Never assume Tom. I think many birders here have different ways to capture birds in flight . Some shoot AV and some shoot Manual...it all depends on the situation. There is not a magical answer here.
I am still learning myself. I will ask for CC on my images and it has really helped me.
What camera and lenses are you using? This question will help us help you.
IMO the challenge is not the camera settings the challenge is more physical....most of us probably shoot with primes and the key is to 'find' the bird in the VW way before you are ready to snap, I like to re-compose (1/2 depress the shutter button and force the camera to re-acquire focus) often before i fire the 1st time.
as far as setings I used to shoot in Aperture but have recently switched to Manual and use Auto ISO to make it happen. I also use CW metering and often - or + EV. I also use Active D-lighting on normal to remove some shadows.
try to stop down aperture as much as you can to improve dof and contrats
I shoot the 500vr at f8 and 1/1250, a fast ss is more important than a stopped down aperture but both are nice and on the D3 high iso-s are great so I get the aperture & ss I want
In answer to Noelle: I have a Nikon D90 and use a 80-200mm 2.8f zoom with a Kenko Pro 2x Extender. Sorry no BIF photos, I am really a beginner with BIF!!!!!!!!!! Tom
tmak2654952 wrote:
In answer to Noelle: I have a Nikon D90 and use a 80-200mm 2.8f zoom with a Kenko Pro 2x Extender. Sorry no BIF photos, I am really a beginner with BIF!!!!!!!!!! Tom
Hey that is ok.... we all start somewhere. If you have any seagulls near you they are really good to practice with.
FWIW, I also used to shoot in Aperture, but now shoot in MANUAL whenever the light is reasonably constant. I don't mind changing the settings every 10 minutes or so during sunset/sunrise, but I'll switch to Aperture if there are variable clouds, for example. Once the metering is right for the scene, if the light is consistent, the settings should not change. Auto metering, no matter how good it is, will often get fooled. I used to get lousy results when a bird would fly from open sky to a background with trees using Aperture priority. That doesn't happen with Manual.
However, the BIG thing is to use a lens that is sharp wide open, and open it up to get your maximum shutter speed at that ISO. Set things up to try to have a shutter speed of 1/1600th or better. Often you can get away with slower shutter speeds, but the noise is so good at high ISO on the modern SLRs why take a chance?
A pretty good description of in flight technique can be found at Les Zigurski's website
some folks might use different settings for their individual gear and abilities but the concepts are the same
there's a lot going into shooting birds in flight or BIFs as we tend to call them here.
Let me start by telling you that the 80-200 & a 2x TC is not the best setup for you to try it with. The TC will slow you down a tad & I for one do not ever use a 2x TC as it degenerates the quality of the photos far too much.
But Noelle has a great idea for you - go somewhere where there's a lot of seagulls - they are great to practice on.
I shoot a lot in A mode, but I'm always aware of my shutter speed. With BIFs shutter speed is very important. Well - actually with all bird shots I find shutter speed important. They move very fast & unexpectedly.
These days I shoot more & more in M mode. That way I am in control over the situation. I did experiment a tad with Auto ISO this last weekend. I have to try that again before I decide how much I like it.
May I recommend you consider starting to look for a 300mm AF-S f/4. That's a great lens & definitely a great lens for BIFs as it's light enough to be easily hand held.
AV is a good place to start Tom with the following setting:
Ai Servo (continuous AF)
High Speed frame rate
Center AF point
ISO 400 - adjust to get a least 1/800 or above
AV mode
Fstop f/4 or f/5.6
Matrix meter with EC +1/3 to 2/3
Shoot RAW
WB sunlight
Handhold if possible for tracking flexibility
Depending on what you're trying to achieve, the shutter speed can be as low as 1/125 for BIF. At this speed you can get the effect of the wing motion. Try with sea gulls, terns, or flying ducks. Shoot a lot to get a feel of what you and your camera can do.
