One of the things that I love about facilities like Bird Kingdom in Niagara Falls is the variety and character of the birds. Some of them seem to have human-like qualities and I find their faces can be very expressive.
I had the opportunity on Wednesday to visit Bird Kingdom with two of our readers, Don and Janice Berman, and spend a number of very enjoyable hours photographing various bird specimens. My focus with my most recent visit was to get as many tight-in images as I could – bird portraitures – for lack of a better description.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge

Some birds, like the one above, just seem to look happy.

Others can’t seem to help themselves and have a severe, angry expression.

Even when changing angles, dinosaur-like seems to be an apt description.

Sometimes birds pose in almost surreal, abstract positions.

I look for interesting lighting to help accentuate subjects.

And, whenever possible I try to find smooth, unobstructed backgrounds.







Small details like water droplets on a bird’s back…

Or on their beak..

Can add some interest to an image.

I also love to compose images with extremely tight crops resulting in partial faces.

Birds can be very expressive with their facial plumage and capturing one of these moments can make for an interesting image.

My shutter finger finds the combination of bright colours and a pensive pose to be irresistible.

Sweeping bands of colours attract my eye.

As do splashes of bright colours.

Some birds have a cherub-like quality.

And, no visit to Bird Kingdom would be complete unless I practiced my slow-shutter speed hand-holding technique.
Technical Note: All images were shot hand-held in available light. All images in this article were produced from RAW files using my standard work-flow of OpticsPro 10, CS6 and Nik Suite.
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Article and all images Copyright Thomas Stirr. All rights reserved. No use, duplication of any kind, or adaptation is allowed without written consent.
This website does horrible things to my desire for a 1 V4 with the new J5 sensor and that CX 70-300! Lovely shots. How many did you take of the very last at 1/6 (!!) of a second to be able to get it a pin-sharp as it is?
Hi Sean,
My apologies for stoking your Nikon 1 desires! 🙂
As far as the shot of the pheasant at 1/6 of a second, it was one of over 100 practice images that I took while at Bird Kingdom that day. I visit the facility quite regularly and if I have the time I like to fit in some practice doing slow-shutter-speed hand-holding. I typically start with images at 1/30 and work with progressively slowly shutter speeds until I can’t get a sharp image. As long as the pheasant cooperates and remains motionless I can usually get about 1 in 3 that are acceptably sharp at 1/6. I always like to challenge myself to do better and most of the images I took during that last practice session were at 1/5th of a second…as with past attempts I had ‘0’ success at 1/5 of a second shutter speed.
Tom
Very inspiring photos. Thank you. I’m tempted to get the 70-300m.
Thanks for the positive comment Anders! I’m glad you enjoyed the images! The CX 70-300 is an expensive lens, but worth every penny!
Tom
All stellar image, Thomas, as always!
The color, composition, and focus are wonderful.
Thanks for sharing these with us…
You’re welcome – glad you enjoyed them Terry!
Tom
Awesome shots Tom – nice posing. 🙂
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the positive comment – glad you enjoyed the images!
Tom