Cliff Swallow in Flight

Hello All

I few weeks back I discovered a small country bridge that provided good habitat for Cliff Swallows. Naturally, I couldn't resist the temptation to try my hand at photographing a challenging subject.

The mid-afternoon light was a bit harsh, but I find that manual exposure allows me to deal with the lighting more effectively that programmed exposure (even with spot metering); it's really a trial and error sort of thing. It certainly is a challenge to get even a single photo that's reasonably sharp.

It's pretty neat to watch these little fellows - the whole flock just seems to disappear; so you look for other birds, fauna & flora to photograph - and boom... all of a sudden, as if out of nowhere, they're back.

1D Mk.IV, EF500mm f/4L IS@f/4, 1/2500, ISO 400, manual exposure.