For a long time now it's been a goal of mine to capture birds in flight, and/or avian behaviour. This is extremely difficult without long AF lenses...but not impossible. One of the winning images from this years BWPY is of a Hoopoe flying towards its nest, taken with a wide angle lens (admittedly via remote).
Here's one of my shots from last week of a wattled plover in flight. D200 with an 80-200, f2.8, but cropped in to about 1/2 frame.
A note to all - please post shots for crit. This is an opportunity to get comments on images and thereby improve one's photography, rather than stashing images away on a hardrive that never get displayed. If you know of other photographers who are interested in joining the group, please pass on their details. If you have something you'd like to say about photography in general, speak up. If you have a question about a technique, ask - someone on the blog will most likely be able to answer it. Just as an example, the blog already has three professional photographers, covering topics from journalism through to food, stock and weddings. There's also something of an IT specialist and another who is involved in tourism...so ask away. Your points may just be answered.
E
2 comments:
Hi E, Nice pic mate. Do you notice the spurs on the wings? Same as on the Blacksmith Lapwing. I find it hard to create anything exceptional of flying birds... what do you think? Other than the technical challenges of getting a chrisp image with good lighting, what conceptual ideas are there to try and shoot of flying birds that could make for something really interesting?
Hmmm, Eye contact is a principal in any kind of animal photography (unless there isn't meant to be a relationship between the viewer and the animal). Filling the frame creates tension and dynamic in bird-in-flight imagery. Look for the diagonals in your composition as well. Frans Lanting has a fantastic shot of a macaw flying into the frame diagonally from right to left. The same image would not have had the same effect if it had been horizontally panned.
Take a look at some of the images on www.naturephotographers.net for birds in flight. Generally birds in flight work better against a background that is not the sky. Birds turning also add an extra element of movement. Almost for the same reason, birds shot head on are more dynamic that those shot horizontally, which are also the easiest to shoot incidentally (add movement by panning and you can re-introduce the dynamic element. Any other thoughts?
E
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