Comments on: Photographing birds in flight

By: Julie

Julie — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 08:41:39 +0000

Gail, thank you for those comments, much appreciated and something that would never have occured to me. I have a decent camera so raising the ISO shouldnt be a problem. Thanks, Julie

By: Gail Bjork

Gail Bjork — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:44:08 +0000

Julie, taking photos of birds in flight takes practice and practice. If your camera does well at higher ISO numbers, increase the camera sensitivity to increase shutter speed. Also, don’t shoot full zoom (you can crop later). The aperture is fastest at the short end of the zoom and gets slower as you zoom in, so this should also be a consideration when taking photos a dusk. It is an enthralling opportunity. Good luck.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 07:49:37 +0000

Thanks for the excellent advice, I’m trying to capture a barn owl in flight. Here was me thinking it would be posing on a wooden post making an ideal shot, but the owl I saw yesterday was making sweeps along a narrow river/drain and I was passenger in a car. I used a 75-300 lens and as I was only approximately 10foot away from the owl the whole time my photographs would have been very pleasing if I could have got them sharper. I did used aperture priority so maybe my next practice session should be in manual. Obviously a barn owl is about mostly at dusk so I will need to take that low light into consideration. Thanks for reading this, I was so enthrawled to have such an brilliant photographic opportunity I want to go back and try again with better results. Julie

By: Roger

Roger — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:14:29 +0000

Excellent article and ideas. Tried my new 100 – 400 zoom with good effect on the local sea cliffs. Needs more practice but got some usable shots of the fulmars using their feet as air brakes/ steerage in high winds!

By: Streetleader

Streetleader — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 18:32:23 +0000

Thanks sooooo much.
I live in CDA Idaho, right by Eagles Nest on Lake Couer d’alene.
It’s filled with bald eagles in December / January.
But all I get is blurred images.
Thought I had setting high… not even close.
Will definetly try those higher speeds.
Thanks!

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 04:45:07 +0000

Yes what Gail said. Put it in AI Servo mode. autofocus option on most dslr cams. Allows the autofocus to continually readjust

By: Gail Bjork

Gail Bjork — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:09:45 +0000

Hi Chris, So glad you found the tips helpful. One of the best articles on teleconverters is Teleconverters 101. Check it out.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 23:52:47 +0000

Thanks for the info, very helpful. I found a great place for photographing birds, but wasn’t really satisfied with the sharpness. Hopefully these tips will help me. Can’t wait to find out!
By the way, I was wondering about teleconverters. Are they usefull with a zoom lens? I always thought they only worked properly on a fixed lens…
Cheers, Chris

By: Vicki

Vicki — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:52:58 +0000

Excellent tutorial. I recently purchased my first DSLR (a Pentax K-7). I’m a full-time RVer, spending this winter in central Florida on the Gulf Coast. The variety of birds around here is nirvana for shutterbugs, but I really need to get some great in-flight images. I rarely use the LCD/LiveView, and this camera is ideal for panning as you recommend, then zooming in. But I don’t have my Fstops andapertures tweaked properly to avoid wing blur. This will be a huge help. Thank you so much . . . and I’m off to read some of the other tuts I spotted – happy day. Oh – found you on Google right away when I entered ‘photographing birds in flight’ – in case you were wondering.

Vicki

By: Gail Bjork

Gail Bjork — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:07:24 +0000

So glad you found the information helpful. Photographing birds in flight is challenging, so don’t get discouraged. If you use a DSLR, you may want to try taking some shots in Servo mode. Good luck!