Magpie

[Daysleeper40]

Hi All,

I would really like to get better at photographing birds in flight so I can get myself to the local BOP centre and take some halfway decent shots. Problem is I'm not good at it and don't really know how to improve. So to give you an example - I just took this one of a magpie. I was in aperture priority and settings were f/4, 1/800 sec. Bearing in mind I am using a bridge camera (panasonic FZ8) what could I have done differently to improve this shot?

Any help / advice greatly appreciated!

 

[Cuddy]

Overall this is not a bad effort at all. Magpies are hard to get a decent shot of when perched, never mind in-flight. Its a tad soft which a touch of sharpening may fix, but its a canny exposure with detail in the blacks and whites.

Cant advise about your camera, i have no experience of bridge cameras, hope someone can help.

 

[Daysleeper40]

Thanks Cuddly - I think I am outgrowing my bridge camera and can't wait to get my hands on my first DSLR (fingers and toes crossed for my birthday!) but obviously a DSLR is not going to magically take better pictures for me. My FZ8 has full manual controls so I'm sure there is something I could be doing better... well, quite a lot of things probably!