Yesterday the cold arrived and the garden was covered by fresh snow. My parents in law give seeds to the birds all year round. As usual tits and finches were out looking for seeds. With that weather condition it was a good opportunity to take photographs of birds with snowflakes.
How to capture the birds with snowflakes?
It is not easy to capture the birds together with the snowflakes falling. The trick is to use a flash. Without using it, I wouldn’t be able to see snowflakes in front of a white background. It was even more convenient to use the flash as the sky was still covered. To get a a nice diffused flash light, I used the softbox Jinbei 15x17cm. The softbox takes no place, is easy to install on every external flash and weights nothing.
How to setup the flash
Most cameras have a high speed synchronization of 1/250s. I used the Nikon 200-600mm f5.6 lens to take photographs of birds. Using the tele lens at 600m I would setup a speed of 1/800s to 1/1000s which is way higher than 1/250s.
In order to use your flash at a higher speed, you need to setup your camera to use FP (front panel) mode. That way the flash will trigger at the beginning of the capture time and you will get the light correctly on all your image. Using the Nikon D800e with the old SB-800 flash, I can use TTL FP mode. It will allow me to choose a speed faster than 1/250s and also it will synchronize the flash speed with the camera speed. Find more about Nikon FP mode and compatibility on this page.
To view more images, open directly the “Bird with snowflakes” gallery.
Leave a reply