Posted by Wayne Rhodus on December 19, 2012 at 5:07 PM
I captured this house finch flying to my feeder recently. I've been working on different camera set ups and exposure combinations trying to "perfect" my songbird in flight techniques. Not quite there yet as the success ratio is abysmal but every once in awhile ....
50D, 100-400L @ 250 mm, 1/2000 sec @ f/5, ISO 400, 50% FF
Posted by Ken Bachman on December 19, 2012 at 7:09 PM
Wow, Wayne, Your recent bird pics almost inspired me to post a Meadowlark shot I have but now I think I'll have to keep practicing. I bet that takes lots of time and lots of tries to get that great of a shot.
How far away is your camera? I assume this is probably a crop?
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on December 19, 2012 at 8:12 PM
Ken, the shooting distance is exactly 17 feet. I prefocus manually using the Live View feature then stop down the aperture as much as possible while trying to maintain at least an ISO of 400 and a shutter speed of no less than 1/1250.
The biggest issue I struggle with is the depth of field and all too critical point of focus. It seems next to impossible to get the bird's eye, head, beak in sharp focus. My keeper rate ... I haven't had the guts to check it for real but my guess is that it's got to be no more than 1 good (not great) image per 100.
Still have a couple more ideas to try out which I hope will change that ratio to 3 or 4 good ones per 100. The new 5D Mk III would solve most all of my problems but there are a few thousand reasons to keep trying with what I've got.
This image is 50% of full frame.
Posted by Jan Harrison on December 20, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Sweet shot Wayne. I really enjoy your images!
Posted by Tom Kennon on December 20, 2012 at 7:40 PM
Impressive, keep them coming!
Posted by Darren Huski on December 21, 2012 at 10:29 AM
This one is really cool. Do not see the small birds photographed very often in flight like this.
Well done!
Posted by Bill Dark on December 23, 2012 at 6:19 PM
Another great shot, Wayne. I'm really enjoying your avian series...keep them coming!
Discussion
6 replies50D, 100-400L @ 250 mm, 1/2000 sec @ f/5, ISO 400, 50% FF
How far away is your camera? I assume this is probably a crop?
The biggest issue I struggle with is the depth of field and all too critical point of focus. It seems next to impossible to get the bird's eye, head, beak in sharp focus. My keeper rate ... I haven't had the guts to check it for real but my guess is that it's got to be no more than 1 good (not great) image per 100.
Still have a couple more ideas to try out which I hope will change that ratio to 3 or 4 good ones per 100. The new 5D Mk III would solve most all of my problems but there are a few thousand reasons to keep trying with what I've got.
This image is 50% of full frame.
Well done!