Thought I had better start and brush up on flight shots, now birding time is nearly upon us. I went to the shore and set up amongst the rocks with a loose cammo net over me, and enjoyed 3 hours of various species coming and going. This was with IS off and multi point focus, what do you use for flight shots?
1D2, 500 & 1.4tc, Gitzo and Wimberley, ISO 250, F8 @ 1/400th, cropped to about 75%, USM 5 times at 99, 0.2, 0. Increased saturation.
Critique welcome as ever.
Best wishes
Phil
Posted by szekiat chan on August 16, 2006 at 12:47 PM
as a rule for myself, the smaller the bird, the higher the shutter speed. I normally don't go above f7.1 and for herons its about 1/800s so for a bird like this, probably at least 1/1600s exposure. Helps to freeze the motion with still abit of wing blur.
Posted by Rob Ashton on August 16, 2006 at 2:29 PM
They're coming soon. Can't wait to get out there again. Shutter speed of around 1/800th should be about right (means pushing iso up to 400 ish.
Love the way you've caught him slightly banking over as he comes in to land.
I feel the image wouldn't be half as strong without the rocks in shot.
I like the way there appears to be a channel of water between the rocks,which gives a good indication as to the birds intended landing area.
Posted by David Kjaer on August 17, 2006 at 3:43 AM
Hi Phil
Perfect composition, for me the image just lacks a little critical sharpness. For fairly quick moving birds like the Curlew I would be looking for a shutter speed of around 1/1000 for consitent results although at lower speeds you can often strike lucky!
Discussion
4 replies1D2, 500 & 1.4tc, Gitzo and Wimberley, ISO 250, F8 @ 1/400th, cropped to about 75%, USM 5 times at 99, 0.2, 0. Increased saturation.
Critique welcome as ever.
Best wishes
Phil
Rob
Love the way you've caught him slightly banking over as he comes in to land.
I feel the image wouldn't be half as strong without the rocks in shot.
I like the way there appears to be a channel of water between the rocks,which gives a good indication as to the birds intended landing area.
Perfect composition, for me the image just lacks a little critical sharpness. For fairly quick moving birds like the Curlew I would be looking for a shutter speed of around 1/1000 for consitent results although at lower speeds you can often strike lucky!
David