Lapwings

[Daisy M]

First time of photographing birds in flight, so any hints on what I can do to improve would be appreciated. Hand held Sigma 150-600, so was a job following these fast birds, plus a fair distance away, so heavy crop.


4S7A3972 by David Miller, on Flickr

4S7A3985 by David Miller, on Flickr

4S7A3993 by David Miller, on Flickr

4S7A3991 by David Miller, on Flickr

4S7A3990 by David Miller, on Flickr

[Trev B]

Good set David, perhaps the flight shot could be improved with lifting the shadow a tad, think it might bring out some feather detail.

[Daisy M]

Thanks Trev.

[Bill53]

Nice set David, well captured.

[@imagesBV]

Good to see these....especially in flight, they make a great display......always see these nearby where its a bit flatter terrain.

[Brian Sugden]

Well captured David, though #1 looks a bit soft. As for flight shots I generally over expose by about 1 1/3 stops as the bright sky makes the meter under expose, hence the subject is dark. I see you used a 7DII, which I also use. I have one of the custom functions set for birds in flight. I've set auto ISO with a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec. AF is set to case 3 and safety shift is set to ISO. I hope this helps.

[tigerburnie]

A heavy long lens and birds in flight rarely seem to be spot on, your efforts are very good, I just practice a lot on gulls and crows and get my eye in, the 100-400 is an easier lens to swing about, I've tried using a tripod and gimble with my 500 lens, it works ok as long as the birds aren't too energetic, which would count the Lapwings out, they are magnificent fliers.

[Daisy M]

Thanks all & Brian will try to set up as advised.

[Colin W]

Well captured photos.

I have never photographed flying birds!

[leeperry]

You picked a difficult subject David, for BIF the lapwing is a very erratic flier. I found the Sigma 150-600mm lens a bit slow to AF for BIF.