Checked out my good friend Evan Taff's band REV UP; took some pics. Check 'em out! Click on the image to see full screen!

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Image copyright 2005 Arthur Morris

This is a guest post by Mike Chase.  See author information below.

Bird photography is one of the most common types of nature photography. Common as it is, capturing great avian pictures is very hard to accomplish.

Birds in flight are fast creatures so trying to capture them with lousy equipment and no photography skills will be almost impossible. If luck is on your side then this will still help, but to be a better photographer, we must learn everything that we can.

There are a lot of factors in play when attempting to capture bird images, and in today’s article, I will discuss those factors plus some great advice to be better your bird photography techniques.

Aside from the fact that birds are agile and sensitive creatures, they are also complicated even more so to people who have never studied them. You don’t need to learn everything about birds to take pictures of them, but serious successful bird photographers are people who really understand their subjects. If you really know what you’re shooting then your chance of producing excellent images will increase. Useful information like the bird’s habitat and choice of food will really help you in knowing where they frequent, and this will help you big time to take some really amazing pictures. So just imagine yourself knowing migration patterns, seasonal effects on birds, mating calls. Read lots of articles on the internet about birds, join forums, and consume all the books that you can to be really effective at photographing our four feathered friends.

After knowing your subject, you can start capturing images of birds in your own backyard. Place some bird feed and water on different spots around your garden to attract birds. Different birds like to eat different food so if you have a particular subject you would like to draw then place what they usually eat. Including bird feeders on your shots don’t make appealing photos so be creative. Branches make nice perches and can add detail to your photographs. You can put feed and water everywhere as long as you have a direct view of that spot. You should be hidden so the birds will be enticed to approach. You can shoot from any room as long as you can capture the birds. Be silent, be hidden, and be patient. It’s okay to use point and shoot cameras with optical and digital zoom for starters but if you really want to have better pictures then upgrading to an SLR is definitely a requirement.

Having an SLR paired with a telephoto lens will surely give you an advantage. It will also allow you to take photos of different birds in the wild whether they are perched on a high branch or flying in the sky. A 200mm telephoto lens is acceptable but some argue that everyone should start at 300mm and increase for improved range. A better camera body will also help you tremendously. The advantage comes from better sensors and auto-focus mechanisms. You can make do with lesser bodies but would need to be supplemented with outstanding photography skills. But if you have to choose between a better camera body and a better lens always choose the lens.

Now let’s talk about going out and looking for more subjects. Birds that frequent the parks are used to people so you can easily take their pictures without worrying about startling them. Wild birds on the other hand are very wary of people so they are much harder to photograph. Having the telephoto lens that we talked about will really help you in creating a working space between you and your subject. Be very quiet when you want to be closer to the birds. Avoid stepping on dry branches and leaves so watch where you walk. Wearing camouflage isn’t a necessity but just make sure that your clothes aren’t too bright. Excessive movement will also definitely scare the birds away. If you are waiting for a certain bird to come then you must remain very still. Choosing a spot where you can hide yourself, your camera, and your tripod will also be beneficial. You can shoot among tall grass, behind a bush, or use a tent designed for birding to completely hide yourself from the birds.

The best time to photograph birds is 2-3 hours after the sun rises. They are very active in this time because most of them are looking for food or stretching their wings. Aside from increased bird activity, you can take advantage of the soft light and the absences of harsh shadows. If it suddenly rains or snows then challenge yourself and continue shooting. The change of weather will produce dramatic images plus you can observe a bird’s behavior during these instances which will be useful on future birding trips.

When framing the shot, make sure that the bird fills 1/3 to 2/3 of the image. Shoot at the bird’s eye level and make sure that the background is blurred by having a shallow depth of field. Photos of birds perched on a branch are appealing but it’s better to capture photos of birds flying, hunting, singing, and interacting with each other.

Bird photography is a worthwhile hobby plus it’s a way of helping out mother nature. By taking pictures of birds we somehow send a message to people that the environment is worth saving. We help the birds out by giving them food to eat and water to drink and in return they allow us to capture their images. I hope you've learned something new about avian photography, and my last piece of advice is to practice, practice, and then practice even more. You won’t get beautiful pictures at first but just keep at it and someday you'll get there. Good luck.

Anyway this is Mike Chase signing off, so I really do hope you've enjoyed my bird photography tips and techniques, and to read more of my digital photography tips, just "CLICK HERE" or you can bookmark "MY PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG" for future reference.... Thanks!

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DSLR sensors always had an issue with processing wide dynamic range. Usually, if the highlights are clipped, no information is recorded in those areas; if we expose for the highlights  then information in the shadows is lost.  DP Review recently reported on a new sensor technology called "Binary Pixel" introduced by a U.S. company Rambus.

This new technology promises to retain highlights information, while exposing properly in the shadow areas!

Here is a link to DP Review article: Rambus unveils 'Binary Pixel' sensor tech for expanded dynamic range: Digital Photography Review. And below is Rambus' press release:

SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA AND BARCELONA, SPAIN – February 25, 2013 – Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS), the innovative technology solutions company that brings invention to market, today unveiled breakthrough binary pixel technology that dramatically improves the quality of photos taken from mobile devices. The Rambus Binary Pixel technology includes image sensor and image processing architectures with single-shot high dynamic range (HDR) and improved low-light sensitivity for better videos and photos in any lighting condition.
“Today’s compact mainstream sensors are only able to capture a fraction of what the human eye can see,” said Dr. Martin Scott, chief technology officer at Rambus. “Our breakthrough binary pixel technology enables a tremendous performance improvement for compact imagers capable of ultra high-quality photos and videos from mobile devices.”
As improvements are made in resolution and responsiveness, more and more consumers are using the camera functionality on their smart phone as the primary method for taking photos and capturing memories. However, high contrast scenes typical in daily life, such as bright landscapes, sunset portraits, and scenes with both sunlight and shadow, are difficult to capture with today’s compact mobile sensors - the range of bright and dark details in these scenes simply exceeds the limited dynamic range of mainstream CMOS imagers.
This binary pixel technology is optimized at the pixel level to sense light similar to the human eye while maintaining comparable form factor, cost and power of today’s mobile and consumer imagers. The results are professional-quality images and videos from mobile devices that capture the full gamut of details in dark and bright intensities.
Benefits of binary pixel technology:
Improved image quality optimized at the pixel level
Single-shot HDR photo and video capture operates at high-speed frame-rates
Improved signal-to-noise performance in low-light conditions
Silicon-proven technology for mobile form factors
Easily integratable into existing SoC architectures
Compatible with current CMOS image sensor process technology

Image and PR courtesy of Rambus.

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This is a guest post by NY Film Academy.

Technology marches ever forward. So much so, you have to be almost going out of your way if you want to induce any appreciable amount of noise with a mid-range DSLR camera in good lighting.

But we’re not quite out of the woods yet, and given the frequency at which the problem comes up on photography and filmmaking forums, video noise when shooting with a DSLR camera is still something that vexes videographers.

Here we take a look at some of the common causes – and solutions – to your noise-based woes.

The Physical Factor

You don’t need to take out a second mortgage and buy a Canon 1D C in order to get sharp, clear footage - most DSLR cameras these days do an amicable job in just about every shooting scenario, assuming you get to know your kit and how to set up a shoot properly.



The biggest cause of noise by far is low lighting (in conjunction with not accommodating for it!). The larger the lens diameter, the better; that said, you should be able to get fine results with a good 50mm lens. If you’re shooting manually – recommended when in challenging environments, and because it’ll simply get you more intimate with your gear – make sure your ISO setting is as low as possible before the footage becomes too dark (around 400 works as a rule of thumb). An f-stop of around 1.4 in conjunction with a low ISO should produce some pretty great footage in all but pitch-black environments.



Additionally, zoom out as much as possible to increase light intake and avoid using filters. Shutter speed is a lesser factor but consider reducing it to around 1/30 if you’re still having problems.

If you are shooting in automatic, which can be a bit sketchy in low-light, do make sure your autofocus is setup properly (see our handy guide here).

And remember, some low-lighting conditions don’t have to be… it’s surprising how many people forget to solve the problem at the root by adding some extra light sources!

The Invisible Factor

It’s very easy to get hung up on lighting issues and ISO settings, but when all these have been addressed, you may be left scratching your head as to why you still have noise issues.

Let’s paint the picture. It’s night time and you’re shooting outside, so the lighting is low. However, you had the foresight to schedule the shoot during a full moon. You’ve set the ISO to 400 and even brought along some additional lighting. In theory, you shouldn’t be getting nearly as much noise as you are.

What you might be forgetting as you took your equipment out of the unheated trunk and stand in a field, shivering, is that temperature can have a big impact on your DSLR.

The ideal operating temperatures vary quite largely by camera, but anything outside 32-104 degrees Fahrenheit (0-40 Celsius) can cause problems. It’s rare to find yourself shooting in above 104 degree heat – unless you’re on fire for whatever reason – but it’s commonplace to shoot at or below freezing point. In addition, it plays havoc with your battery life and the cold can make your hands pretty shaky; not a great situation when operating fine equipment!

And this brings us neatly on to…

Stability

If your camera is heavy or your hand is naturally shaky, you need a good tripod. In fact, you should have sturdy tripod anyway, even if you’re “just a hobbyist”, since this will solve a heck of a lot of issues beyond just noise.

Post-Production Issues

Ah, post-production – a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s a great way of fixing any noise issues that you didn’t notice while shooting. On the other, scores of people become frustrated about the amount of noise they seem to be inducing while fiddling around in After Effects.



It sounds obvious, but many people fall into the trap of assuming everything can be fixed up in post. Not taking the time to set your DSLR up properly before a shoot, especially in low-lighting conditions, just causes more headaches than it solves. You don’t need to start enrolling at film schools to get a hang of good exposure practices – for the most part you’ll pick it up as you go along – but do invest in the time it takes to compensate for any quirky environmental challenges, and if you’re unsure as to how to use your camera in certain conditions, spend some time looking it up. There are a thousand helpful folk online who would be happy to give you some pointers and it’ll be time well spent.

But even professionals have to patch things up in post from time to time. If you find yourself needed to remove noise for whatever reason, there are some great plug-ins which do the job for you (assuming you’re using Adobe). Neat Video and Magic Bullet Denoiser are both highly recommended, but do consider adding a tiny bit of noise or grain after de-noising to make the footage look natural.

A Different Kind of Noise

Finally, a note on audio noise. If you’ve all of the above is in check and you produce some gorgeous footage but the audio is letting you down, consider applying an auto-gate to the audio track. It’s easy to implement and can drastically improve the sound quality of your clips – here’s a great how-to on the subject which is worth checking out.

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Another year went by, disappearing into eternity. This time it was 2012. It was a good year. Professionally, it was a year of blog redesign, new cameras, new gear, and short film ideas.

Blog redesign

Many years ago, around 2005-2006, I started blogging. Back then my main topic was photography, as I was not involved in filmmaking then. My blog was titled Digital Photographer Blog. It needed a lot of work and I guess one could say that it got the work it needed and now it is what you see today cineSerge. Click HERE to see what this blog looked like in 2006... Oh my...

In the never-ending search for the right blog design [I don't think I'm there yet, but on the right track], I have changed the design of this here blog several times in 2012.  I hope my readers aren't too angry with me.

You see, I'm looking for the design that represents me accurately.  Some of the designs I tried in 2012 I thought were OK, but later realized were not representative of who I am.  Speaking of who I am, who am I?  I'm a photographer, indie filmmaker, blogger. I'd like to think of myself as somewhat  creative and thoughtful. So, my blog, naturally, should convey those qualities.  In the current design I have finally found the right combination of qualities that represent me, I hope.

There are some things that still need to be worked out and polished, but I'm happy with this design by Clairvo Yance.

DSLR Revolution

In 2012 I have sold my still camera Nikon D200 and my pro broadcast video camera Panasonic HPX300 and purchased Nikon D4 to serve both as stills and as cinema camera.

Ever hear about filmmakers talk about the elusive film look?  Well, the film look is obtained in part by having a large camera sensor.  D4 has a full frame 24X36 sensor, thus providing a shallow depth of field when needed.  It looks filmic! Score!  D200 was not a great camera for me as it didn't have the full frame sensor that I needed, and no video capability of course.  HPX300 had a great ENG form factor and was a great video camera, but it had a 1/3" sensor - why so small, Panasonic? Why?  It would have been an awesome camera if it had a larger sensor.  It is a great HD camera for doing documentary and TV work, but unsuitable for making movies.

So that brings us to Nikon D4: large sensor, 1080 24P, great glass [lenses that I've accumulated since I had the F5 back in the day of 35mm film].  It's capable of outputting a clean signal via HDMI, meaning that I could use an external recorder like the Ninja 2 to record via ProRes codec.  And let's not forget D4 is a fantastic stills camera!

So, after waiting and waiting, and waiting and waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more, I got the camera!  And it is a pleasure to use!  I have used it in the field as a stills camera and it worked great!  I have not yet had a chance to test it as a cinema camera, but soon I will.  D4 will be used for my upcoming short drama "Square One" scheduled for production in Spring of 2013.

Throughout 2012 and into 2013, I'm working on creating a cinema rig that will be suitable for shooting indie film productions: short films, music videos, and features.  I have written a bit on the topic of DSLR cinema rigs HERE. The rig is coming along, so couple of months into the 2013 I will have it done.

'Square One' is born

In 2012 I have decided to make my own film, instead of working on other people's projects.  While I'm continuing to work on 'Products of Influence' written by Evan Taff, I wanted to do my own project.  

I'm not going to go into much detail about this project, I can tell you that I'm very excited about it!  Although it is a short film, I've put in a lot of time into development and preproduction of it.

So, what the film is about?

Its a story about a guy, his wife, and the uncertainty of our existence.

What does that mean? - you might ask. I guess you'll have to wait and see ;)  For now, here's the Production Blog for 'Square One'.

Looking forward to 2013

So, it is 2013 and I am very excited about everything that I have planned for it, professionally and personally.  I hope you guys have a great year!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog!

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Here are couple of stories that caught my eye this month (January 2013).

1. Studio Daily posted an article about the award winning TV series Dexter using Nikon D800 as their B Camera along with A cam Alexa. Pretty impressive! Nikon’s D800 Gets Down and Dirty for Dexter.

For its type, size and price, the D800's exceptional color depth, dynamic range and very low noise at high ISOs (all of which I witnessed firsthand during a recent test run of the camera) are well suited to an edgy show like Dexter that shifts relentlessly from the full-sun, high-contrast Miami streets to dimly lit, cave-like interiors. A series of tests at Panavision last spring showed the Dexter creators just how well the camera could keep pace with the Alexa, convincing them to make the D800 the show's primary second-unit camera.

2. James Cameron says that in this this 3D version of Titanic, the ship still sinks ;)  The article by NY Times explains the process of making a 3D film from a 2D material: Inside the 3-D Conversion of ‘Titanic’.

While the version returning to theaters on Wednesday is the same cut that was released 15 years ago, the film’s 4K digital remastering and its meticulous 3-D conversion make for a fresh visual experience. The process spanned over 60 weeks and cost about $18 million to achieve a look that seems as if it had been originally shot with 3-D cameras.

3. San Jose Mercury News posted an interesting piece about Zero Dark Thirty: Oscars 2013 analysis: What happened to "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Les Miserables"?

A funny thing happened to "Zero Dark Thirty," "Argo" and "Les Miserables" on their way to being major Oscar contenders: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters forgot to follow the script.

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