stay patient and motionless. If you've noticed the bird's patterns properly and you believe it'll come to your spot, then it most probably will. Be patient and just stick it out at the wicket. At the end of the day it helps you become part of the furniture at the place; the birds get used to your presence and you minimise stress on them. Just something that's important even from an ethics point of view. And by the way, sometimes it could even be a good idea to get well below the eye level of your subjects to create an exaggerated sense of size and drama. We'll come to that one another time.