Critique Owls in Flight with lower shutter speed

[Compuwight]

Experimenting with slightly lower shutter speeds (1/1000th) in order to get some movement in wings, whilst still looking to get that eye 'punch'. Not ideal conditions light wise forcing f2.8 with auto ISO needing some De-Noising.
Nikon D500 + Sigma 70-200 2.8 Sport HH

 

[Sangoma]

They really look good, you aim was successful

 

[lindsay]

Great shots. I can't make up my mind about the blurring of the moving wings. It does look more real, but is slightly distracting, so the jury's out still for me.

 

[Compuwight]

They really look good, you aim was successful

Thanks

 

[Compuwight]

Great shots. I can't make up my mind about the blurring of the moving wings. It does look more real, but is slightly distracting, so the jury's out still for me.

Thanks, I am personally happy with the results given my intention to show motion, however, still not sure I like the overall effect

 

[wornish]

The low light level hasn't helped. Imho I would have upped the ISO and gone for a faster shutter speed.

 

[Gav.]

What ISO are these at?
I'd personally prefer a noisy image over blur
But I don't mind the wing tip blur

 

[Compuwight]

What ISO are these at?
I'd personally prefer a noisy image over blur
But I don't mind the wing tip blur

Varying around 1000 which I thought was OK at the time but De-Noise defo improved them.
I am always looking for different techniques to experiment, this started from Photographing a Spitfire and trying to get propeller motion whilst panning for focus on the plane overall.
So I thought why not try the same technique with BIF ! next time I will try varying speed, perhaps 1/1250 would be better !

 

[Gav.]

Varying around 1000 which I thought was OK at the time but De-Noise defo improved them.
I am always looking for different techniques to experiment, this started from Photographing a Spitfire and trying to get propeller motion whilst panning for focus on the plane overall.
So I thought why not try the same technique with BIF ! next time I will try varying speed, perhaps 1/1250 would be better !

Don't be afrid of the higher ISO, I don't know Nikon gear but I push ISO 6400, sometimes 8000 with good results. ISO is all personally preferance, good luck

 

[stevejack]

The beauty of a slow shutter speed with birds in flight is that you can really drop the ISO down, it's a good option with slower moving birds like these if you can get a good angle to help with the pan.
Personally I think your shutter speed is too high here, which puts the image in danger of being perceived as a failure by the viewer as the intent of your shutter speed choice is perhaps not 100% clear. You need to get a little lucky panning with birds in flight, when they are coming slightly towards the camera like this it's tricky to keep the facial features sharp. One thing that can help is to firstly de-noise your image, making sure you aren't sharpening at all in this first pass, and then run a second pass through Topaz Sharpen AI on the motion blur setting, masking in only those features that you want to sharpen. This helps to bring focus to the eyes while still leaving the blur in the wings.

 

[Compuwight]

The beauty of a slow shutter speed with birds in flight is that you can really drop the ISO down, it's a good option with slower moving birds like these if you can get a good angle to help with the pan.
Personally I think your shutter speed is too high here, which puts the image in danger of being perceived as a failure by the viewer as the intent of your shutter speed choice is perhaps not 100% clear. You need to get a little lucky panning with birds in flight, when they are coming slightly towards the camera like this it's tricky to keep the facial features sharp. One thing that can help is to firstly de-noise your image, making sure you aren't sharpening at all in this first pass, and then run a second pass through Topaz Sharpen AI on the motion blur setting, masking in only those features that you want to sharpen. This helps to bring focus to the eyes while still leaving the blur in the wings.

Thanks for taking your time to reply, your comments echo my thoughts. This was my first attempt at a slower shutter speed for BIF as I normally (like most I suspect) like to 'freeze' the action with higher shutter speeds. Like the Spitfire that took several attempts to get the balance between shutter speed and panning to get the movement in the propellor whilst freezing the plane in focus with a decent DOF. Ill health has prevented me from re-visiting and trying to improve my first attempts. Thanks again !
I did use De-Noise first and then Sharpen with minimal settings, I will try masking...next time !