Tutorial Photographing captive birds of prey.

Cobra

Cobra

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Photographing captive birds of prey. - Photographing captive birds of prey.

A little about the behaviour of birds of prey at displays

Even the "hawks" Harris's etc don't look as they are moving that fast
but just think for a minute they catch rabbits and I guess you know how fast a rabbit can move!
Your best bet is if you can get them coming straight at you then a shutter speed of around 1/500th should be OK,
but if they are side on then you are looking at 1/500th -1/1000th

The long wings (ie peregrines saker's lanners etc)
If they are being stooped to the...
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Read more about this resource...
 
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Yer me too got the techy side sorted now just have to wait for the next game fair to put it in to practise (y)

(y)

Cheers....
 
A tricky subject very well explained.
 
Dumped the nasty Blue have we Chris... :cautious:



Told you peeps... :shrug: ... the man knows his subject and we should listen... (y) ... thanx much for the guidance on a fascinating subject and one that I particularly enjoy loads Hissy... :D





:p
 
Thanks guys
I am glad that you found it useful (y)
any questions please feel free to ask either in the thread or by PM

Ven it was actually a serious post ( well for me anyway :D)
so I though I would stick to "Noir"
but just for you ole' blue eyes is back
 
Cobra said:
Ven it was actually a serious post ( well for me anyway :D)
so I though I would stick to "Noir"
but just for you ole' blue eyes is back
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:LOL: ... realised that Chris... :cautious: ... just somehow seemed less serious being out of character... :naughty:






:p
 
Thanks Chris.............all filed away for further reading and future reference(y)
 
Cheers for that!
Very interesting and there is a display locally in a few weeks time which I was planning to go and tog anyway.
Now I have an idea what to look out for so I can (or may be able to) plan my shots.
(y)
 
good luck (y)
I will be interested to hear if it helped.
All displays try to be different, but at the end of the day
they are only a variation on a theme
 
I recently tried to photograph a lanner falcon at a BOP sanctuary, i`ll return and have another go........:bang:


:LOL:
 
Should have mentioned that it was flying about at a fair rate of knots.......(y)

Not even I am so inept as to balls up a shot of a BOP on a stand.......:naughty:
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence in my photographic skills Ven.........:LOL:
 
fracster said:
Thanks for the vote of confidence in my photographic skills Ven.........:LOL:
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:LOL: ... you're very welcome... ;)



Actually the combination of your skills and Chris' helpful guidelines shoud provide something awesome to behold... :shrug:



Can't wait... :naughty:






:p
 
fracster said:
I recently tried to photograph a lanner falcon at a BOP sanctuary, i`ll return and have another go........:bang:
:LOL:
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Good luck with at Ade (y)

Venomator said:


Actually the combination of your skills and Chris' helpful guidelines shoud provide something awesome to behold... Can't wait... :naughty:
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:cool: :D
 
One bit of advice I will give on this. If you are seated at a display and are intending on taking in flight shots. Keep your panning to a minimum unless you stand up. I found out too late that this causes severe trapped wind :D When I say severe I mean severe, it knocked me off my feet for a week, the pain was pretty bad!. Get up on your feet if possible and shuffle you feet instead of twisting at the waist. Especially with the quicker birds like the Peregrine.

Chris remember the meet at Banham Zoo? Yeah that's what I'm talking about :LOL: I was twisting and turning quite vigorously though.
 
Great post.

Now can you give advice on how to focus on the moving subject ie; which focus point, which drive (Servo etc), does back button focus work with continuous shooting, etc.
 
Jo said:
Chris remember the meet at Banham Zoo? Yeah that's what I'm talking about :LOL: I was twisting and turning quite vigorously though.
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Jo, it was a photography meet not a bloody rave :D

tiler65 said:
Great post.
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Thanks (y)
tiler65 said:
Now can you give advice on how to focus on the moving subject ie; which focus point, which drive (Servo etc),
Click to expand...
I use AI servo
Focus point (s)
Which ever is appropriate
ie
If the bird is going right to left across the front of you
then the far left "point" ( and vice versa)
straight at you then the centre one
climbing the top centre
diving bottom centre

you are trying to focus on the head and get the rest of the bird in frame
tiler65 said:
does back button focus work with continuous shooting, etc.
Click to expand...

I have no idea, I have never tried that, but
I am sure someone will know
 
Excellent post Chris. Not sure when I might get a chance to use it, but filed away...
 
Only just seen this and like others have found it an interesting read. We're caravanning close to a Falconry in July so will be paying the place a visit to have a go at this.

Di
 
Di Stone said:
Only just seen this and like others have found it an interesting read. We're caravanning close to a Falconry in July so will be paying the place a visit to have a go at this.

Di
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Thanks and have Fun Di.
Hope it helps (y)

Its not easy putting into words something that I do automatically.
So I'd appreciate some feed back, as to whether it did make it a little easier or not,
if you get the time that is (y)
 
Right, Barn Owl Centre tomorrow ... now what do I need to do 1st? :thinking:
Thanks for the tips ... hope I can do it justice.
 
gramps said:
Right, Barn Owl Centre tomorrow ... now what do I need to do 1st? :thinking:
Click to expand...

Charge batteries format card? :D
Have fun (y)
And as above feed back appreciated if you get time (y)
 
Great write up Chris, do you mind if I add to it a couple of things I've noticed that could help:

If you lose sight of the bird (and if the falconer is working the bird properly and the bird is thinking, they will use every tactic and every bit of the environment so you will) go back to the lure - its where you know the bird will go back to at some point. You can normally get a great catch shot once the falconer gives the end call by tracking the lure as its openly thrown in the air assuming it hasn't been caught already.

Take note of the environment. If for example the bird is making a high speed pass at low level to sneak up on the lure and misses it, it will then climb and turn to avoid trees and bushes. This is an ideal point as they slow in the turn.

Broadwings and eagles look better if you get the shot with the wings on the downward stroke as the tip feathers will bend upwards out the way. Easy to do as unless being worked hard they have a lazy flap.

If you are trying to get a launch shot off the glove wait for the rouse and signs that the bird is ready - Chris can give you more detail!

And finally, without teaching to suck eggs if its sunny dial in exposure comp or meter a bit of concrete. I say this because I had an awesome black kite set focused and composed perfectly ruined using eval metering. Spot metering doesn't always work because of the size of the target. Also the best focus point to use is just the centre one, its the most accurate and generally the fastest then crop to get the composition you want.
 
Cobra said:
And as above feed back appreciated if you get time (y)
Click to expand...

Had a great afternoon, (well up until gone 6:30pm actually!), Vince and his team did their utmost to help us get some good captures.
Now I have to say that I take my hat off to you guys that capture shots of flying birds, it was a whole new experience for me and incredibly challenging ... so challenging that one of the Eagle Owls actually got down onto the grass path and walked towards me so that I could get a few 'in focus' moving shots!
Just going through the vast number of shots I took and I've just come across one that strikes me as a keeper - Eagle Owl:-

owl.jpg


What d'ya think?
 
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cw318is said:
Broadwings and eagles look better if you get the shot with the wings on the downward stroke as the tip feathers will bend upwards out the way.
Click to expand...

If its a power stroke the tips will usually be close together to stop the
air slipping out, the wing tips are usually spread under braking.
There are a couple of examples below.

cw318is said:
If you are trying to get a launch shot off the glove wait for the rouse and signs that the bird is ready - Chris can give you more detail!
Click to expand...

BoP's before they go on the hunt be that live game or "artificial" quarry
will always
Rouse - Fluff themselves up and shake
Mute - crap
and preen - I guess we all know what that is :)
but not always in that order, though mute is generally the last thing to be done.

A display bird would have already been allowed to go through the routine
before being brought into the area.
The only other signs are to watch the falconer, they will hold the bird at arms length and either cast (throw)
the bird by bringing their arm back before
propelling the hawk,
or just very subtly tip their hand forward,
in an instant the hawk will half open its wings bend at the knees and and
launch itself off, the latter as I said, is very subtle and very quick.

Power, The tips are quite close to preserve energy and the train is folded to reduce drag

Power.jpg


Soaring Tail ( rudder) folded
The tips are spread a little to control the thermal and allow the wind
too pass through making very minor adjustments, rather like a pilot " feathering" the ailerons)

soar.jpg


Brakes
Wings wide open tips spread and train (tail feathers) right down,
This was a split second before the feet are thrown forward and the Hawk flips
up to the glove

incoming.jpg
 
What's the best focal length to use? Is there time to vary zoom length during a 'head on' flight or is it best to stay at one FL?
 
DSC_0274Medium.jpg



One of my poor attempts (comments welcomed)

Realspeed
 
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parkmoy said:
What's the best focal length to use? Is there time to vary zoom length during a 'head on' flight or is it best to stay at one FL?
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It,s not so much the zoom distance its more to do with shutter speed -and having a "fast lens" linked to frames per second (FPS) the camera can shoot at. I prefer a 70-200 mm f2.8 lens. A2 on my camera (focus priority) is what I use with the camera/lens on auto focus and the CH setting

Check out this video last third is birds in flight

http://www.photoanswers.co.uk/Video...iques/Chris-Weston-Bird-Photography-Workshop/

Realspeed
 
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Thanks for that, really helpful. I could have done with that last weekend trying to snap plummeting falcons!

I shall know for next time!



Cobra said:
A little about the behaviour of birds of prey at displays


are going to be moving at 80+ mph. Peregrines will easily "stoop" at well over100mph.
(Around 250 MPH is the "record" but the hawk was released from a
balloon and the falconer was several hundred feet below with a lure)
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Cobra said:
268 mph i think is the record for a perigrine...... incredibe speed!!!
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