Many reviews online talk about how the Sony a9 III is great for photographing birds. But those reviews are catered more towards photographers who look and don’t see. That is, they capture, and they don’t create. What’s beautiful about the Sony a9 III is that it’s a camera that lends itself so well to the imagination and can photograph things that even it can’t show you a preview beforehand. So, while staring out at my terrace one day, I was inspired to light it like a painting and photograph birds eating from my feeders in a completely unique way.
Just so you know, this isn’t our full review. That’s still yet to come. Thanks to Lensrentals for loaning us the camera.
Table of Contents
The Secret Setting You Need to Know About
This is a section from a previous article of mine that I’m purposely repeating here because it’s important.
When I originally tested the Sony a9 III, I was amazed that this camera didn’t need to go into high-speed sync. That’s because it has a global shutter, so the flash could sync normally at any setting. During the announcement day, I couldn’t grasp why the camera and Profoto lights still did so. It wasn’t until a friend who works for a retailer told me about this secret menu item. It’s called Flash Timing Setting — and it’s something others haven’t talked about. The sweet spot is to set it to 400 and above.
With this setting activated, the camera and a strobe, like the Profoto B10 I used, can shoot pretty seamlessly, and the camera won’t say that it’s in high-speed sync mode when you’re into somewhere like 1/12,800. But you also have to do other things too. The flash can’t be in TTL mode, you have to set it manually. Typically, you have to be at full power with a strobe such as the B10. In some situations, though, you can dial it back a bit.
I truly wish that I could do TTL and fast shutter sync. But I also know how to light manually. With all this in mind, I took the knowledge to the parade and shot photos. For the record, below is the original photo and slightly edited photo from the Sony a9 III.
The only thing I did to the photos was a slight contrast adjustment and a crop to the image. It was otherwise perfect just the way it was.
Photographing Birds
You’re probably thinking that using a flash scared the birds away. It didn’t — I live in a bit city and birds here are used to crazy things all the time. Instead, the birds were more afraid of me being on the balcony while they ate. So to shoot my images, I had to shoot through my window.
I set up the Profoto B10 on my terrace, and after a half hour, the birds came by to investigate it. They realized it wasn’t a threat, so they ate from the feeder. After each pop, they were frightened for a bit. But they realized in under a minute that it wasn’t going to harm them. So they all went to town eating from the feeder.
I could kill almost all the ambient lighting because I was shooting at 1/12,800 and above. I shot with the Tamron 70-300mm lens through my window. And this gave it a very painterly, beautiful quality combined with the light and the colors. Over time, I’ve come to appreciate this lens a lot. It’s soft and painterly, and I think this makes for better bird photos if you’re going artsy the way I did here.
The feeder would sometimes shake back and forth, so I had to do several things. I knew that only the left side was illuminated, so I would shoot when the feeder rocked towards the light. But I’d also often shoot when something caught my eye that made it intriguing. The Sony a9 III has pretty much lock on capabilities — however, even it sometimes isn’t perfect.
This was mostly a matter of collaborating with the birds and getting the right moments. I truly wish that pre-capture would work here, but I know that this isn’t possible.
Painterly Photos of Birds
I’m really happy with what the Sony a9 III can do for bird photography. Is it the typical bird photography that we see online? No, and that’s part of the beauty of it. I created a moment instead of capturing it using strobe and a careful setup. And I think that so many photographers can easily do the same thing once they get over the Sony a9 III’s price tag.
The bigger point here though is that I haven’t seen tests like this done. And hopefully, it will encourage others to try this.