How To Best Understand 61 Focus Points On Canon Camera

Bird photography, specifically photographing birds in flight require a lot of patience and practice. It is not only necessary to have the right photographic camera gear and the cognition to utilise them effectively just also to sympathize what settings work best under which circumstances and how to create beautiful bird photography compositions. In this commodity, I share with you the of import principles of photographing birds in flight. In addition, I expand on each principle.

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Choosing Your Equipment

If yous are merely getting started with photographing birds, the first step is to make sure that you accept the right photographic camera equipment. The correct equipment can make bird photography an enjoyable experience. Moreover, it can dramatically increment your chances of capturing the birds in activity. Here are a few things to consider when selecting the proper camera equipment for photographing birds in flight.

While merely about whatever lens and DSLR camera can be used to brand images of birds in flying, a fixed focal length lens such as a 300mm, 500mm or 600mm lens is a improve option over zoom lenses. Due to the optics configuration, these lenses are faster and sharper than their zoom counterparts.

Photographing birds in flight with 300mm + 2x teleconverter – Dark-brown Pelican

Camera with a faster frame rate gives you lot the advantage of capturing at a outburst rate, which produces images of the action in quick succession. This is ideal for capturing the rapid activity of birds which may be missed by a slower DSLR. Moreover, you volition take a choice of picking the best images from the drove.
Mounting a long lens and a camera on a tripod with a gimbal head is the best way to avoid camera shake and brand sharp images.
When shooting fast-moving erratic birds or when birds are coming from dissimilar directions, it is easier to motion and shoot mitt-holding. Using a tripod tin be restrictive. In this case try to shoot while hand holding your camera and lens. If possible, stabilize yourself against a railing or a wall. Hold the photographic camera and lens and tuck your elbows in firmly to remainder against the side of your chest.

I presently use the Canon IDX, 7D Marker II, and the 5D Mark 3 digital cameras. My photographic camera lens arsenal consists of Canon seventy-200 f/ii.8 IS Ii, Canon 300mm f/2.8 IS 2, and Canon 600mm f/4 IS II. I have access to 1.4x and 2.0x tele-converters, Wimberley WH 200 Gimbal head. I also use the Canon 7D's ingather sensor because information technology provides extra reach by allowing yous to extend your focal length without the utilise of a tele-converter.

Camera & Lens Settings

Once you have settled on your equipment, make sure that you know how to use it. Information technology is not only necessary to have the correct camera gear and the knowledge to use them effectively merely too to understand what settings work best under which circumstances. Here are photographic camera setting options for photographing birds in flying.

I adopt to shoot in AI Servo mode on Catechism (similar to AF-C or continuous manner on Nikon). When prepare to this mode, the camera continues to track and maintain focus on a moving subject area as long equally y'all proceed the shutter button pressed halfway down. I too set the photographic camera'due south bulldoze to High Speed continuous sshooting mode to capture maximum number of shots. This produces images of birds in quick succession and you capture many more intimate moments.

I also use manual exposure way when shooting birds against backgrounds of rapidly changing tonality. If you are in Discontinuity Priority manner and if the bird goes from being in the low-cal heaven to in front end of dark copse, the metering will cause the shutter speed to drop, leaving the bird overexposed. However in manual exposure mode, every bit long as the light is constant on the bird, the exposure on the bird will exist right regardless of the background.
Conversely, I prepare the camera to Discontinuity Priority mode when the calorie-free is irresolute and the background is of uniform and constant tonality. This works well when shooting birds against an evenly lit sky or when the birds are not flight and the light is constantly changing.
When first starting out in bird photography, I recommend that y'all employ the eye focus points to become the hang of tracking birds and shooting sharp images. As you ameliorate your skills, kickoff thinking virtually limerick and choosing different focus points and focus settings.

Select the iv surrounding focus points for photographing birds in flight.

On Canon DSLR press the AF point selection push and, from the available options, choose the Expand AF Area with the four surrounding focus points activated (as seen in the paradigm above). This works well for flight and action photography. On a Nikon DSLR, depending on the camera, y'all can choose to select the dynamic nine, 11, 21, 31, or 51 AF points, which piece of work together. The 3D tracking on Nikon works well if the bird is against a solid groundwork (clear blue sky).
As a rule of thumb, for freezing action or birds in flight, the shutter speed should be at least equally much as the focal length of the lens. If you are shooting with a 600mm lens, it should be at ane/600sec or higher. A shutter speed in backlog of 1/1250 sec is platonic.
- Freezing motion of birds in flight with fast shutter speed
- Creative use of shutter speed for bird photography – Painted Stork
However for creative shooting and showing a sense of movement, shoot in manual mode and choose a slower shutter speed, and pan along as the bird goes past. Start by setting the ISO to a lower number and gear up the discontinuity to 1/30sec.
For avant-garde shooters, I recommend using dorsum button focusing setting on your photographic camera. In this technique, you assign one of the dorsum buttons (AF-ON) for focusing and leave the shutter button with only the task of taking the final image.

Activating back push focus setting on Canon DSLR Camera

Why use two fingers instead of 1? When you use the shutter button for focusing likewise as capturing the image, there is a higher possibility to let go off the shutter before the concluding capture. This can often happen with a fast flying erratic bird which may cause you to feel some camera shake while panning. With the dorsum button function, the focus is maintained fifty-fifty if y'all let go of the focus button.

Pre-focus your camera lens

Nigh zoom and fixed focal length lenses are not that good at searching long distances to notice the bird. Most oft photographers are shooting birds that are at or flying from dissimilar distances. Let'south say that you lot just got washed photographing a Cormorant that was 5 meters away, your lens is pre-focused at that, and suddenly a goose flies past at a altitude of 30 meters. In this scenario, you lot volition not be able to locate the goose in the viewfinder in time. To deal with these situations, it is all-time to identify the flying path and manually focus to 30 meters then let the lens acquire focus. Keep in mind, if your discipline is moving towards you likewise fast, the automatic focus organisation in your photographic camera will not be able to keep up with the movement when your subject is moving direct towards yous. In this situation, it is best to focus on a spot through which the discipline will pass through. Then, when the subject area is nearly to reach that spot, showtime shooting in AI Servo or continuous mode until the subject area is past the focus point.

Bird photography – Low flying bar-headed goose

For minor birds consistently landing on the same perch this pre-focusing technique combing with loftier speed drive mode work very well to photograph birds in activeness.

Creating a Composition

Later on equipment and camera settings, nosotros demand to think about composition to capture some stunning bird photos in activeness. As with any other nature photos, photography composition tin mean the divergence between taking a photograph and making an prototype that makes your viewer get WOW. Here are few applied ideas for photographing birds in flight:

Bird photography of Sandhill Crane coming in for landing placed off center

Avoid putting the bird in the heart of the frame. Use focus points to help place the bird off center. Give the bird more than space in the direction it is flying and call up about the rule of thirds.
Look for opportunities where the bird makes an eye contact with the camera. This makes the image visually much more engaging.

Photographing birds with their environment behind them

Aim to photograph birds in flight with their habitat included in the background. This gives some indication of their environment and habitat. Moreover, such a background makes the overall epitome much more visually appealing.

Photographing birds using a vertical grip – Waved Albatross

For birds that are banking in your management, utilize the vertical grip available on high-end DSLR'southward to create vertical compositions. We are generally used to shooting horizontal frames. Switching to the vertical grip may not exist intuitive in the beginning but with practice, it volition go easier.

Best Fourth dimension for Photographing Birds

Early on morning and late afternoons are the best time to shoot considering you have the best quality of light. Also, these are the times when birds are well-nigh active looking for feed or preening themselves. They truly look divine in that light. That beingness said, I also strongly believe that relying completely on a front-lit field of study tin produce rather redundant and tedious images. I ofttimes similar to photograph birds with the source of light behind them. For example, I like creating moody images past shooting silhouettes. You tin also try side-lit subjects and, on overcast days, the use of make full flash.

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Getting Started

If you are serious about agreement birds and about learning to photograph them then the best place to brainstorm is in your ain backyard. By merely creating a bird-friendly environment with a feeder and birdbath, yous can capture the moods and beliefs of birds. This is a good way to improve your technical and limerick skills without having to brand a substantial investment in travel.

All of the recommendations mentioned in a higher place are meant to help you better your skills for photographing birds in flight. Please note that I don't merits that these are the merely ways to shoot. I suggest that every bird photographer do three things. Read their photographic camera and lens manual carefully, follow the tips in this article, and develop their own shooting mode. It is also important to spend fourth dimension observing the bird's beliefs. Birds volition almost always behave in a certain style before the activeness is nearly to happen. Anticipating the activity is the key to the critical timing of the shot. Finally, patience is the key to success.

Now that you have a clear agreement of the skills needed to make images of birds in flying expect creative and visually pleasing to your audience.

About Author Gaurav Mittal

Gaurav Mittal is a professional person bird lensman and a blogger who grew upwards with a passion for nature and wildlife in his native birthplace of New Delhi, India. Gaurav migrated to the U.Due south. at the age of fifteen. After completing his college, he pursued a career in taxation consulting in the Washington D.C. expanse. It was, however the love for the birds that eventually brought the focus back in his life and a determination to follow his middle, to be a bird photographer. Gaurav's passion for photographing birds began in 2011 in Bosque Del Apache, New United mexican states where observing the Sandhill Cranes brought a sense of harmony and a new vision to him. A moment he captured and fondly calls, "Kissed in The Mist" left him with a vision to continue on farther and explore and learn about birds and how he can present their beauty through photography. His desire to be a top class bird photographer has led him to places such every bit Bharatpur, Bosque, Alaska, New York, Costa Rica and Florida.

Source: https://visualwilderness.com/fieldwork/a-beginners-guide-for-photographing-birds-in-flight

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