in-flight barn swallows

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mark fadely
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p.1 #1 · in-flight barn swallows

I spent the last week with these guys. I returned to the same spot as the year before and the Swallows had returned, just like clockwork. Man! they are fun to watch fly, amazing really. They are building their nests right now so many of them are flying with mud, twigs and feathers in their mouths.

Thanks for looking,

Mark

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May 07, 2008 at 02:34 PM

jakita33
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p.1 #2 · in-flight barn swallows

Cool series Mark. I like 6 and 8 the best.

J

May 07, 2008 at 02:59 PM

BenV
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p.1 #3 · in-flight barn swallows

great shots, I wishthe shutter speed woulda been bumped up a bit tho.

May 07, 2008 at 03:01 PM

72chevelle454
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p.1 #4 · in-flight barn swallows

#10 is awesome. Great job on a difficult bird to get in flight.

May 07, 2008 at 03:30 PM

Tim Kuhn
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p.1 #5 · in-flight barn swallows

Very nice Mark! 6 & 8 are my favorites.

Tim

May 07, 2008 at 03:35 PM

Karl Witt
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p.1 #6 · in-flight barn swallows

Mark, I give you all the credit in the world for shooting these guys in flight

#10 makes me feel proud nice BG

I think that formation on #9 is really cool, also liking #8, 6, and #1 ...........many great ones, nice job!

Karl

May 07, 2008 at 03:53 PM

Shasoc
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p.1 #7 · in-flight barn swallows

Excellent captures, Mark. You got some great IF shots of these guys. Hard to pick a favorite, but I'll go with 2, 8, 9.

Socrate

May 07, 2008 at 05:12 PM

Anti Matter
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p.1 #8 · in-flight barn swallows

Fantastic job, Mark!! Getting swallows in-flight is a tall order, and you filled it admirably!!

Frank

May 07, 2008 at 05:15 PM

PetKal
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p.1 #9 · in-flight barn swallows

Very impressive. Many have tried that kinda photography, few have succeeded so well.

May 07, 2008 at 05:21 PM

Michael Probyn
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p.1 #10 · in-flight barn swallows

Wow! These little critters must be unbelievably difficult to catch.
Do you mind me asking what FL you were shooting at, I should think that to get close enough it is a nightmare to find them.
Mike

May 07, 2008 at 07:39 PM

billk55
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p.1 #11 · in-flight barn swallows

These have got to be one of the hardest flying critters to nab. I watch some every day, and I wouldn't even waste a shutter click on them - I know what my results would be.

So with that said, great job! Of course, you could imagine technically superior photos, but given what you had to work with, congrats!

And can anyone get one of those bald eagles in flight with a flag blurred in the background

May 07, 2008 at 07:54 PM

mark fadely
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p.1 #12 · in-flight barn swallows

jakita33 wrote:
Cool series Mark. I like 6 and 8 the best.

J

Thanks J,

I really enjoy trying to capture these little speed demons. It's nice they come back to the same spot every year.

May 08, 2008 at 12:10 AM

mark fadely
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p.1 #13 · in-flight barn swallows

BenV wrote:
great shots, I wishthe shutter speed woulda been bumped up a bit tho.

Thanks for the compliment Ben. I wish I had a little higher shutter too. I was using my mk2n and wanted to keep the iso down though. I probably should've just upped it though.

May 08, 2008 at 12:12 AM

mark fadely
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p.1 #14 · in-flight barn swallows

72chevelle454 wrote:
#10 is awesome. Great job on a difficult bird to get in flight.

Thank you Chad,

They are so much fun to watch fly that I just put the camera down and watch sometimes. (that's usually after about 100 missed shots in a row,

)

May 08, 2008 at 12:14 AM

suemcc
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p.1 #15 · in-flight barn swallows

Man oh man, these are good.
Wow.
Susan

May 08, 2008 at 01:12 AM

Matt Philbin
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p.1 #16 · in-flight barn swallows

Mark, I have been trying these myself for the last week or so. I'm shooting with a 20D & 400 5.6, and have all the admiration in the world for your shots. You've done very well with these, even if they're 10 out of 500! I can't imagine a harder subject to shoot. They're outrageously quick, and you can't be too far away since they're so small. If you're having a hard time with a 1D2N, I feel even better about the ones that I've decided were keepers! Nice job!

May 08, 2008 at 01:22 AM

jamach
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p.1 #17 · in-flight barn swallows

Very wonderful #10, magazine cover

- Joe

May 08, 2008 at 01:27 AM

lbuscher
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p.1 #18 · in-flight barn swallows

Way to go Mark these are great Now I proberly have ask you befor and I keep forgetting to look back but what combo are you useing for this action?
Lou

May 08, 2008 at 01:39 AM

Lil Judd
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p.1 #19 · in-flight barn swallows

Wonderful series of super fast moving swallows.

# 1 is my pick Mark

Lil

May 08, 2008 at 03:40 AM

mark fadely
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p.1 #20 · in-flight barn swallows

Tim Kuhn wrote:
Very nice Mark! 6 & 8 are my favorites.

Tim

Thank you Tim,

Those are two of my favs as well.

May 08, 2008 at 01:16 PM

mark fadely
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p.1 #21 · in-flight barn swallows

Karl Witt wrote:
Mark, I give you all the credit in the world for shooting these guys in flight

#10 makes me feel proud nice BG

I think that formation on #9 is really cool, also liking #8, 6, and #1 ...........many great ones, nice job!

Karl

Thanks for the compliment Karl,

It's fun to try and capture these guys. Failure rate is high, but I still have fun. I'm into things that fly and swallows are some of the best flyers around. It's amazing when they chase each other at 60mph matching tight turns with one another in split seconds. They have to experience some terrific G forces.

May 08, 2008 at 01:20 PM

mark fadely
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p.1 #22 · in-flight barn swallows

Shasoc wrote:
Excellent captures, Mark. You got some great IF shots of these guys. Hard to pick a favorite, but I'll go with 2, 8, 9.

Socrate

Thanks Socrate,

I got most of these on one of those special days when the birds were very active and the light was good. They are all very playful right now just before they lay their eggs. I hope to catch some babies this year. Never saw any last year though.

May 08, 2008 at 01:23 PM

anthony whitmo
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p.1 #23 · in-flight barn swallows

Mark,

Number 6 is perfect. Man you've picked a tough subject to capture in flight and you've done a pretty darn good job !! Again 6 is perfect and 8 isn't far behind.

How many Out of Focus or missed shots did you have on this outing

I'm guessing a few!! They're pretty darn fast flyers and change directions so darn often.............
Great job Mark

Anthony

May 08, 2008 at 01:29 PM

mark fadely
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p.1 #24 · in-flight barn swallows

Anti Matter wrote:
Fantastic job, Mark!! Getting swallows in-flight is a tall order, and you filled it admirably!!

Frank

Thanks a lot Frank. If it ever quits raining I'm going to try some more soon. They are addicting once you get a couple of in-focus shots.

May 08, 2008 at 07:24 PM

mark fadely
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p.1 #25 · in-flight barn swallows

PetKal wrote:
Very impressive. Many have tried that kinda photography, few have succeeded so well.

Thanks,

I appreciate the compliment but I'm not sure if it's skill or just persistence. Jody Melanson posted the first really good small BIF shots a couple of years ago and that has always been an inspiration to me.

May 08, 2008 at 07:30 PM


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