Some new birds in flight shots

[tjk3052]

Ok, I have an Olympus C750, and I know that shots like this are probably out of my league, but thats exactly what I would love to do. Any suggestions?! Great shots.

[bobbyz]

tjk3052 wrote:

Ok, I have an Olympus C750, and I know that shots like this are probably out of my league, but thats exactly what I would love to do. Any suggestions?! Great shots.

I started with FZ1 which is a 2MP, 12x zoom camera. I didn't have much luck with flight shots but I know some local people who are using the 4MP FZ10 model with great success.

My only advice would be to practice & practice. In the evening if I have some time, I will drive to this preserve and try to take birds in flight shots. One thing I notice is that I get better pictures using high enough shutter speeds. Now I am aiming for 1/1000sec. or higher. Higher ISO on dSLR helps a lot in this case.

Another is how to pan correctly which I still can't do all the time. I also try to shoot these birds with sun on my behind. Remember shooting digital is almost free, just needs time from you so go and shoot.

[tjk3052]

Exactly my problem about the high ISO, light is killing me because I need a fast shutter and my cam can't successfully go above even ISO200 most times, is that a deal breaker for pics like what you've done? My cam can zoom to a 35mm equivalent of 380mm.

I am curious, you said you pan your inflight shots. Do you use a tri/mono-pod? Do you have a stabilized lens? How much are you using telephoto versus cropping in the pics you posted?

[bobbyz]

Well my 100-400 is a stabilized lens but I am not using the IS for flight shots. IS mode 2 of my lens does help in panning but for bird flight shots,I am not panning horizontally so what I have seen is that I get better picture using a higher shutter speed.

All these shots are hand held. The reason to go with 100-400 was that I wouldn't need to carry the tripod.

All shots are at 400mm. I just take 100% crop (to get better framing).