Low and Fast

H

Helen Summers

Well-Known Member
Registered
Been out of sorts photographically recently. But starting to get a bit more enthusiastic again now. Anyway, saw some pigeons swooping around the garden the other day and was tempted to see if I could get an action shot of one flying. This is the best of what I got though to be honest, I think nature for the most part is best in colour. Anyway here it is.

_HLN0005_1_DxO-1.jpg
 
I find it a challenge to get shots like this in focus so the fact that you have managed to do with a narrow depth of field is quite sufficient for me.
 
The contrast of the eyes is quite hypnotic, its one case where the motion blur from the wings adds to the overall image.
 
Very compelling. Any chance you would share some technical tips on how you were able to capture this? Much appreciated.
 
Thanks guys.

The tech info is surprisingly mundane Adrian. I recently built a small pond in my garden and I deliberately positioned it where I could take photgraphs of any visitors to the pond from my living room. I noticed that birds often came to the far side of the pond to drink from it, so I set my camera up on a tripod focussed on the far edge of the pond using back button focussing, and set the aperture using aperture priority to f/10.

It was then just a case of waiting until a bird flew into the right place to capture it.

The full tech info is 300mm at 1/250th at f/10. Incidentally, in this situation with the camera on a tripod, I find it far easier to judge the position of the bird in flight if I don't look through the viewfinder because you need to see its flight path to give you time to react.

Hope this is useful.
 
Helen Summers said:
... I recently built a small pond in my garden and I deliberately positioned it where I could take photgraphs of any visitors to the pond from my living room. I noticed that birds often came to the far side of the pond to drink from it, so I set my camera up on a tripod focussed on the far edge of the pond using back button focussing, and set the aperture using aperture priority to f/10.

It was then just a case of waiting until a bird flew into the right place to capture it. ...
Click to expand...
That's what I call dedication to your craft.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top