Jack Douglas said:
jrista, thanks again. There is a lot to digest and it'll take me some time to navigate though the topics you touch on. I admire your passion and dedication coupled with willingness to share. And all that without being critical of what the various readers might prefer for themselves.
I am happy to be of service.
I would also point out that in the grand scheme of things, I am a novice myself. I've only been photographing birds for a couple of years now. I still have a TON to learn, and I soak up every bit of knowledge I can. Some of my favorite bird photographers are Alan Murphy, of course, for his wonderful songbird photos, as well as Art Morris, Marina Scarr, Doug Brown, and Clemens Vanderwerf to name a few. Art Morris in particular is a literal teacher, taught in NY for years, and now teaches bird photography via IPTs (Instructional Photo Tours). His blog has been a most invaluable resource for me over the last couple of years.
Jack Douglas said:
It may be hard to believe but these revelations have come as a shock simply because I haven't been in a public bird photography environment very long. I think the word competitive will always be applicable from what I can sense but it could well be, for many, a matter of perfection as opposed to doing better than some one else. I certainly am inclined to push myself to do better and tend to be quite critical of my own achievements. That's why I won't complain about compliments I might receive here on CR
.
I can't speak to anyone else, but to me it is truly a matter of perfection, not competition. I've never been a competitive person, but even if I was, photography is a personal art. Assuming you were quite good, there is always someone better. Instead of competing, to me, I consider it striving to do better, striving to master the art, striving to achieve beyond what I've achieved before. In some ways, that simply means "practice, practice, practice", with a dedicated eye towards finding your flaws in each and every shot you take, figuring out why the flaw occurred, and looking for ways to reduce or eliminate those flaws in the future. You'll never be perfect, and you may never be as good as someone like Clemens Vanderwerf or Art Morris, but you can always be better than yourself.
So, being self critical is ok. I'm quite critical of my own work, and am never really satisfied. But that's what gives us the motivation to push our own envelope and achieve more, do better, in the future.
Here are some of the shorebird shots I mentioned. All of these are purely natural shots, no setups. Most of these were taken from an extremely low perspective. My lens was attached to a tripod which was laid out flat (the legs extended perpendicular and flat to the vertical axis), I was laying flat on the sand (or mud). The key goal with shorebirds, and pretty much any waterfowl or marsh bird, is to get yourself and your lens on the "sun side" of the bird. You want the sun over your shoulder, behind you (but not necessarily directly behind you) in order to get the best illumination possible on your subject. (Birds pictured here are Killdeer, American Avocet, Willet, Marbled Godwit and Spotted Sandpiper):
These were shot with the Canon EOS 7D, and either the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS lens or EF 600mm f/4 L IS II lens, on a Gitzo GT3532LS and Jobu Pro2 Gimbal.
