Birds in Flight

This weekend I set a small challenge, of capturing some birds in flight. This can be the most futile element of photography.

So I sat on the shore of Swinsty, right where the Terns and Gulls always come in to bully and harass the local ducks.

I missed so many shots, birds not in focus, half out of the frame etc. It was one hell of a challenge to try to keep up with them dodging and diving.

I changed camera settings a few times until I found something that worked, but the challenge was a clear learn the habits of the birds, be aware of what its thinking about where its going.

I quickly began to understand their use of the wind, and where to expect them.

The trick was to prefocus, so that you’re not wasting any time focusing on a extremely fast-moving target, where you only have fractions of a second to start tracking, and to be aware of their glide path.

I started in aperture priority, and quickly realised that was just wrong. So over to Shutter Priority to try to freeze the action. Aiming for 1250th of a second, and with Auto-ISO helping keep the camera going I snapped away. Limited by how long I can hand hold the Sigma 150-500 which is a heavy lens.

Much happier with some of the results now, but this one of those projects, where you throw away a lot more than you keep.

Camera Settings:

• Continuous Focus (AF-C)
• Shutter priority (At least 1250th of a second)
• Auto ISO to suit
• High Frame Rate Enabled
• Evaluative metering
• 21 point Dynamic Area focus
• OS on the lens disabled.
• Some negitive exposure comp.>/li>

They are the camera settings that I found worked best. Practise will make perfect, but it will always be an exercise in knowing your target more than your camera.