Bird photography in the woodlands of Denmar. Photographing the dipper in a small river. Behind the scenes after the video. Open full description for more information.
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Location: Denmark
Date: December 2020
Day: 4°C (39°F)
Night: 2°C (35°F)
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This is the first time this season I am photographing the dipper. This is a quite new location to me, and I have to get more used to it, so that I know where to expect the bird.
I love doing wildlife photography in the forest, and especially near this little stream, because it gives me some new possibilities with the moving water. I am going to experiment more with the combination of running water, sitting bird and long exposures.
A few questions:
1. Why are you using the Manfrotto 502 Video head instead of a gimbal head?
The Nikon Z6 is so light that even with a battery grip I am having a hard time balancing it on my gimbal head. Further more, the fluid head that I am using in this video lets me do more smooth movements when shooting video.
2. How do you get close the the wildlife?
It is very difficult to give a simple answer since all species are very differen. Even the same kind of bird, can be very different depending on their experiences with humans. In this case with the dipper I am very lucky. Not far from where I am photographing people often walk with their dogs, and it seams like the dipper is quite comfortable as long as I keep a decent distance. So on this trip I could photograph it on around 40 meters without problems. When I was laying near the fallen trees, the dipper got very close to me. I guess it was very curious.
3. What software are you using for editing phots and video?
I use Adobe Lightroom Classic for organising and editing my phots. For video editing I am using Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve. At the moment I almost solely use FXPX.
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Camera gear:
Camera:
Nikon Z6
Nikon 600mm f/4 FL
FTZ adapter.
Tamron 150-600mm G2.
Nikon 24-70 s f4
Samyang 14mm f/2.8
FTZ adapter
Gear list on my website.
These are Amazon affiliate links:
mortenhilmer.com/my-gear-list/
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Music:
Gone by Galvin Luke
From Epidemic Sound - get 1 month for free by using my affiliate link:
bit.ly/ep-music
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Morten