The most difficult bird to photograph in flight...

In my opinion, after making many unsuccessful attempts, I vote for the Swallows; Tree and Barn variety where I live.
I have seen MANY great captures in this forum of them and have been super jealous! Once again, I took another attempt at serious practice on Sunday.
There were tons flying around so I got plenty of it.
Seen here are the only decent ones I got out of maybe 200.
I did seem to get a little better as time went by, but I also learned that my lens just can't keep up with focusing.
I would have the Swallow large in my frame and it wouldn't focus! It was pretty frustrating. :cryin:

This first shot is poor, but I was excited to finally find a Tree Swallow nest! I was hanging around what I call "The Heron Tree" watching for GBH's when I spotted it. You can see Dad resting out on the limb between food runs. Look closely and you can see Mom poking her head out of the hole in the tree. :D

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_1.jpg

Pops striking a pose.

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_2.jpg

So for the next couple hours, I had a blast trying my best to improve my Swallow BIF's...

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_3.jpg

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_4.jpg

Shooting in the middle of a field was a riot. They didn't mind at all that I was there and were flying all around me catching the early evening bugs. They would ZOOM really close past and over me... so close I couldn't shoot them! I was laughing out loud at this point. I must have looked like a crazy women. Cursing at my lens one second and then laughing the next.

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_5.jpg

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_6.jpg

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_7.jpg

A Barn Swallow joining in...

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...rn_Swallow.jpg


Not sure what kind this one is. Is it a female or juvenile of some sort?

http://gallery.photographyreview.com...0/Not_Sure.jpg


Final tries. Think I'm getting better, but sure would help if I had a faster focusing lens.

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_8.jpg

http://gallery.photographyreview.com..._Sparrow_9.jpg

Please bear in mind, these are fairly heavily cropped so.... :rolleyes:


Kristine

Swallows are SO hard to get in flights of.

I think the brown one is a rough wing swallow.

I love to watch swallows but when I try to imagine photographing them in flight, I know I'm not up to the task even if my equipment is.
That third one and the unknown kind one look pretty sharp.
My favorite part is imagining a woman in a field, laughing as she tries to focus on swallows in flight.

Thanks :)

Hi Kristine,
These photos are great, you did well and the story really adds the perfect touch.

I'm not sure they make a lens, at any cost, that focus's fast enough for most BIF.
I found unless I can fill the viewfinder with the subject the lens will search.

I take 150-200 shots to get 10 good ones. I think that's normal for BIF shooting.

Thanks for sharing theses.