To freeze birds in flight, I need to use a fast shutter speed. Around 1/1000s or more is a good start and since this lens is a rather slow f/5.6, it will need a lot of light to achieve this, without having to resort to increasing ISO. So to get the most out of a session, I usually only go out on a sunny day and try to find a location along the edge of a pond where the sun is more or less behind me so I can make the most out of available light.
I usually shoot birds in flight in manual mode. As a base line, I start with the camera settings at 1/1250s, f/5.6 and ISO 100. Once I've found my position with good light, I take a few test shots and adjust the settings as necessary. If shots are a little underexposed, I'll increase the ISO. If they are a little overexposed, I'll increase the shutter speed or I can get a little more depth of field. Over the course of a session, I periodically check exposures and make some adjustments if necessary. I find using manual gets me a higher percentage of correctly exposed images than relying on the camera's light meter.
For this kind of photography, I like to use a Canon EOS 7D with it's high frame rate and flexible AF system. I typically set AF Mode to AI Servo and Drive Mode to high speed continuous. I usually shoot in AF expansion mode but sometimes when the background is mostly sky, I switch to Auto Selection 19 point mode. The other three modes are disabled so it's easier to switch between these two modes. I also assign the multi-controller to AF point direct selection so it's very quick to change the active focus points.
Here's a few of my better shots so far. I love the detail this lens can capture in the flight feathers.
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| On Final Canon EOS 7D with a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM at 640mm EFL. 1/1250s, f/5.6 & ISO 160. |
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| Right Turn Canon EOS 7D with a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM at 640mm EFL. 1/1250s, f/5.6 & ISO 320 |
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| Touch Down Canon EOS 7D with a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM at 640mm EFL. 1/1250s, f/5.6 & ISO 320 |
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| Coming in Hard Canon EOS 7D with a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM at 640mm EFL. 1/1250s, f/5.6 & ISO 320 |
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| Follow the Leader Canon EOS 7D with a Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM at 640mm EFL. 1/1250s, f/5.6 & ISO 160 |
One of the problems I've found so far with this lens is that the fixed focal length makes it hard to frame subjects. It's all to easy to clip a wing, especially when they are getting close to the camera.
steve
Hi Steve,
ReplyDeleteI really like your BIF shots.
Especially the On Final shot.
The other ones are very good, but I see your point about difficulty with not clipping wing tips off if they are too close.
If the wing tips were visible, I would probably change my favourite of them all to be Touch Down.
I've never tried a BIF shot myself, but I'm pretty confident that it is very hard to do.
Nice work!
Regards
Craig.
Hi Craig,
ReplyDeleteBirds in Flight is not so hard. It mostly requires a lot of patience and some luck. A fast focusing, high frame rate camera increases the luck part though. Try it out when you get your new lens. The 70-200mm lens is a great lens to get started with. You'll have to work harder to get in close to fill the frame with just 200mm but pidgins and sea gulls are good subjects. They are used to people around and won't fly away quite so fast.
You have a digital camera so just fire away. I typically shoot over 400 frames in a couple of hours and only keep around 10 shots. I feel for the people that tried this with film cameras.
steve