Before sunrise, a retired Adobe employee stands in a West Virginia meadow and holds still for up to an hour, practicing nikon z8 bird photography. He waits for a songbird to return to its favorite perch.
Sometimes he goes home with nothing but a tick on his leg. He still calls it a good morning.
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RicohMatt, a community member of DPReview, lives in the West Virginia Panhandle. He shared his gear, his routines and his field methods for this installment of the “What’s in your bag?” spotlight series.
The gear he carries for nikon z8 bird photography
For nikon z8 bird photography, he relies on a Nikon Z8. His telephoto is the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm F/5.6-6.3 VR. For general shooting, he uses a NIKKOR Z 24-120mm F4 S.
He used to hold the rig steady for only a couple of minutes while waiting for songbirds to take flight. A LEOFOTO carbon fiber monopod gave him near-handheld flexibility. Now he can wait much longer for the right moment.
His daypack is a Think Tank BackLight 26L, which he says handles dense woods well. Alongside the camera, he carries a 65-inch, four-section LEOFOTO monopod, a LEOFOTO NFC-01 lens collar and a Wimberley MH-100 MonoGimbal Head. He says the monopod gets wet and muddy, then looks new after a cleaning.
Where the birds are
He lives about an hour’s drive from Washington, D.C. Home is roughly a 15-minute drive from his favorite field sites, and it is quiet there apart from the sounds of nature.
His early mornings for nikon z8 bird photography usually take him through the Shenandoah Valley and the countryside around it. His favorite places are rivers, meadows, ponds and marshes. He likes to sit on a boulder with his feet over the water as the sun comes up behind the mountains.
Rivers in the area draw Bald Eagles, Great Blue Herons and Spotted Sandpipers. He has photographed Gray Catbirds in the marshes. He aims for at least one large meadow each week, where he looks for Northern Cardinals, Indigo Buntings, Bluebirds, American Goldfinches and Mockingbirds. A Red-shouldered Hawk shows up now and then.
Many visits begin before sunrise and last three to four hours. He stays still as long as birds stay active nearby, sometimes for an hour at a stretch. He watches birds flare high over the meadow toward the tree line, and songbirds return to the same perch again and again. Some birds fidget and hop from perch to perch. Others sit quietly for long periods.
How his photography changed
Photography started with pictures of his family. It grew into part-time portrait work, and eventually into bird photography, a branch of wildlife photography that he calls his true passion. Most of his shooting happens across the Panhandle and western Virginia. Sometimes he works the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. He hopes to visit Cape May during bird migration someday.
He almost always shoots in manual mode with auto ISO, and he leans heavily on exposure compensation. A Great Blue Heron standing in still water with a clean reflection demands different settings than a Great Egret arriving in the morning sun. Auto ISO lets him keep up when the light and the subject change.
Earning a close approach
His first step is to let birds get used to his presence. He hopes they will drift closer over time. This works most of the time, though not always.
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For nikon z8 bird photography, he estimates the settings he will need before a bird appears. The window to react is often only seconds, so the guesswork matters. He says, “I believe that purpose elevates my photography.” For him, the photographs come from hours spent in meadows and marshes, and the patience those hours require.
Via dpreview.com
Frequently asked questions
What camera and lens does RicohMatt use for bird photography?
RicohMatt shoots with a Nikon Z8 for bird photography. His telephoto lens is the NIKKOR Z 180-600mm F/5.6-6.3 VR, and he uses a NIKKOR Z 24-120mm F4 S for general shooting.
What camera settings does RicohMatt usually use for birds?
He almost always shoots in manual mode with auto ISO and leans heavily on exposure compensation. Auto ISO helps him keep up when the light and the subject change.
Where does RicohMatt usually photograph birds?
Most of his shooting happens across the West Virginia Panhandle and western Virginia, sometimes along the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. His favorite places are rivers, meadows, ponds and marshes.
How does RicohMatt get birds to come closer to him?
His first step is to let birds get used to his presence, and he hopes they will drift closer over time. He says this works most of the time, though not always.
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