Well, I’m enjoying some sunny days and good night’s sleep with my new found passion of bird photography! No cold nights shivering, or fighting to stay awake, although the auto guiding problems take on a new meaning and complexity when applied to birds in flight!
All with the Canon 400mm F5.6 lens at the Port of Brisbane Visitor Centre. Mostly taken under somewhat changeable sky conditions, varying from clear blue to thin, high, clouds. A few ahem, operator errors regarding camera settings left me with some processing challenges.
The sea eagle seems sharp from wing-tip to wing-tip... Thats one area I'm having trouble with at the moment.. shallow DOF.. Im assuming that was stopped down to around F/6.3 ~ F/8?
I can't fault the first image. Everything is good about it.
The Ibis is good and the sea eagle too.
A great set of pics.
Thanks Jeanette – as I squeezed the shutter release on the (1st photo) Gull Billed Tern I sensed that if everything worked, I would have a good shot. These shots just would not be possible without auto focus!
Quote:
Originally Posted by RB
Agreed, a lovely set of images Dennis.
Number 5 was quite interesting revealing some of the wing structure underneath the feathers.
Thanks RB – yes, we were surprised at the black wingtips and had fleetingly glimpsed the red strips previously, so it was quite nice to get a reasonable photo to better see the detail.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexN
1 and 5 are incredible!!!
The sea eagle seems sharp from wing-tip to wing-tip... Thats one area I'm having trouble with at the moment.. shallow DOF.. Im assuming that was stopped down to around F/6.3 ~ F/8?
Stunners Dennis...
Thanks Alex – these were all taken at 1/1600 wide open at F5.6 at ISO400. The Osprey (#5) was quite some distance away so the photo is only a relatively small crop of the full frame so I guess that’s why the DOF is good. The main difficulty in this above the wing shot was keeping the bird in the frame as I was free falling out of the micro light! LOL!
You should see the size of my back and arms now, hauling all this glass around and pointing it upwards!
im considering a 300mm 2.8... Im in construction work and im still thinking about hittin the gym
LOL! I’ve ordered a Jobu Jr 2 Compact Gimbal Head from the Canadian manufacturer – it can double up for our spotting ‘scope too! Any additional gadget that helps optimise your set up, to produce more keepers, is good!
Thanks Matt - #1 is my favourite too; the bird just flew straight into the lens and stayed on the AF sensor for just long enough – a very cooperative subject!
Thanks Matt - #1 is my favourite too; the bird just flew straight into the lens and stayed on the AF sensor for just long enough – a very cooperative subject!
Cheers
Dennis
I've never attempted to image birds in flight myself but my hat goes off to you and others that have tried and got some pretty amazing one of a kind images. It must be extremely tough trying to get a bird into FOV then try to focus and snap a pic all in under a second.
I'm interested in how you do it.
Do you pick a subject, follow it and hope for the best?
Do you pick a subject, follow it and hope for the best?
Thats what I do, I see a bird in flight or taking off/coming in to land, attempt to center it, let auto-focus do its thing. and snap as many pics as I can in the process.
Birds are one of the only subjects that never make the photographer think "Gee I wish I had a shorter lens..." I've imaged birds at 700mm using my 500mm + 1.4TC and have still wished I could get a bit closer in...
The 400mm that Dennis is using is a sensational bird/wild-life lens, and usually overlooked as people assume due to its low (relative) price, that it wont perform like the more costly L lenses... they are disgustingly accurate on auto-focus, lightning fast when focus limited and not bulky enough for it to ever be excluded from your camera bag...
I bet Dennis, like myself, wishes it and the 70-200 would merge together and become a 600mm f/4
In terms of birds in flight photos, I’ve literally just dipped my toe in the water, so its early days for me yet! The success that I’ve enjoyed so far can more or less be attributed to modern DSLR technology and excellent Canon L series lenses.
In terms of what part the photographer plays, I guess that being in the right place, at the right time, where there are birds to photograph along with having an understanding of their behaviour, are some of the skills I am now developing.
For example, the Port of Brisbane Visitor Centre’s bird hide is an excellent place and if you arrive at low tide, then as the tide comes in, the waders are forced up onto higher ground, offering more opportunities for photography.
I’ve also noted that (wild) birds are more active in the early morning (breakfast time for them) and late afternoon (snacks before bedtime) whereas around mid day, they seem to rest up.
So, I’ll observe a bird’s behaviour and then try to get a bead on it and let auto focus and continuous shooting do their work, hopefully ending up with something that CS3 can then work with.
I’ve often gone out with pre-conceived ideas of what I want to shoot and how to shoot it, only to come away with something quite different, so you also have to be quick and flexible to respond to any opportunity.
As I said, its early days for me and I’ve dialled the following settings into a Custom User setting so at the twist of a dial, I’m ready to go:
Canon 40D + Canon 400mm F5.6L lens
1/1600 sec exposure
F5.6 aperture
ISO400
Low speed continuous shooting (3.5 frames per second)
The Lord’s Prayer!
Understanding bird habitats, their behaviour, the lighting, your equipment and optimal settings are very important, but being out for a few hours at a time and having some good fortune are also just as important.
Oh, I should also add that I also practice on birds in our back garden, so I can understand the (bad) effects of too slow a shutter speed, poor lighting, shallow depth of field, etc. Don’t learn this stuff out in the field – do it at home where you can download the photos onto your computer immediately and learn from your mistakes.
Did I forget to mention that it’s not the 400mm F5.6 that I have, but the 400mm F2.8 stopped down to F5.6. Just kidding!
I did fit the x1.4TC and x2 TC on the 400mm and the atmospheric affects degraded the images too much, although I did only have my lightweight carbon fibre tripod and a ball head – not the ideal combo for these obscenely long focal lengths at F8 and F11 respectively.
I just cannot imagine holding (or owning!) a 500mm or 600mm F4 piece of glass – they are simply in a different league!
It is definitely a future project for me, when I upgrade to a better lens. I still only have the standard 18-55mm Canon lens that came with my DSLR when I bought it. Although being very limited to what you can do with it and my only lens, I think it is time for an upgrade.
Like you have said, understanding the birds behaviour and utilising your equipment being ready to adjust and adapt is a must.
I'm really looking forward to more of your work Dennis.
Jeanette posted some excellent photos of some Ibis in flight just recently, using a non-L Canon lens and in my book, they were very good indeed for a very challenging subject.
I have enjoyed some success previously with our older Pentax *ist DS and the 55-200mm kit lens, although the success rate was well down compared to our new set up.
A telephoto lens of 200mm plus is almost essential for bird in flight photos, but where the L lenses seem to give a distinct advantage is, as Alex mentioned, their quality when wide open and the resulting speed of auto focus.
I also think that flying birds find the off-white L lenses very attractive and so try to fly down the barrel so to speak, another L lens advantage!
Matty.. Once you get L glass you have to understand... You wont want anything in your collection of lenses BUT L glass... It can detract greatly from the amount of money you can throw at astronomy...
I bought 1, I was hooked, now have 4 and I'm broke.
