Bird photography questions.....

[dinners]

Hi there

I've been trying to get some shots of birds on the move.
I'm not talking about AI Servo tracking birds 'in flight' but capturing garden birds in the air rather than stood on a branch.

I have begun to understand where they fly to and from, how they move and when they move. The Coal Tits seem to fly to the branch, sit for 2 or 3 seconds max, fly to the feeder, feed for 2 or 3 seconds, then whizz off. Predictable (which is good) but still proving hard to 'catch' that shot.
Siskins seem to stay put for ever, Blue Tits, Sparrows, Great Tits seem to be anything from 1 second to ten mins so knowing when they're going to take off is difficult.

Question 1 - How do you anticipate when they're about to launch ?
I want to catch them after they've just took flight. I'm shooting with a 1D Mark II and even with a short burst at 8.5 f/ps I seem to get a series of 'bird on the twig' - then just 'twig' . I don't want to to just machine gun for ages because the danger is they just sit still and you end up with a million shots. I've tried waiting to see if I can be quick enough to 'catch' the moment but they're always out of the frame before the first shot is fired.

Qustion 2 - Using a smaller aperture to increase the chance of keeping the bird in focus ?
I appreciate that I'll often need max aperture to achieve the fast shutter speed but once the bird has launched - it's flown slightly out of the depth of field. Increasing the depth of field can mean cranking up the ISO to maintain shutter speed but does stopping down increase my chance of keeping the bird in focus ?

 

[Gonetae]

Hi Phil this is something I've also been experimenting with recently, I find it easier not to aim at thier take off point but instead to have the camera manually focused on a point near to thier landing position but obviously far enough away to keep feeder out of shoot.

I find this gives a greater time for me to react and also some birds will hover a wee bit while landing so gives you that bit of extra air time also.
One of my better reslts with this method below

as to your question about aperture, i tend to shoot around f/8 f/11 or so, depending on their angle of approach the manually focused point you have preset you will have a fair chance of hit and miss, it is good fun though.

 

[hollis_f]

Try doing it in the pitch dark! Luckily there are hundred of thousands of Manx Shearwaters that nest on Skomer, so luck might work in the end...

 

[Comfortably Numb]

I try to have the favoured perches & the feeders in the same plane relative to your position. This means there is a good chance that the bird flies within your dof.

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Also I've noticed birds crouching to jump as they take off, this can give just enough notice to press the shutter.

 

[grumpybadger]

Tommy talks sense, when coming in to land is a really good time as they often hover or fly slowly. Also the wing position can be more pleasing.

That's a lovely shot Tommy...

 

[dinners]

Thanks for the tips folks.

Something for me to work on.