Birds of Prey...Tips required

[Notts_Dave]

Hi all. I'm off to Centre Parcs at the end of the month and thought i'd have an hour session handling birds of prey. Has anyone any tips for photographing this type of subject. I've never done any wildlife shots before.

 

[Wookie]

well I'd like some tips on this too, so . . . BUMP

 

[StuartH]

If they are in flight shots a nice fast shutter speed and good panning technique..

 

[IanC_UK]

As with all nature shots, get low, try to be at eye level with them if they are on the ground, dont take pics looking down on them. Keep the shutter speed high if you cant pan very well.

If shooting against the sky, try to meter from the grass, ie point the camera at some grass approximately where they will be note the settings it gives, set the camera to manual and put those settings in, this will mean you will be correctly exposed for the bird, the sky may be bright. Best bet is to have a dark background to shoot against as this makes things easier on the metering front

Best thing is dont have people or other objects in the background as they detract from the images.

Hope some of that makes sense and is useful

 

[BigBaldBob]

I've done this myself, and its great.You really do get a feel for these creatures awesome power and grace.
I went for the easier option of concentrating on head shots and head profiles.I found it difficult to get an agreeable shot when the animals are being handled by the falconer with all the leather jesses etc showing.
If you are gonna have a go at in flight shots, try and prefocus and let the bird fly into shot.Even the best auto focus systems can struggle with the speed of these animals and because they are normally flown within the confines of the arena, they ain't in the air for long.
Hope you have a great time mate.

 

[Cobra]

From a falconers point of view rather than a 'togs,
Hopefully if there is a breeze the falconer will fly hawks ( short wings / broad wings) into the wind.
This will slow them down a little and give you a chance to ( auto) focus. The long wings, commonly called
(incorrectly, btw, falcons) will probabley be stooped to the lure, they ( the birds)
will climb to a hundred or so feet and will usually come out of the sun ( if there is any) at the lure, at anything upto 100 Mph 40-60mph is more likely.
They may well loose height very quickly ( tear-drop stoop) then hedge hop or gound hug to snatch the lure on the rise.

Now I have no idea as to the species that will be flown or the type of display you are likley to see,
the above is just a little on the behaviour you might well see at a "half decent" display.
HTH :shrug:

 

[sypix]

Are you actually do the handling experience, or just the demo (can't remember what they were actually called). But I was disappointed with the demo type experience, as it was done inside and only involved 3 birds. Although they did let them fly, it was very difficult to take pictures as they were only in the air for a few seconds at a time. Did manage to get a couple of decent static shots though. This was at Sherwood, btw.