One sure test of any photographer’s skills is how well he or she can capture the reflection of the subject in a pool of water. So when we saw this BirdCam 2.0 image of an American Goldfinch and its reflection that was recently uploaded to the Wingscapes Photo Gallery by Jim from Blooming Grove, Texas we collectively exclaimed “Bravo!” and declared it to be a Staff Favorite.
Not only do pools of water provide great opportunities for recording beautiful reflected images such as this, they also help shine additional light on the subject to render colors more vividly.
- Posted Monday, December 06, 2010
When you have a Wingscapes BirdCam, one of the things you find yourself doing after awhile is thinking of new ways to position it for capturing images of birds and other visiting wildlife from different perspectives. For example, placing the BirdCam directly on the ground provides the perfect position to get the eye-level view of ground feeding birds and other wildlife, such as this Varied Thrush:
…or this Douglas Squirrel:
However, in my experimentation with BirdCam positioning, I have discovered that raising it up just slightly provides a different perspective. Lately I have been using a table-top camera tripod that is only a few inches high and that offers moveable mounting head to allow the BirdCam to be positioned at a slight angle for enhanced three-dimensional perspective.
The results can be surprisingly different. Remember the Douglas Squirrel image recorded form a directly-on-the ground placement? Now compare it to the following image of the same species of squirrel recorded in the same location but using the little tripod with the BirdCam tilted at a slightly forward position:
They’re both very good images but each has its own strengths. The important point is to know the effects and advantages offered by each of these different BirdCam positions in order to give you more options when considering how you’d like your BirdCam images composed.
Try experimenting a little on your own. Change the position just a little or find a new way entirely to position the BirdCam. As always, we encourage you to share your discoveries and images with Wingscapes.