Focusing help!

[dugarner]

We have a sparrow's nest out in our window box under our kitchen window. The window box is on the back porch, so the lighting is poor. On top of that, the sparrow's nest is designed like a tunnel, with a cave-like hole that they burrow in, unlike robins or other birds that perch on top of the nest.

I'm trying to take pictures and whether I autofocus or manual focus, the nest is sharp in focus but the pile of baby birds inside is out of focus. When I am standing on a chair at the minimum distance for any of my lenses, I can't see the detail of the birds in the nest well enough to focus.

I have tried a flashlight, but that works only minimally better. (The flash has to fire regardless, so I'm not worried about that.

Any tricks/tips? I am using my 18-70mm 3.5/5.6 kit lens. It's my widest lens; the 50mm requires me to be so far from the nest at such an odd angle that I can't see anything at all.

[esther_a]

I had the similar trouble photographing blackbird eggs. It was so hard getting the whitebalance and the focus right, especially considering I was shooting blind (with my camera held over my head). Eventually the birds were a mass of feathers and even when they were in focus I couldn't make one bird out from another!
So, hypothetically you should be able to set your focal point to center focus on your camera, look through your view finder and ensure it autofocusses on the eggs. Are you unable to look through the view finder when shooting (as I was)?

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by esther_a

It was so hard getting the whitebalance and the focus right, especially considering I was shooting blind (with my camera held over my head) . . . so, hypothetically you should be able to set your focal point to center focus on your camera, look through your view finder and ensure it autofocusses on the eggs. Are you unable to look through the view finder when shooting (as I was)?

Esther, I can get a great angle on the birds (they've hatched and they're just a mess of gray-blue feathers with their yellow beaks sticking out) but the problem is, the light is at just the right (wrong!) angle that it is pitch-black inside the nest. The camera can't gather enough light to focus on anything. I'll just keep trying!

[esther_a]

Ah. I see. But doesn't your on-camera flash send out a light beam to assist in the focussing? I saw your photo on facebook! It seems that you've had some success! I did find that the little birds move around so much it is hard to get the focus accurate.

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by esther_a

Ah. I see. But doesn't your on-camera flash send out a light beam to assist in the focussing? I saw your photo on facebook! It seems that you've had some success! I did find that the little birds move around so much it is hard to get the focus accurate.

I guess it should send out something to help---it seems to, but I'm not sure how much it helps. My camera is pretty entry-level and it might not be quite doing the job. These birds don't move much at all, but there is some weird stuff in the nest (some purple stuff that looks like tinsel from a Christmas tree) and some other reflective plastic. Maybe that's what is causing the trouble with the focusing.

[esther_a]

Just great minds..., Sarah
And, yes, it is all a bit overwhelming so we block it all out until we suddenly need to know it all!