I have passionately enjoyed observing and photographing birds for many years as a hobby, while also operating a professional Photo Restoration and Photography business, Creative Photos. However, my Australian Bird Photography website was born only in March 2012 (it’s a mere infant!) after upgrading my photographic equipment (see below).

My Studio and Office is located in Ashburton, a suburb of Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, Australia - for local viewers of this website, see Melway map 60/D11.

I welcome enquiries or comments about my images, including technical ones. I’ll be very pleased to give photographic advice wherever I’m able - and make corrections to bird identifications if necessary.

For the most prompt response, please phone (03) 9885 6716...

or alternatively, email:  graeme@creativephotos.com.au Please leave a return phone/mobile number, as some enquiries are difficult to reply to via email.

TECHNICAL

For those interested in a few technical details, since early 2008 I have used a Nikon D300 camera and a Nikkor 70-300 f4-f5.6 zoom lens for bird photography. But I only got serious about bird photography after obtaining a Nikkor 300mm f4D ED-IF AF-S prime lens in early 2012. Mostly, I use it in conjunction with a Nikon TC-14E II Teleconverter, and I use a Manfrotto 055B tripod with a ball head for stability, except when shooting birds in flight.

I mostly shoot using Aperture Priority, setting an aperture to suit the closeness or otherwise of the bird, then checking the adequacy of the resulting shutter speed, before deciding whether to alter the ISO. I prefer to shoot birds at an aperture between f6.3 and f8 to ensure that most parts of the bird are in reasonable focus. Of course, with my lens and teleconverter combination, I can’t shoot at f4 - nor do I generally wish to. But it’s critical to get good focus on the bird’s eyes.

As for ISO, I shoot at a value between 200 and 2000, one that allows a fast enough shutter speed to suit the situation - i.e. is the bird stationary, moving slowly, quickly, or in flight? With the lens connected to the tripod, I often push down on the front/top of the lens with one hand while controlling the camera with the other for better stability.    

More to come soon....

Cheers,

Graeme Bannerman,

Photographer.