Techniques for Capturing Birds in Flight

Msmoto · April 2014

When shooting into the sky I usually add a stop…. use matrix meter… and/or adjust according to subject..

ChasCS · April 2014

Read some very good tips at Deep Green this morning.

Chas

Msmoto · April 2014

I am still practicing….

[Deleted User] · April 2014

Nah, that is pro stuff, the little movement at the wing tips, great.

CEBlueclouds · April 2014

Posted this on pad today... Attempt at BIF f/5.6, 1/2000, ISO 640

manhattanboy · April 2014

Thought this was good.
http://www.vermphoto.com/blog/2014/1/The-5-Keys-to-Bird-Photography-Success

Msmoto · April 2014

I have one on PAD as well….

TomB · April 2014

One of the best methods i have seen for improving BIF tracking is:

Get two friends to stand 50 feet apart, tossing a frisbee back and forth. If you can get to where you consistently get sharp pics of the frisbee, you will rock birds.

Also, practice shooting with both eyes open. Easier to acquire a moving target in The viewfinder that way.

T

ThomasHorton · April 2014

Crikey, I can't even find the BIF in my viewfinder no less take some of the awesome shots seen here. I guess I will go back to my stuff that don't move. LoL

These are some great shots!

Vipmediastar_JZ · April 2014

Also, practice shooting with both eyes open. Easier to acquire a moving target in The viewfinder that way.

T

@golf thought me this technique. comes in handy.

@Manattenboy. I track many Ospreys coming straight at me and Af-lock on set to high. The key is the manual says abrupt changes in focal distance. A bird flying at you at one speed isn't abrupt.. It has worked well for me anyways i generally shoot at 600mm and f8 which has about 1/4 the DOF of 300 and F5.6..

I just changed this on the DF with 85mm 1.8g for BIM (bikes in motion) and so far on the LCD it looks like an improvement.
Im basically photographing bike riders swerving thru cars and such and just a few riders today and this worked well.

Symphotic · April 2014

I was watching bats in my backyard yesterday evening and thinking i'd love to photograph them, but I don't have a clue as to how to do it. They don't fly in a straight line. And there's not a lot of light. Maybe I'll give it a try tonight.

Coastalconn · April 2014

Speaking of abrupt changes in distance, this Mallard came whipping at me, the one right before this was a little soft, but I still grabbed these 2 with AF lock on set to long... I had just taken my TC off, so my camera was still at F8 (luckily, otherwise I would have had no DOF at this distance) and 1/1600th sec couldn't stop the wings from blurring. I was also in crop mode and barely fit him in the frame... You can view them larger on my flickr page...

ThomasHorton · May 2014

I was watching bats in my backyard yesterday evening and thinking i'd love to photograph them,

Photographing bats would be great. You are lucky to have bats nearby.

If you were to use a constant light, it would attract the insects and perhaps get a bat to fly in the light beam for dinner. But you are right, they are fast. Good luck with it. If you do get a shot of bats, please post them here. I would really like to see them.

sevencrossing · May 2014

Symphotic I was watching bats in my backyard yesterday evening and thinking i'd love to photograph them, but I don't have a clue as to how to do it. They don't fly in a straight line. And there's not a lot of light. Maybe I'll give it a try tonight

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1213851/Stunning-shots-thirsty-bats-swooping-lick-water-garden-pond.html

Parke1953 · May 2014

sevencrossing great link. Thanks.

Symphotic · May 2014

I tried and failed. I used the D800, +2 exposure because of the backlight of the dusk sky (exposure is tested on leaves of a tree the same distance as the bats), with a 80-400 at 300 mm f/8. The bats are about 20 meters away. I pre-focus to where the bats appear and point and shoot in rapid fire, but all I've got is empty sky so far. I can't tell what species they are.
They come one at a time, appear out of nowhere, travel in a non-ballistic flight path and disappear as suddenly.
I'll try tonight with my Df. A bigger buffer and slightly better low light.
There is no white nose fungus on the west coast yet, and the bats night roost in our plentiful native Washingtonia palms so we can enjoy their contribution to keeping moths and mosquitoes under control. But they are hard to photograph.
The 'tog in Sevencrossing's link spent months preparing for his shots. They are spectacular, and I am thinking about what I can do to encourage the bats to come closer and stay longer. But I can see that it will take me a lot of trial an error.

PB_PM · May 2014

My guess is that you need a faster shutter speed. The reality is that by the time you see something flying as fast as most bats in the viewfinder, it's too late.

Symphotic · May 2014

My guess is that you need a faster shutter speed. The reality is that by the time you see something flying as fast as most bats in the viewfinder, it's too late.

I think you're right. I think I'll put a bat-house in one of the tall trees and see if it becomes inhabited next year. I should be able to shoot pictures as they emerge in the evenings using a fixed camera position, prefocusued, and a strobe with a long reach. So this is a long term project. Check back again next year...

daveznspace · May 2014

what helped me the most was going to back button focusing in af-c and trusting auto iso. I bought a sigma 70-300mm for this and it couldnt focus on an elephant 10 ft away so I usually manually focus

manhattanboy · May 2014

http://bythom.com/teaching-points/may-2014--bif.html

More useful information in the link about about bif techniques

Photobug · May 2014

http://bythom.com/teaching-points/may-2014--bif.html

More useful information in the link about about bif techniques

Good information, thanks for sharing.

Hval · May 2014

A few of mine.

TomB · May 2014

@HVAL ahh..only one of those were of a BIF. Good shots all the same, but we were discussing technique for bird in flight photos.

Hval · May 2014

TomB,

Too true. I think I got too excited. Apologies.

As for birds in flight, my biggest suggestion is don't photograph swallows flying close to you (5 metres/ 15 feet). They just make you dizzy and all your photos are empty of swallows. You also look a darned fool; well I do.

Biggest problem photographing birds in the West of Scotland is the weather. More often than not it is totally overcast, and quite often raining.

I tend to single point focus, single point reading for light, and over expose by one stop to photograph birds. I shall post a few photos with problems tomorrow.

[Deleted User] · May 2014

@Hval You are so right about swallows, it is super to practise on.
Prepare for a very, very low hit rate and not so good photo's. The bright side is, you don't have to edit a lot of photo's I start again this year with what I learned from this thread, it is so much fun.