Bird In Flight Photography - Crash Course!

[Music] hey everyone see from backcountry gallery here in this video I'm gonna give you a crash course on burden flight photography that will have you putting tons of amazing images on your memory cards in no time I have 10 techniques / tips I'm gonna cover that will give you all the basics you need to start filling that memory card ears with wall hangers also I have a few related videos that expand on some of the topics in this video that I'm gonna mention as we go you can find links for those in the description area on youtube or at the blog post for this video on my site let's go ahead and get started number 1 shutter speed the number one problem I see with bird in flight photos is motion blur from not having a fast enough shutter speed for general bird in flight photography where you just want a nice sharp bird choose a shutter speed between 116 hundredths of a second and 1/4 thousandth of a second my go-to shutter speed for general bird in flight action is actually 130 200 a second so how do you know what end of the shutter speed range you should be on for large slow flying birds or birds at more of a distance you can use the lower end of the scale for faster Birds closer Birds smaller birds which are also usually closer or birds flying towards the camera lean towards faster shutter speeds and when in doubt if you have the light just go ahead and use that 132 hundredth of a second I recommended a moment ago finally remember that the shutter speeds I'm giving you our only a guideline I've captured perfectly sharp bird in flight shots at much slower speeds and sometimes I'll even drop to like 120th or one fifteenth of a second for panning shots just remember generally speaking the faster the shutter speed the higher the keeper rate and of course you do have to balance this with the available light lens aperture how much ISO you're willing to use and things like that number two watch your backgrounds the next tip is to stop shooting against blue and or white skies all the time they're monotonous sure they're easier on the AF system and not bad if done in moderation still you don't want your portfolio dominated by them when I see flight activity I always try to position myself so I have a nice interesting background it either doesn't include the sky or only includes a small bit of the sky I think it makes for a much more compelling photo it's a little trickier to keep your AF area off the background sometimes but in my opinion it's worth the effort not to have the same blue sky or white sky shots as everyone else of course there are times blue skies can work I had an overly ambitious Osprey with a huge piece of nesting material as you can see here and the clean blue background allowed that nesting material to really stand out I also don't mind the blue sky in this shot these fighting black-bellied Whistling Duck SAR interesting enough that the plain background really doesn't matter still the vast majority of the time I keep blue sky or white sky background shots to an absolute minimum number three F stops for most of my burden flight shots I'm anywhere from f4 to f8 although on a rare occasion I may head towards f11 but not very often however when it comes to picking the right f-stop there's not a one-size-fits-all answer when we're thinking about the f-stop we want to use we're usually thinking about one of three depth of field related concerns first sometimes we use depth of field for a little extra wiggle room with focus for example let's say you're tracking a bird and the camera misses focus by just a tiny bit at f/4 maybe the eyes are just too soft but at f/8 the depth of field covered you and the eye looks fine the next step the field concern is background with only the sky or clouds as your background you know that's a non-issue but if you shoot with trees and vegetation in the background like I do wider f-stops make those backgrounds look much creamier plus the soft backgrounds give the bird more of a 3-dimensional feel in the photograph finally we also have to consider how much of the bird we actually want sharp if having every feather tack sharp is a concern then you'll probably find yourself at f/8 and f/11 quite frequently personally I don't really care if my wing tips or tail feathers are touch soft in fact they often look better if they are touch softer than the face it keeps the viewers attention where I want it right on the bird's eye however I don't want so much out of focus that the only thing that sharp is the eye or the face I tried to strike a balance between those all that said keep in mind that F stops aren't the only consideration for depth-of-field you also have your distance to the subject as well as the focal length that you're using all those considerations so if you have a more distant subject you can likely shoot wide open and the entire birds gonna be sharp for closer subjects like this hummingbird I have to stop down a little otherwise I'd only have like a sharp eye and nothing else and it would all be way too blurry on the other hand this Iger was just fine at f/4 since I was using a shorter focal length of 270 millimeter so in considering f-stop make sure you consider distance and focal length as well overall I find f56 to f/8 is an excellent place to start for most people then just modify it as the conditions dictate number four finding good targets the hardest way to get flight shots is hoping to randomly chance upon a bird that you can capture in flight as you're just walking along unless you knew it was coming there's a good chance that neither the camera or the photographer is ready for that the best way to get flight shots is to find birds that are engaged in predictable repeatable behaviors birds that are nesting or building nests are great finds plus you get the exciting behavior shots - birds that are coming and going from a food source are great finds this macaw was one of several flying back and forth grabbing palm fruit this Egret catching a fish right here is another good example he and his buddies flew back and forth for like a half an hour over this small section of pond this roller was going back and forth from a high perch down to the grass hunting bugs finally this hummingbird kept coming back to the same flower every 45 minutes or so feeding areas are absolutely great another great opportunity roosting areas you can photograph birds as they come in in the evening and I'm photographing again as they head out in the morning oh and don't forget about where the birds are just kind of hanging out if there are a lot of / tagging it out there's gonna be some flight shots finally make sure when you find these birds that you can get close enough to get the kind of images you want but not so close that you disturb them and change their behavior for general bird and flight shots I like the bird to fill between 1/3 and 2/3 of the frame bird in flight shots are one area where I don't mind a minor crop for compositional purposes and be careful about getting to close even if it is safe for the bird you don't want to get those clipped wings number 5 exposure mode first metering patterns for nikon I almost always use matrix metering for Sony it's almost always multi pattern metering those work really well as for exposure modes I use both auto exposure and full manual exposure for my bird in flight shots depending on the circumstances for auto exposure I use manual with auto ISO this allows me to lock in the f-stop and shutter speed I want and the camera will float the ISO for proper brightness for more info on this technique see the video link in the description area I like using manual with auto ISO when dealing with challenging light levels like maybe the sun's peeking in and out of cloud cover it allows me to keep my desired f-stop and shutter speed locked in well the camera is automatically floating the ISO for me as the light levels change I'll also stick with manual plus auto ISO if my background is of a fairly consistent tonality and there's not like a lot of darker and lighter areas that may cause the meter to over or underexposed as the bird flies by them I use this mode probably 60 to 70 percent of the time sometimes in conjunction with exposure compensation however if I'm in a situation where I have birds flying by backgrounds that are of mixed tonality maybe really dark and really light I'll switch to full manual mode in a heartbeat this keeps the camera from over exposing the bird as it flies in front of the dark vegetation or under exposing it as it flies against a light sky as long as the light levels stay the same and I set my manual exposure properly of course I'll get perfect exposures every time by the way when setting that manual exposure take at least a few test shots to verify your exposure looks correct and that there's no clipping then keep an eye on it in case the light levels go up or down stuff like that happens a lot around the times we like to shoot around sunrise and sunset and by the way if you're a nikon shooter and want to learn how to get the most from your exposure and metering system check out my exposure and metering book it'll blow you away tons and tons of tips tricks and techniques in there number six wind considerations here's the Golden Rule with wind birds take off and land into the wind if you want to get shots with them facing the camera as they come and go keep your back to the if you want side shots as they come and go keep the win to either side of you preferably with it maybe just cornering your back a little bit the worst situation in my opinion is having that wind blowing right in your face you're gonna get a lot of birds with our backs to you most of the time if the wind is at my back or at my sides are somewhere in between those areas I'm a pretty happy camper number seven autofocus settings first set the camera to AFC slash continuous servo you can't track otherwise next AF area modes now since this video isn't intended for any specific brand of camera I'm gonna be fairly general in my recommendations here although it will give some examples with Nikon and Sony for AF area modes I like to use the smallest AF area I can successfully keep on the bird the smaller the AF area the more control you have over where the camera is focusing and the system is less likely to grab maybe the background or the wrong part of the subject or maybe the wrong part of the scene for example with Nikon I like Group AF as well as dynamic 9 on my d5 in my d8 54 my Z cameras I like the wide small area for Sony I like flexible spot medium as well as tracking flexible spot both the small and the medium-sized like I say I do lean more towards those smaller AF areas however if you're just starting off or if the action is just too fast don't hesitate to use a bit larger area if you need it in fact the auto area in Nikon and the zone and wide areas on Sony are handy for really fast stuff that you just can't keep those smaller AF areas on the rule of thumb here is pretty simple start with a smallest AF area you think you can manage and if you can't keep it on target try another larger AF area when you're focusing do your best to aim for the head area if that AF area like gets on a wing tip you'll end up with sharp wings and soft faces I often move my AF area from Center to left or right depending on the bird's direction and sometimes even a bit up or down as well it depends on the shot think about the composition you ultimately want ideally giving the bird space to fly into the frame without cutting off its legs and put your at point where you think the bird's head should be in the composition now if you keep the AF area on its head you automatically have that composition you envisioned of course I can't cover every autofocus scenario and setting in this video but if you're a Nikon shooter and you do want more autofocus info I have a Nikon Hunter focus book that goes over everything you ever wanted to know number eight nail take off shots take off shots are one of the most common bird in flight shots but they cause a lot of problems first check the wind direction and look for signs that a takeoff is coming if the bird is like turning into the wind and especially pepper and lets out like a little exhaust along the way maybe there's a little bit of a wing stretch or he leans into the wind a little bit you know takeoff is imminent at this point you may want to crank up the shutter speed just a bit normally when you track a bird you're actually helping keep things sharp since you're moving the camera as you do you're moving it with the bird at takeoff though you're just starting to move the camera and often with a little bit of a quick motion faster than normal shutter speeds like maybe another stop faster than you might normally use for that kind of bird can help out here also it doesn't hurt to drop to a little bit smaller f-stop here too the camera can sometimes take a split second to reliably start tracking a bird that goes from like perfectly still to rapidly launching from a branch so a little extra depth of field can help cover any minor focus errors the biggest trick though is when you see takeoff is about to happen is to keep your eye in the viewfinder the second you look away that birds going to take off I guarantee it nine other quick gear tips to get the best performance from your lens with Burton flight shots I recommend turning off vibration reduction or image stabilization for faster shutter speeds you can use them for like slower panning shots and stuff but you don't need them for normal bird in flight shutter speeds next if your lens has a focus range limiter use it unless you're shooting something like a hummingbird at really close range you likely won't need the close focus range of your lens using the limiter helps you get back on target twice as fast when a F misses and starts to hunt also try to pre focus at about the anticipated range of the bird for the fastest locks I often focus on like trees or brush near where I expect us the bird finally let's talk framerate on DSLRs I recommend using the highest frame rate you have it will give you more wing positions and expressions to pick from when it's time to sort your images back home for mirrorless though you actually have to be a little bit more careful sometimes the highest frame rates come with some compromises for the Nikon Z cameras I keep them in standard continuous high mode due to the leg caused by the slideshow effect when using them in the continuous high extended mode I actually demonstrated this in a Z performance tips video I did recently with my sony a 92 I'm careful about switching to 20 frames per second since the camera then uses lossy compression for the files and switches to 12 bit usually not a big deal but still a consideration in some cases in short merely shooters should consult their manuals to see if there are any compromises to using the fastest frame rate and then make a decision from there number 10 tracking tips tracking Birds in flight is where the rubber meets the road and there's no substitute for practice expertise does not come overnight one of the best ways to practice is to find some birds you don't really care that much about for photos and just track them but don't shoot get a feel for how the birds move and how you need to respond to those movements in turn this is far easier when you're also not dealing with a blackout between shots seagulls make excellent targets for this as do large slow flying birds like egrets herons and sandhill cranes now technique that's easy simply getting a comfortable stance and ideally get the bird in the viewfinder before you need to start shooting some people find that just tapping the AF button as the bird approaches works better than continuously tracking the bird although once I'm on a bird I usually keep focusing the entire time that's worked really well for me by the way make sure the camera actually seems to have a nice solid lock before you start shooting once the in-between frame black outs start it's tougher for the camera to maintain focus if it never had a good luck in the first place and it might go ahead and drop the target on you by the way if you have a tough time finding the bird in the viewfinder check out my video about finding your subject with a long lens linked in the description it'll show you how to get on the bird the first time every time as the bird passes keep head neck and shoulders locked in and rotate at the hips as the bird passes keep shooting until it's far enough that you're just starting to see its tail and it's starting to head away I prefer the bird coming towards the camera right at the side or somewhere in between those two I don't like images where the bird seems to be heading away even if it's just a little once you see that starting to happen that's when you know to let off the shutter release too often I see people shooting tail feathers as they miss another great bird flying in so be careful of that when you're first starting out I do recommend hand holding the camera and the lens however as you get better you may find it's more comfortable to shoot from a tripod especially for longer duration scenarios or if you have bigger glass I recommend a good tripod and gibble head for this I use the gear shown in the slide it works great in my experience shooting from a balanced gimble head is almost like hand holding for more information on using a long lens with a gimbal head and balancing that gimbal I have a couple of links in the description area here on YouTube by the way when you see great action in your viewfinder don't pause as you shoot keep firing as long as the action looks good and the target seems like it's in focus finally I tend to avoid birds that are like directly overhead there are exceptions to every rule but belly shots are seldom jaw droppers I always prefer lower and even eye level type shots however if the bird is like too far below ya that's not usually good either okay there you go a complete crash course in bird in flight photography again these are just general getting started tips if you're a Nikon shooter and want even more detailed easy-to-follow info on auto focus and exposure and metering make sure you check out my autofocus and my metering and exposure books between the two books there's well over 1100 pages jam-packed with tips and techniques just like these and for less than a lunch date also remember to sign up for my free email newsletter at my site so you never miss a video article or workshop opportunity and as always please remember to Like subscribe and hit that little notify bell and as always thank you so much for watching have a great day you

Channel: Steve Perry

Views: 272,739

Keywords: photography tips, photography help, Backcountry Gallery, Steve Perry, Bird in flight photography, BIF, Bird in Flight, Bird-in-flight, BIF photography, Photographing birds in flight, shooting birds in flight, Bird photography, Bird flight photography, photograph BIF, photograph birds in flight, bird action photography, bird in flight shutter speeds, BIF shutter speeds, BIF camera settings, camera setting birds in flight, bird in flight F/stop, Bird in flight expsoure

Id: 69jcmNbqGrU

Length: 18min 8sec (1088 seconds)

Published: Sat May 16 2020