Earlier this week, during a visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens, I was very fortunate to be able to capture a selection of photographs of a Golden Crowned Kinglet. These small, insect eating birds are difficult to photograph as they are constantly on the move as they dart from branch to branch looking for food.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.
This particular bird didn’t stay still for more than 2-3 seconds before it would dart off, jump, or drop down to another branch. Suffice to say I missed a lot of photographs just trying to keep up with this little speed demon.
It was a challenge from an eye/hand coordination perspective to find this tiny bird in my viewfinder when shooting at an equivalent-field-of-view of 1120 mm. I had to stop a few times to see where the Golden Crowned Kinglet had landed.
A couple of times I shortened the focal length of my M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS zoom to make it a bit easier to locate my subject bird. Most of the time I kept my lens fully extended to take advantage of the reach.
I captured all of the photographs in this article using Pro Capture H with my standard settings of 15 Pre-Shutter Frames and my Frame Limiter also set to 15. I used a frame rate of 60 frames per second, as well as single point auto-focus.
As regular readers know, I love to challenge myself and my camera gear. This Golden Crowned Kinglet certainly supplied that in spades!
Without the use of Pro Capture H I would not have been able to capture a great many images in this article of the Golden Crowned Kinglet on the move.
The Golden Crowned Kinglet stayed around a few trees in my immediate area for about 11 minutes, then disappeared. I was very thankful to spend this amount of time photographing this remarkable little bird. Often these kinds of opportunities are much more fleeting and only last for a minute or two.
Here is a series of 4 consecutive images of the Golden Crowned Kinglet taking flight.
Working extremely quickly I was able to capture a decent selection of photographs of the Golden Crowned Kinglet in flight as you can see from the following images. My shooting angle was far from ideal in many of the images, but I was still thrilled to capture them.
As stated in many of my previous articles, every photographer should buy and use the camera gear that best meets their needs. A more skilled photographer than I was with full frame could have been able to capture some good images of this Golden Crowned Kinglet using a larger sensor camera. For me, most of these images would have been impossible without using Pro Capture H and my Olympus gear.
Getting my shot is ultimately the only thing that is critically important to me. I need to know that I can count on my camera gear regardless of the conditions I may face. After more than two years of using my E-M1X I have absolutely no regrets.
Usually my favourite bird image from a photo session is an in-flight photograph. In this case it was the image above of a perched Golden Crowned Kinglet.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. Crops are noted as appropriate. This is the 1,071st article published on this website since its original inception.
How you can help keep this site advertising free
My intent is to keep this photography blog advertising free. If you enjoyed this article and/or my website and would like to support my work, you can purchase an eBook, or make a modest $10 donation through PayPal. Both are most appreciated. You can use the Donate button below. Larger donations can be made to tom@tomstirr.com through PayPal.
Word of mouth is the best form of endorsement. If you like our website please let your friends and associates know about our work. Linking to this site or to specific articles is allowed with proper acknowledgement. Reproducing articles, or any of the images contained in them, on another website or in any social media posting is a Copyright infringement.
Article and photographs are Copyright 2021 Thomas Stirr. All rights reserved. No use, duplication or adaptation of any kind is allowed without written consent. If you see this article reproduced anywhere else it is an unauthorized and illegal use. Posting comments on offending websites and calling out individuals who steal intellectual property is always appreciated!
This website celebrates the joy of photography and features a wide range of photographic subject matter. The content is designed to appeal to a wide range of people interested in photography. The website also demonstrates the image creating capability of small sensor cameras including micro four thirds, 1", and 1/2.3" cameras.
You cannot copy content of this page
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Your email address or any other information you provide as your subscription to the website is never sold to any other party. Your email address is used to send out notifications on new articles. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkPrivacy policy