A few photos

[AgingEyes]

I'm guessing this is a non-breeding adult golden crowned sparrow:




Yup, it's the northern harrier again:



Tree swallow:




Violet green swallow:




How do you know this is not a tree swallow?




Question: Is it possible to get a full-frame shot of a flying swallow without using any device to let the bird trigger the shutter?

[mn shutterbug]

Awesome shots. That last swallow looks like he's heading right for you and ready to take a bite out of you.

[Loupey]

Those violet green swallows are so cool looking!

[OldClicker]

"How do you know this is not a tree swallow?" No trees? Or, more likely, because the white goes up around the eyes.

Very nice shots.

TF

[paulnj]

"How do you know this is not a tree swallow?" No trees? Or, more likely, because the white goes up around the eyes.

Very nice shots.

TF

CORRECT!

Great shots, and I have never been able to get proper focus at 500mm more than 1/2 frame at best.

[A.M.D.A.]

Awesome work!

Yesterday I tried for the first time to shoot mid-air swallows (tree species), couldn't manage to get the 70-300mm's AF to lock long enough for me to react and push the friggin' button!!! :cryin: Don't even think about MF'ing...

These birds are just like miniature fighter jets in terms of agility/speed... guess I might need to somehow save up for a D300 + Ultrasonic-focus lens.

How do you take these shots? Any special "tricks"?

[AgingEyes]

Awesome work!

Thank you !

( Don't even think about MF'ing...

Perhaps Loupey could tell you a thing or two about that

These birds are just like miniature fighter jets in terms of agility/speed... guess I might need to somehow save up for a D300 + Ultrasonic-focus lens.

70-300 VR is fine. Here's an example at sunset of another violet green swallow shot with the 70-300 Friday :

How do you take these shots? Any special "tricks"?

AF, pan and track is what I still use. Some suggest MF pre-focus at minimum focusing distance of your lens. Let the bird fly to you and try to catch them. I suppose that means you have to start pressing the shutter button before the bird flies into the focused zone. I'm gonna try this next time. Sometimes AF may not be the best way to do it.

I have yet to get a good shot of those flying swallows without cropping a lot...showing good details in the final image like some photos of purple martin (which is bigger than tree swallows) I've seen. I think the swallows are too fast - at least for me - to get a full frame shot of them (to do that you have to get close to a few feet from them ) unless some traps or auto device is used to let the bird trigger the shutter button.

I am still practising and need more of it. Good thing is not all tree swallows are here yet. Then there will be cliff swallows, rough-winged swallows and, of course, the barn swallows

[scott-devon]

Super shots! I've tried getting some of those little rockets and never managed a decent one. Great job.

[Loupey]

Question: Is it possible to get a full-frame shot of a flying swallow without using any device to let the bird trigger the shutter?

What do you mean by full-frame? A shot that doesn't need any cropping or a shot that fills the frame by a single bird?

If you mean the latter, the DOF would be so shallow that the image wouldn't be worth the work.

If you mean the former, yes, and it takes a lot of work, luck, and knowledge of weather (wind speed and direction, sun angle, habitat).

As for species selection, I find barn swallows are the most difficult to capture. Tree swallows are not so bad. And northern rough-winged swallows to be the easiest. But those are the only three swallow species I have in my area.

[AgingEyes]

What do you mean by full-frame? A shot that doesn't need any cropping or a shot that fills the frame by a single bird?

If you mean the latter, the DOF would be so shallow that the image wouldn't be worth the work.

I mean the latter.

I've seen images of single swallow/purple martin posted on the net with very good details of the bird. I remember one was taken with 300mm ( and the photog said he was just 6 - 7 ft away from the swallow believe it or not) and others with 600mm. I personally think they're cropped, just may not be a lot. That to me is very good already

[Loupey]

I remember one was taken with 300mm ( and the photog said he was just 6 - 7 ft away from the swallow believe it or not) and others with 600mm. I personally think they're cropped, just may not be a lot. That to me is very good already

That's possible. I often have tree swallows circle above my head at about that distance. A couple times when the conditions were just right, I've had swallows pass by my head, at eye level, close enough that I didn't want to make sudden movements in fear that I might hit one (no joke). But I usually carry my 500mm now with a 15' minimum distance so I ignore the really close ones buzzing by.

[Loupey]

It took a bit of searching but I found a 300mm example at about that shooting distance.

The most difficult trick is that your rotational panning speed must accelerate as the bird approaches (i.e. panning speed is not a constant) in order to keep it in the frame. That's why so many of my BIF shots show the bird "leaving" the frame verses "entering" the frame.

[AgingEyes]

It took a bit of searching but I found a 300mm example at about that shooting distance.

The most difficult trick is that your rotational panning speed must accelerate as the bird approaches (i.e. panning speed is not a constant) in order to keep it in the frame.

Understood. But at that distance, the bird will looks very fast. Real fast. Question is: can the photog pan that fast and if the focus be kept locked on it? If we want a photo of the bird flying towards the camera more or less, to get a full frame shot of it with a 300mm, my calcuation (using wingspan of 15in) shows the photog should be about 6-7 ft from the bird. If it's a profile shot, then the bird has to be even closer to the photog giving that a swallow is only 5+ inches in length. Will the lens be able to focus that close is another issue there. Will it be easier to use a longer lens say a 600mm to do it? I don't know. But some people shot purple martin in flight hand-held a 500 and even a 600mm. They picked a good spot to do that though.

This (I might have posted it before) is also shot with a 300mm ( 300 f2.8 to be exact). Definitely not the full frame that I'm talking about but the closest and the best pan I've ever had shooting swallow in flight (with a fuji s5 if I'm not mistaken). Pure luck that it flew pretty close and somehow I managed to pan pretty well that time :




Is yours a rough-winged swallow?

[Loupey]

A bird in free-flight (not approaching/leaving a perch) will be tougher to pick off and isolate with a longer telephoto. If a camera/lens had enough resolution, it would be simple to shoot a BIF with a 50mm and simply crop it - you'll get the deeper DOF that way as well.

But isolating it while maintaining resolution, at this point, requires a longer telephoto. Perhaps the images your talking about with the purple martins were by photographers camped out near boxes? I don't know anything about purple martin flight patterns.

I saw some BIFs published in Nature Photographer that were all (or nearly all) shot as the birds approached their perch. The wing position is distinctive of an approach and not at all sleek and aerodynamic for which the species is known.


BTW - your shot is terrific. Mine is a female tree swallow (colors appear flat due to unedited RAW capture).

[AgingEyes]

A bird in free-flight (not approaching/leaving a perch) will be tougher to pick off and isolate with a longer telephoto. If a camera/lens had enough resolution, it would be simple to shoot a BIF with a 50mm and simply crop it - you'll get the deeper DOF that way as well.

Totally agreed !

Perhaps the images your talking about with the purple martins were by photographers camped out near boxes?

Yes. One of the tips I've got is to shoot near the nest. Also, purple martins are bigger than tree swallows.

I saw some BIFs published in Nature Photographer that were all (or nearly all) shot as the birds approached their perch. The wing position is distinctive of an approach and not at all sleek and aerodynamic for which the species is known.

Well, the birds slow down while approaching the perch. That makes certainly make it easier to shoot than one that is flying erratically foraging in mid-air Then again, the pose of the birds while landing looks better, too, in photos.

BTW - your shot is terrific.

Thanks ! Shot it last year. Just got the 300 f2.8 and so went try it out.

[Loupey]

This is the closest shot I could get this weekend with my 500mm (at about the closest focusing distance). This image is uncropped and was shot hand-held.

Again, not sure if it's worth the work. I think the factor which will make the biggest difference is the closest focusing distance of a particular lens and not the focal length. My 300mm would be able to get a larger subject size because I can get it to focus down to 4.9' compared to my 500mm at 15'.

And I had plenty of tree swallows racing by my head at about that distance.

[SmartWombat]

I don't feel so bad now, trying to fill the frame with my 300+1.4x wasn't working, so I reverted to the 70-200.

[AgingEyes]

This is the closest shot I could get this weekend with my 500mm (at about the closest focusing distance). This image is uncropped and was shot hand-held.

Very good !

Again, not sure if it's worth the work. I think the factor which will make the biggest difference is the closest focusing distance of a particular lens and not the focal length.

But then a lens with a longer focal length also has a narrower angle of view. In other words, it can have the object filled the frame without being as close as a shorter focal length lens needs to be. Difficulty is it's also harder to find the target and track it (especially for a fast small one). I haven't done any calculation on 500 and 600 and so I don't know how close they need to be to get a flying swallow fill the whole frame. I probably will try shooting with a 85mm again when I get the chance.


Here's some from this evening's practice. Not the sharpest but just never seen a swallow do that:



I have a couple more shots with the barn swallow looking at my direction.


How's this wing position:




Cropped. 300mm + 1.4 hand-held. Shot before sunset.

[Loupey]

These two new ones are both great! It's difficult getting them when they are eye-level or below eye-level - it takes a lot of patience.

Yeah, when they come close, they almost always have one eye on you - rarely are they actively feeding when they are in close - like they're curious why you're there.

I like how you caught the folded wings with the body turned 90-degrees. That wing position seen at the horizontal makes for the worst view - but yours in this rotated view makes it really different and interesting. He must have been banking and dropping at the same time.

Nice work :thumbsup: