Birds in the Neighborhood

Sometimes I get away from my desk to take snaps of birds flying around the neighborhood. Ever since I owned a capable camera, I have learned to take snaps of these flying creatures. Whenever they settle on a cable or a twig, I get the opportunity to take snapshots of them. So far, I have taken photos of 6 types of birds.

Chestnut Munia

Red Turtle Dove

Birding has become more of an addiction than a hobby. I get a certain kind of satisfaction every time I get a good photo of a bird. It’s not easy to take shots of these birds. You have to be not too near but not too far. I’m using a superzoom point-and-shoot camera with a telephoto reach of 600mm. With this camera, I can get good shots of birds like the chestnut munias or tree sparrows 5-10 meters away. If they are too far, I can only manage to get small, unflattering images of them.

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Olive-backed Sunbird

I used to take bird photos using the Auto or Program Mode, but I’ve been learning to use the Manual Mode recently to get more precise settings. It took me a few months to gain confidence to switch to the M mode on the dial. But with the right settings, I can get really nice shots.

Asian Glossy Starling

Young Asian Glossy Starling 

Because birds like to move a lot, it’s sensible to use fast shutter speed. I can get sharp bird shots at shutter speeds less than 1/100 s. This fast shutter speed demands a lot of light. Hence, the best times for me to take photos are during sunny days. My camera can manage to get decent photos only up to ISO 400, so it’s extremely challenging to get good snaps during cloudy days.

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Becoming a Snapshooter

I never thought I would love to have cameras. Photography wasn’t something I wished to learn, but here I am writing this post.

My interest in shapshooting started when my ex-boss from Davao City spent her birthday here in GenSan. She and her family spent two days here. Together with a friend, I toured them to Sarangani Highlands, Plaza Heneral Santos, and Queen Tuna Park. We didn’t have much time to visit other places. Anyway, they had their cameras with them, and they took a lot of photos. I figured out that if I had a camera with me, I would have taken photos too and have my own photographic mementos too.

So, I decided it was time to own a camera. I didn’t know about cameras back then. My budget was only fit for a cheap gadget. My first choice was Samsung ES65, a cheap point-and-shoot thingy that I used for four short months. It was quickly replaced by another cheap model, a Canon PowerShot A495. Both cameras were classed in the budget category, but the latter took better photos. My father uses Samsung ES65 now.

I learned about taking snapshots with the Canon A495, a humble gear that runs on AA batteries. It’s the cheapest camera then, available at local stores for about Php 3,500. You really couldn’t complain if you’re just after a device that lets you take snaps. It became my companion for over a year. 

Point-and-shoot cameras are pretty easy to use. If you own a compact model, you probably like the fact that it’s really a point-and-shoot thing. There is no thinking about the settings. Many people who use cheap cameras just point them at their subject and press the shutter button, nothing complicated.

I learned to take pictures with my humble little guy. Most of my photos were random shots I took whenever I wanted to take a break from work. I would take snaps of my cute, little niece. My photos were mostly flowers, places, and small insects. The snapshots fill my Facebook account. I seldom post photos on Flickr. I did have a Blogger account where I used to upload photos, but it was compromised.

While Samsung ES65 was a downright terrible camera, Canon A495, on the other hand, had its share of downsides. One thing I used to complain about it is its sluggishness. It takes a while to get a shot. It’s okay if you’re taking shots of still subjects, but not if you’re taking shots of moving kids or animals. I had two pairs of rechargeable batteries for that little gear, but months of daily snapshooting exhausted both pairs. Soon, I will have to buy another pair, although I seldom use the cheap guy now.

If there were two things that the humble Canon camera taught me, those were pre-focusing and composing. It made me learn about things like ISO or white balance. I love doing macro shots with that camera. Some of my best close-up shots were taken with that camera.

However, the limitations were already overwhelming, and I was itching to buy another buddy, this time one that had a long zoom. The reason I wanted to own a long zoom camera is to be able take photos of the moon. It sounds silly, but that was really the reason. I get envious when I see photos of the moon on the internet.

So, I bought my third camera, a Panasonic FZ47, a superzoom camera with 24X optical zoom. A superzoom camera is what they call a camera with more than 10X optical zoom. Superzooms are becoming popular in the market of snapshooters and enthusiasts. They are also chosen by a number of travelers. Essentially, they are P&S cameras with long zooms. They are made of sensors whose size is similar to those of small compacts. Superzooms look like DSLR camera, but the image quality isn’t the same.

Anyway, having moved from a small compact Canon to a bulky long-zoom Panasonic, I was thrilled at the versatility of my new gadget. Also, it gave more controls, which made shooting in difficult situations a little more manageable. In four months, I was able to take thousand of photos, including those of the moon, birds, people, and places. I became an enthusiast, someone who would often spend weekends going outdoors to take photos of anything. With Panasonic FZ47, I learned to make finer adjustments of the aperture and shutter speed. I also learned how to shoot in the manual mode, something I thought I would never learn.

The Host during Mr. and Ms. GenSan Pageant 2012

I may never upgrade to a DSLR gear. The FZ47 is already too bulky for me that sometimes I feel like leaving it at home. DSLRs are bulkier than superzooms. I don’t think the superior image quality is worth all the weight, cost, and hassle. But who knows, I might get tired at the noisy images produced by my current snapshooting companion and find myself holding a bulky thingy.