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I got out and used my camera today...

pierces

By pierces,
in Photo & Camera Discussions

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Multi-Cruiser

Multi-Cruiser

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I enjoy looking at birds (who doesn't?) but I've never tried to take pictures of birds in flight before (or, as I recently saw someone post on another thread: BIF :)). We were down at the water yesterday, windy and about 30 degrees F. I had my camera with me and the gulls were having a wonderful time, so I snapped away. I got some I like (here are a couple), and I would certainly appreciate any tips for getting good pics of BIF!

 

GullinFlight2_01.jpg

 

GullinFlight3.jpg

 

And I couldn't resist this guy who was taking a break:

 

Winter2011-12046_01.jpg

 

Great captures! It's not easy catching birds in flight with such clarity.

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zackiedawg

zackiedawg

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We were down at the water yesterday, windy and about 30 degrees F. I had my camera with me and the gulls were having a wonderful time, so I snapped away. I got some I like (here are a couple), and I would certainly appreciate any tips for getting good pics of BIF!

 

As a frequent 'BIF'er, I can say you are off to a good start! The keys to shooting birds in flight are typically to keep the shutter speed no slower than around 1/250 or so - the smaller and faster the bird, the higher you need to keep the shutter speed to get good sharp results. Typically, using continuous autofocus is recommended - since the subject is moving constantly, and often moving closer or farther from you, letting the focus system adjust even as you are shooting will often help - shooting a moving bird in single focus mode can be more difficult unless the bird is at a fixed distance to you and stays that way. Typically using continuous drive mode helps too - you aren't shooting a burst of shots because you're a poor photographer and hoping one keeper comes out of the batch - birders use continuous burst shooting because the bird position and composition are constantly in flux - you want the shot with the best wing position, the best head position, the eye open and not closed, etc. As the bird flies and flaps its wings and pivots its head, it's pure luck that you'll get all of them in the right position. Increase your chances by firing 3, 5, even 9 shots of the bird in fast succession as it flies.

 

Hovering birds, large birds, and slow birds are always a great way to start off with BIF shooting - practice with things like gulls, which do a lot of hovering close to people, pelicans which tend to glide slowly, even hawks which often fly in place or glide looking for prey. As you get better, you can start going to faster moving birds, and smaller birds.

 

Shooting birds is easier initially with just the sky as a background - you can usually put your focus area on 'wide' or 'multipoint', which opens up all the focus points your camera has so it can find the bird against an empty sky more easily. Once you start shooting birds against cluttered backgrounds, you may have to consider switching to less focus points, central or spot focus only, as the focus systems can sometimes be confused by the branches or objects behind the bird which fill much more of your frame than the bird does.

 

And the last part is panning technique. Learning to move your camera along with the bird's flight is easier with the larger and slower birds, as it tends to be a stable flight path and direction - it takes more practice and some predictive tracking with smaller more erratic birds that like to change direction constantly. Panning along with a flying bird will help keep it in sharper focus even if your shutter speed is a little slower - in fact, it can be very desirable to sometimes purposefully use a slower shutter speed and good panning so that you get some motion blur in the background or the wingtips, which impart a feeling of motion and speed.

 

And just keep practicing at it! Once you find yourself getting nice, sharp focused shots of tiny sparrows and kingfishers in flight (those little things fly 20-30MPH and change direction completely at random!), you'll know you've gotten good at it!

Edited by zackiedawg
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Turtles06 Great Review Rare

Turtles06

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zackiedawg, many thanks for that great BIF tutorial and taking the time to post it! I had actually done some of the things you have suggested (e.g, I'm a big believer in continous burst shooting of moving subjects), and will work on incorporating the rest.

 

Thanks again! :)

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boeckli

boeckli

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I'm definitely going to have to find a book on Australian / NZ birds when we get to Sydney. I like to know what I'm looking at.

 

Australian magpie (very common) :) he was back this morning (photo taken thru 2 sliding door panes)

 

DSC01649.JPG

Edited by boeckli
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pierces Great Review Rare

pierces

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Dave, I am glad to hear that it is "so far so good" with Lightroom. A beta version 4 is now out with a few tweaks.

 

 

Larry

 

I am installing Beta 4.0 this weekend but have had my head turned by the new workflow tool from Corel. I seems that they ate Bibble Labs and AfterShot Pro is their first collaborative effort.

 

It sounds like it may do some things I wish LightRoom did but I'm going to give 4.0 a try first. Besides, for fast tagging, organizing and searching I still have Picasa.

 

Dave

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TheRoff

TheRoff

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I am installing Beta 4.0 this weekend but have had my head turned by the new workflow tool from Corel.

 

I understand that Adobe has been known to significantly change things from beta to production, and that the work done with the Beta may not transfer to the production version, so be prepared.

 

I haven't looked at the Corel at all. It's hard enough to get a good knowledge of Photoshop and Lightroom.

 

Larry

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Blueboss

Blueboss

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019-1.jpg

 

DH was out checking cattle this morning and called to have me and camera ready to jump in feed truck with him. Took this with the 18-55mm kit lens. We couldn't get too close so I cropped it before uploading. Can't wait to get the 55-300mm lens this week. Not the best pic, but still excited, first time I've seen a bald eagle in the wild!

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Debathome

Debathome

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Lovely Bird photos, especially those in flight. Happy that everyone is posting names and type of fowl. I am learning something new every day!

 

We have had cold and snow as well. Nothing pretty to shoot here in the city when it is so dull and overcast. Makes me enjoy your photos even more.

 

396382_2785331666989_58898918_n.jpg

 

This may look like a beach but it is actually snow on the ground, but there was sunshine!

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Blueboss

Blueboss

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012.jpg

 

I got a 55-300mm lens in today and was trying it out tonight. I was freezing by the time I got this picture and there was a slight breeze shaking the tripod. It's fuzzy, but I was so excited to see the detail. So far very happy with this lens! Just had to share this one.

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