Anyone else have this issue?

[MinnesotaTony]

Spent some time in the yard messing with the camera and trying to get a few shots of the local wildlife. They're not exactly cooperative.

First one hides behind a tree.

Second one either: 1) plays dead, or 2) is actually trying to wedge itself under a shingle "ostrich-style" to avoid the lens.

OK.. If it were easy, I guess we'd all have our own awesome shots blown up and framed on the walls. Try, try again, I guess

On a side note: How far will a flash reach? It was overcast, but at midday I couldn't get the shutter speed above maybe 1/50 on shots closer to the ground (squirrels, etc.) without underexposing everything. Basically, I was already shooting ISO 800 and the lens is f/5.6 at the long end. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Tony

[JohnK]

They're very clever about avoiding the camera at times, around my place they also like to position themselves directly in front of the sun too.

How far the flash will reach depends on the flash. A top shelf external flash will light things much much further away than the built in flash, maybe 50' away. You might want to look for a "Better Beamer" for an external flash. It's sort of like a magnifying lens for the flash to get you more reach. I haven't used it, but by most reports it really does extend how far the flash will reach.

[Jim Almquist]

Tony it helps to have a feed station with seeds to attract the birds so they gather in one spot and then have something to conceal your presence. On overcast days a fill flash really helps to stop the birds and bring out there natural colors. If you have a external flash it helps to turn down the flash EC by a couple of notches. I usually start at -2/3 and that seems to work pretty good. It was a helpful hint that Steve Foss gave me when shooting at the bog on a overcast day and it has worked great.

It never hurts to have a nice perch for the birds to land on close to the seeds and to have a tree close by so that they will have a escape route in case a hawk comes by.

[Steve Foss]

Tony, a supplemental on-camera flash (as opposed to a pop-up flash if your camera is so equipped), will usually easily reach out 50 feet or more, particularly because in bird/wildlife photography you are using it only as fill flash, not the major light source.

If you use too much flash the image looks garish. So as Jim mentioned, using the flash's exposure compensation feature to strengthen/weaken it to taste is the way to go. The Better Beamer is a good tool to lengthen the reach of your flash. It focuses the flash beam more tightly.

There's no exif data available in your images, so I don't know what camera body/lens/flash you have, but if you supply that info you'll get more tips.

In general, when using the flash and EC for avian/wildlife, I set the flash to high-speed synchronization, which means the flash does not control the shutter speed but adjusts itself to whatever shutter speed the camera suggests, and then use flash EC (usually -EC to weaken the strength) to adjust to taste.