Gambel’s Quail Gambel’s Quail cropped

The key to taking photos of most birds is a good telephoto lens. During my decades of bird photography, a 400mm lens has made all the difference – in the quality of the images, and the fun I have when photographing.

In the days of film photography, a 400mm lens translated simply to an 8-power magnification. Today, in the era of digital photography, the digital process gives a 400 an extra boost, providing 11x magnification. Often, bigger is better, but there is a big trade-off on a lens larger than 400mm. A 400 can be hand-held; any larger lens really requires a tripod to hold it steady in the field.

A 400mm telephoto provides the best magnification without the use of a tripod. In the field, while hiking or biking, it’s fun to have the freedom to swing your camera along with a flying bird, or a flock of birds, and reposition for the next species. When you move, your camera moves with you. Any telephoto lens greater than 400mm really requires a tripod to keep the larger, heavier lens with greater magnification steadier than can be handheld.

It’s a personal trade-off; some people don’t mind using a tripod; they consider it part of the process when using a 600mm lens, for instance. It’s a price to pay for greater magnification. But carrying and setting up a tripod-based camera takes all the fun out of photography for me – it’s just not an option.

If you really think you need more magnification for some photos, there’s a simple trick you can use. Actually, it’s not a trick at all; but when you’re reviewing your digital photos in your computer, use the simplest form of editing to enlarge your image: crop the photograph, remove some of the background in the image, and your bird will be magically enlarged some more, beyond the camera and telephoto lens you’re using. Good luck with your bird photography this summer!

Article and photos by Paul Konrad

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