One of the purposes of running this blog is to encourage readers to give digital photography a go. It has many advantages over 'conventional' film photography--it probably won't be long before we refer to digital as conventional!--and after the initial expense, is considerably cheaper on running expenses. I'm pleased that a number, albeit few, people have contributed and a few others are in a throes of buying the gear.On a typical morning of photography, it's not unusual to shoot up to 100 images, the vast majority will probably be deleted, for a range of reasons. But that's the joy of 'digital', the costs are the same basically whether you shoot 100 or 1. Yes, there is a learning curve, but not beyond the skill of most people, and a pretty cheap one too. Because you have a digital image it can easily be edited, framed and generally tidied up. Will your images
reach the standard seen on some of the bird photography websites? Probably not, but I can say from personal experience, that it will improve your enjoyment of birding beyond measure. Having birded in Tasmania for 40+ years, I can reasonably say that I have "been there, done that". I have travelled most of the state, including the islands, banded, counted, atlassed and heaven knows what else! I needed a new outlook, and digital photography has worked wonders. Why not consider giving it a try.As you can see from the accompanying images, not all birds will co-operate! A female Superb Blue Wren and a male Satin Flycatcher giving me a hard time.
2 comments:
Thanks Alan,
I too am enjoying the many benefits of Digital bird photograpy, though my equipment would probably only ever be classed "mid-range". However, by being able to take LOTS of shots, and only keep/use the few good ones, people even begin to become quite complimentary of my meagre skills. The main frustration I've found with it is that there is often quite a time delay with my camera, between pushing the shutter, and the camera capturing the image. Often makes for some nice shots of empty branches!
I have over 51,000 images that I have taken on digital over the last 3 years. Just from an economic point of view, that would have cost me somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 for buying film and developing -- and it doesn't matter if that's US$ or AUS$, that's a lot of money.
More than that, I know I can go out anytime, take as many pictures as I like AND come back home and see them immediately. I have printed shots from my 6 megapixel camera as large as 20x30 inches and the resulting print is every bit as good as a film version.
Better still these days, are all the FREE image editing programs that make reviewing and printing my images easy. My blog also gives me a way to share my images beyond mere email.
IMHO, a digital SLR with interchangeable lenses is the way to go but there are a good number of cameras with a 10x or 12x optical zoom that come with a pretty light price tag.
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