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| Bird in flight techniques - Page 2 | |
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| Posted: Mon Jul 15th, 2019 16:44 |
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11th Post |
Eric
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Thanks for the pointers Jeff. I did get some shots that (I think) are good. It was the consistency that was unsettling me. The light was changing due to fast moving clouds. The birds were obviously all over the place in the breeze! So I made the decision to bracket exposure. The problem was that in addition to the birds attitude changing between frames ( why does the best body shape happen on the underexposed frame? 😡) the camera wasn't keeping up with the undulating circulatory flight of the bird. It was this problem that most spooked me. The focus locked on for the first shot but despite keeping the 9spot focus frame on the bird, the focus didnt follow the bird. It could have been the lack of contrast on the bird itself ( brown on brown) exacerbated by the shadow effect from backlighting ( when inadequate ex comp applied). Or it could have been the communication failure of the teleconverter?? It wasn't the camera persay, as I tried 2 bodies and got the same lethargic AFC with each. The focus responded normally when focusing on subjects beyond 30m but at 20m the focus just seemed to 'stick'. I ran out of time and weather to do more meaningful tests but I think I will take your advice and ditch the Teleconverter as a first action for bif exercises for the time being. One of my better ones.... 
____________________ Eric |
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| Posted: Mon Jul 15th, 2019 17:08 |
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12th Post |
Eric
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Here's another angle.... Interestingly the focus held firm on this passing 'in flight' subject despite being overall grey. The main difference was it was more than the 30m away I mentioned.  But birds are so much easier on the ground 😆.... 
____________________ Eric |
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| Posted: Mon Jul 15th, 2019 17:30 |
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13th Post |
blackfox
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not bad at all Eric ,the big grey bird is a bit noisy in the shadow detail but that's a different subject.. weirdly enough I ran into this exposure compensation problem today with a friend we were side by side shooting yellowhammers identical lenses he has a d7100 against my 7200 . now a lot of his shots turned out a white sky when all of mine showed a nice blue so I think with Nikon the use of e.c is quiet important . I have mine set to easy e.c on the rear dial a simple touch just dials it up in a instant .
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| Posted: Mon Jul 15th, 2019 17:31 |
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14th Post |
jk
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Eric, if you shoot RAW then you can push/pull exposure by 3 stops. Over-exposure is worse than under-exposure in Adobe products but not so bad in CaptureOne Pro. Obviously correct exposure gives best results. Regarding focus locking the closer you get the more you are working the AF ideally 20-40m but then you need a 400/500mm to get viewfinder filling images. The 300mm f4 is less than ideal as whilst it is light it isn't bright! Especially with TC on board. My Analysis Jeff gets better results for the following reasons. 1. Camera is DX which gives better reach than FX 2. Lens he uses is 150-600 which gives him opportunity to zoom 3. He has been practicing for years. Practice makes perfect! I have D500 + 200-500. I find it works well for BIF but I dont rate it for landscape work.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
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| Posted: Tue Jul 16th, 2019 03:10 |
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15th Post |
blackfox
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Some good points in there j.k , the one point you haven't covered is expense/ funding . I'm not that well off so everything I buy is either bargain bucket or a compromise . The 300mm f4 is as you say not that bright but it's light and gives good results as you can judge from the kite images . Coupled with a decent t.c it is also versatile enough to give super semi macro type shots at the flick of a button . Next point practise as you say makes perfect ,I'm lucky enough to live a couple of hundred yards from the sea/ estuary so there's always something flying about .
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| Posted: Tue Jul 16th, 2019 03:44 |
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16th Post |
Eric
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Just answering the points you guys raised.... I was shooting in raw on a D500 body, set to easy comp as suggested. The problem with the day was the sun going in and out behind white clouds. Sods law dictated the birds came closest when the sky was cloudy immediately overhead. This gave three problems...no blue sky background, low contrast and minimal bounced back fill light to lift the shaded underwings. This was especially true of the big grey bird that caught me unawares. Despite being adjustable in raw, the underwing was too dark to recover without noise. Shooting with the D500+500mm+1.4tc I was effectively at 1000mm (35mm equivalent) ]. The first bird photo is a full frame totally uncropped image. This obviously makes it harder for me (and maybe the camera) to keep the bird in focus and completely in frame. Several shots had a wing or a tail missing. 😆 So I will next time ditch the TC and see if the success rate goes up. Having sat down back home I think I am perhaps expecting too many hits. Out of 400 shots I have deleted around 200 due to focus, exposure and missing wings etc. Of the remaining 200 there are half that are almost identical given the birds flight path/style. So I've thinned out another 120 leaving around 80 'unique' frames....some more pleasing than others due to lighting / bird body shape etc. Oh the 80 also includes 20 of the yellowhammer, a buzzard and linnets that were around....so 60 of 400 ain't to bad. The campsite owner, seeing me taking photos, has said that if I would like to return he is happy for me to bait the adjacent field which he also owns. He says this will bring them even closer ...which would be useful, as I could then try the D850 as well as the D500 without the TC! But of course that means a 70mile trip to the site which has to be factored in around other day to day activities....to prevent a divorce.
____________________ Eric |
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| Posted: Tue Jul 16th, 2019 03:57 |
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17th Post |
blackfox
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that success rate is about right Eric ,thats b.i.f shooting for you . . and the camp site owners offer sounds superb ,just do it
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| Posted: Tue Jul 16th, 2019 13:07 |
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18th Post |
jk
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Eric, I think that is a fairly good success rate.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
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| Posted: Tue Jul 16th, 2019 14:12 |
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19th Post |
jk
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Eric said "The campsite owner, seeing me taking photos, has said that if I would like to return he is happy for me to bait the adjacent field which he also owns. He says this will bring them even closer ...which would be useful, as I could then try the D850 as well as the D500 without the TC! 70 miles is just a quick trip in you eco-friendly hybrid that does 400miles/charge and only requires a new set of highly toxic batteries every 4-5 years! I really think most politicians and many other dont realise the energy usage and toxicity of producing these batteries. Tell Jan she needs to practice as well.
____________________ Still learning after all these years! https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none |
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| This is topic ID = 1722 Current time is 05:08 | Page: 1 2 | |
| Nikon DSLR Forums > Camera and Lens Forums > Specialised Photography - Macro, UV, IR, Underwater > Bird in flight techniques | Top | |
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