The Backyard Birder

   For a compilation of the morning walk images, click here.

This photo was made just hours before California entered its newest lockdown. It will accompany an article about Backyard Birding, an activity one can enjoy by yourself while maintaining on-line contact with fellow birders. For the record, I wore my mask at all times, and my subject removed hers only when the photo was being made. The location was my subject's back yard.  I used a short telephoto lens, so we were farther apart than you might think.

The photo was lit from both camera left and camera right. If you look at the shadow cast below my subject's chin, you can see that it's triangular in shape a clue that two lighting sources were involved. The light from camera right comes from morning sunlight passing through a translucent umbrella, while the light from camera left comes from a flash and a shoot-through umbrella.

For this assignment, I remembered to bring my Westcott 7' translucent umbrella which was used to soften the direct morning sunlight. This both decreased the intensity and improved the quality of the light on my subject's left, providing some separation from the dark background. You notice the bit of light on my subject's sweatshirt. I was smart to request that we used the subject's own backyard which would offer protection of any breezes that might upset my six-foot bumbershoot.

My key lighting would be a speedlight and Zumbrella combination mounted on a lightstand slightly forward and to the left of my shooting position. This gave me the large, round catchlights and provided a soft front lighting on my subject. The flash output was nearly at full power, so I adjusted the aperture slightly to get a proper exposure. As it turned out, the brightness was nearly identical to the filtered sunlight coming from behind, giving me an image that should reproduce well when it hits the paper.

For the shot, I used a Fuji X-T2 with a 16-55 2.8 lens at 55mm. Light was from an older Flashpoint speedlight triggered by an older dedicated radio controller.

You can see the size of the umbrella, and you can image how large a shadow it would cast. The umbrella was positioned to provide a soft light on side of the hanging birdhouse, as you see here. These shots were made without the key light, so the front of the birdhouse is rendered darker than in the final photo.

"Is That A Real Bird??" my editor asked. Yes, it was. At first, the birds kept their distances, wondering what to make of all the unfamiliar activity. After a few warm-up shots, the birds, knowing the feeders had just been filled, tentatively started to take their seats at the buffet. We both stood motionless, hoping that one would land on the feeder on the left. One brave soul obviously did, and I was able to grab one good shot (top of post) before s/he flew off. A second bird arrived moments later, but was too dark to be recognizable.

After Action Report: There are some things I wish I could have changed. The positions of the sun and the birdhouse feeder dictated the location of the umbrella and where my subject would be placed, so I adjusted the key light position accordingly. I might have elevated the key to a higher position to achieve slightly better facial modeling, but overall, there's plenty of detail in the image. Other than that, I was very satisfied with the outcome.