Birds in Flight

Fly Away

raptor_flight

Birds in Flight

Photographing a moving object is difficult especially if it is trying to get away from you!  I know how difficult this is on two levels:  Photography and hunting!

Interesting enough the skills are pretty much the same for both.  Although, one is definitely less destructive then the other!

Here are some tips that might help beginners:

1.Study your subject. The more you know about birds the better your flight shots will be.  Like where to find them!
 

2.Practice with larger birds such as pelicans, gulls and herons. They are bigger targets and fly more slowly.

3.Shoot shutter priority. A fast shutter speed is essential to capturing birds in flight. Unless you purposely want to blur the subject for creative reasons, a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second should be your preferred shutter speed.

4.Use the lowest ISO you can and still get a fast shutter speed.  This will make your picture just a little more sharp.

5.Make your aperture wide open for small birds and stop down by one stop for larger birds.  This will help with keeping the width of the bird in focus.

6.Shoot hand held. It’s too hard to make a tripod work in a flight situation.  Or use a Mono-pod that where you pan easily.

7.Spread your feet shoulder width apart for good balance.

8.If you want the background in focus and not blurred then aim slightly ahead of the bird and estimate his trajectory. If you want the background blurred then track or pan the bird with the camera.

9.Use your cameras high speed continuous shooting mode.

10.  Select a lens in the 200-400 mm range. These are typically hand-holdable and will get you close enough to fill the frame in most cases.

11. Try to make sure the subject is front lit. Point your shadow at the bird. Keep the sun behind you.

12. Keep practicing, don’t get frustrated and don’t give up.