Birds in flight......quite a challenge for me.

[Dr. T]

Hi guys,
I love quality bird in flight photos but boy is it tough. For me it's usually the lighting is off, the bird is too far away, heading the wrong direction etc......
Someday I'm getting the 500mm f/4 and Wimberly gimbal head although I do dread lugging all that stuff around ;)
Here's a few that are ok. Post up some with tips :D
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/IMG_2664.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20090501-7N1E2391.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20090501-7N1E2392.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20090501-7N1E2405.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20090501-7N1E2435.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20090501-7N1E2537.jpg

Humming birds are easy to ambush :D

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/7N1E0331.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/7N1E0451.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20081214-7N1E9324-Edit.jpg

[Spyros]

"Quite a challenge for you", you say?

These are fantastic!

For years, I've been trying to take a half-way decent picture of the local Cretan Blackhawks, but they are always eluding me... I had a reasonably good chance once, and blew it, shooting without a memory card...

[Auto Mag]

Fantastic Dr. T!!!!! :) :) I would hate to see what you would call a hard shot of a bird!!! :lm:

[Ric4509]

Very nice pictures. Wow!!

[Joni Lynn]

Wow!!! Great pics, I especially like the first one.

[Baldy]

The one with the Owl is fantastic. Very good work on them all. :appld:

[A.B.]

Owls never do what I tell them to do.

Dang! Those are great!

[bakerchris]

very nice hummingbird pics!

[Thursday]

I know exactly what you mean about birds never wanting to do what you would like them to do. Do you have any Exif for your images? I wasn't able to pull any out. I like the first one, owls a really hard at least for myself to find/photograph. One thing if you don't mind me saying you might be able to use a faster shutter speed by raising your iso a bit and dropping your aperture just a bit and be able to get the owl and it's wings in perfect focus. Unless you were aiming for motion in the wings.

[Hunter]

Great job on the photographs as always.

[Dr. T]

Thanks everyone,
Good ideas Thursday. The owl pic was iso400, 1/320sec and f/4.5. The shutter speed was pretty slow for a moving target.

Here's a bird that was easy. He just stood there glaring at me! (it also helped that he was in the San Diego Animal Park)! :D African Shoebill Stork

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20060428-IMG_2624.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/glentrinka/20060428-IMG_2621.jpg

[Thursday]

Yea the 1/320 speed isn't the slowest lol but I'd maybe shoot for something like 1/500 or maybe more. I can't recall but I think I use around 1/320 to photograph airplanes so I can have prop motion.

Those last two you posted are great. They are real dang sharp and the IQ is great, his feathers look fantastic.

What kind of gear are you working with?

[Dr. T]

The stork was shot with a 20D and EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 L IS. The others were the same lens with the 1DMkIII body.

[Thursday]

Wow you just blew my stuff out of the water haha. Do you happen to ever visit POTN? And how long have you been at this? How do you like that IS on the L? The only IS I have is on my Canon 55-250IS which I am extremely happy with for the money I paid. I have been wanting to upgrade to a 20/30/40d series camera as it just feels like more of a camera than my Rebel XT but can't exactly justify it yet as I am nowhere close to maximizing the potential of my trust XT.

What kind of PP do you do with your photos?

Just remembered to add. With your stuff you could easily crank your ISO especially on that owl shot and still have a beautiful image. Especially with that 1D(3200ISO IIRC) you could shoot at 800-1600 and probably still have a fantastic image to work with.

Just wanted to add, I hope any comments or suggestions I give are just that. I don't want to come off as attacking or anything like that. Anyway anything I say you probably already know, I just know that I love any and all feedback on my photos as that is the only way I would get any better.

[Dr. T]

Never heard of POTN. I just Googled it and it looks like a good site. I love the IS. It really makes a difference when the shutter speeds are low. The upgraded bodies are great but, as they say, the first place to spend the $$ is on the glass.
I use Lightroom with an occasional visit into CS4. I was into 35mm slide and B/W print photography as a kid but got busy in college and kinda let it go. When digital came on the scene I picked up a point and shoot, got frustrated with the shutter lag and slow focus and then in 2006 decided to dive head long into the dSLR scene. I've been enjoying it since.

[Dr. T]

Just wanted to add, I hope any comments or suggestions I give are just that. I don't want to come off as attacking or anything like that. Anyway anything I say you probably already know, I just know that I love any and all feedback on my photos as that is the only way I would get any better.

I appreciate your input. I've got A LOT to learn and welcome the help ;)

[Thursday]

I appreciate your input. I've got A LOT to learn and welcome the help ;)
Do you mind if I take a few of your photos and run them through some post processing? Just to see what I can do, mostly for practice for myself. I haven't taken any pictures in a few months and have no decent pictures to mess around with.

POTN is pretty much where I got started and was and still is my resource for most of my photography needs. Great people over there, some VERY talented photographers. Every now and then you cross a douche but it doesn't happen often.

[Dr. T]

No problem. If they turn out nice you just have to tell me what you did!

[Thursday]

No problem. If they turn out nice you just have to tell me what you did!
Oh yea no problem. I'll send you some links and see what you think. It will be pretty hard for me to really edit them to capture exactly what you were trying to portray. But that's why photography is an art and another reason I love it. 2 people can look at a picture and think up different ways to portray the subject. I'll pm you some links after I give them a go.