Hi,

I have one tip: if feather barbs are in disorder, feathers are ruffed or otherwise not so photogenic, a good method of straithening them is to rub them gently with a largish feather (eg goose or chicken).

Hi,

For best results I would use a light box/light tent, they can easily be made (web search for details). This will ensure even lighting without shadows. Support your camera on a tripod. Get the wings as flat as possible, Make sure the wing and the focal plane of your camera are parallel; this should avoid depth of field issues. If you get depth of field issues use a smaller aperture. For maximum sharpness select a low ISO and use a remote release or timer delay for your camera. Remember to use the correct colour balance --- this may need some trial and error to get the best results.

Hi, further to my last answer, I would use a smaller aperture anyway. Lenses usually give their best resolution of fine detail a few stops down from maximum aperture. Depends on the lens but in those I've owned f8 or f11 have usually been recommended. So use Aperture Priority exposure mode, set f8 or f11 and let the camera take care of the shutter speed. If you are camera savvy you could use Manual exposure mode, though i wouldn't bother in this case.

Great tips! Thank you both.

Hi,

I photographed individual red grouse feathers by putting them on a sheet of glass, six inches above a white sheet of paper. That gets rid of shadows, and you can correct for color against white in Photoshop. Keep the camera 2-3 feet above the wing (longish lens -telephoto) to avoid distortion.

Also, following PFs comments on focal plane, keep the wing in the centre of the image; allow enough border to avoid distortion effects of the lens.

Hi, I agree a short telephoto, or even a standard lens, would be best. In the past I've used 90mm and 105 mm lenses for similar work. I've also had good results using a 50 mm standard lens. As already mentioned, depends on what is a comfortable working distance. These focal lengths are for a full frame camera, they'll need converting for smaller sensors. A prime lens will give better quality results than a zoom.

As your work is for archive, I'd recommend using an 18% grey card to get your exposure spot on, so that the tone of the wings is rendered correctly. There is advice on the web on how to use them, but essentially lay the card where the wing will be and under the same lighting conditions. Take an exposure reading off the card with your camera (excluding any background), set the aperture and shutter speed to those readings, replace the card with the wing and take the photo. Use that same exposure for all the wings.

Apologies for the answer by instalments, it's many years since I've done this sort of work.

Thanks for the input! Very helpful.