As I recently bought my new Sigma 100-400mm lens, I've been trying to get into bird photography. As the birds are most usually very very fast and small, I decided to find a practice target which is far easier. So I ended up photographing a cute mallard couple.
The focal length upgrade from 300mm to 400mm isn't world changing, but the photo quality has improved a lot. Even though mallard can be seen as a boring bird, it's magnificent beauty can be seen on photos.
But then again, they're ducks. And ducks are... special.
We had kind of cheated by feeding them with some bread, even though they shouldn't be bread-fed. Especially not young mallards. The high protein content in bread can cause dysplasia. Especially in the summer they are capable of finding food by themselves but might be attracted to one-sided bread diet if people are constantly feeding them.
The above photo is the face you made as a child, when you tried to eat some cake in secret but your parents found out.
Not only the male mallard is beautiful, the photo is high quality and the details are sharp - but also there is some bread on it's back.
The female mallard can hide in a potato field by pretending to be a walking potato.
This is even better than hiding your head in a bush.
To cheer the first post in this community, I've also posted a selfie.
What do you think? If you can't see me, let me zoom in the photo below.
Can you see me yet?
If anyone has watched any CSI, they know how photo zooming can do anything. There I am, the small dot in the reflection of it's eye. Sorry for the fringe, I do hope you understand that I did not see that when I was editing the original photo.
Bird photography doesn't need any special equipment or traveling long distances. You can get amazing shots from the most common birds in your area by using almost any equipment available. There's always room for improvement, but you can always do your best and improve your own talent.
