I went out this morning to the Hunter wetland centre to practise photographing flying birds. I got one that is ok but boy is it hard! I either see just blue sky (even when I know there is a bird there) or my own reflection on the lcd screen. I have to work out a good technique (I need your help aa!) because the books say that it is easy with automatic focus. But it is not for me - the automatic focus doesn't work fast enough but the high speed automatic focus freezes the screen for a moment and when it unfreezes the bird is not there anymore. George - have you tried flying birds with this camera? Which settings did you use?
Sacred ibis cropped and resized 1/1000 sec
HI Birdgirl
You've got the action down pat I like the one on the tree
good start birdgirl and yes if you have a sunny day the cam will focuses mainly in that big bright sky....
i'm not really an expert on this but this is what raoul and i did when we last shoot...
first: make sure that the sun is behind you, position yourself on that area where the birds fly-in;
2nd: try to use aperture priority first, while you're practicing, try to go around f5.6 or f6.3 using auto-focus in mutli-segment/focus, iso200 to iso400
3rd: if you have a lighter set-up, you might as well handhold it to give you more flexibility....aim on your subject when it is approaching you, hold it that way and fire when it is close enough or desired pose; shoot in continous shot mode (rapid fire), in that way, if you don't get it sharp on the first click you might get it in the other clicks hehehe
raoul enjoyed the rapid clicks and have done i think his first 200+ shots in that day hehehe
good flight shots, cheers :)
Another three great shots, birdgirl! I don't know your camera but if it has an eye level viewfinder, then you might find it easier using that instead of the lcd screen. For best results make sure your camera is set to capture images at its highest possible resolution (quality). You'll notice the difference when you crop to subject.
Regards, "Tark" - Olympus 4/3rds colour
Thank you both for taking the time to post your suggestions. I will be reading and re-reading them and trying them out. I nearly got a photo of a beautifully lit Indian ringneck parakeet today (escaped pet) on our feeder today, but someone came in the side gate and it flew away. The baby lorikeet was back
They are nice shots Birdgirl.
I love the one where the Ibis is landing.
Good work.