Congratulations of showing us some very fine small bird in flight photos!!!! Care to share some settings of techniques?

Yum! Nice shot!

Most of Canon's lenses, including this one are "Tripod Aware" so IS on or off is not a concern. Canon does, however, suggest leaving IS on when using long lenses if there could be any camera movement caused by wind or movement of the structure the tripod is set up on. It would also be effective if here is any camera movement caused by the photographer when he releases the shutter.

For those of you who are suggesting the 1/focal length rule for minimum shutter speed: that is the rule of thumb for hand held shots, not tripod mounted shots. In this instance, the 1/100 sec shutter speed may have been too slow to stop subject motion. Yes 1/500 would have been better and is this case would have required either a much higher ISO or the addition of light (strobes or reflectors) to accomplish. With the Canon 7D MkII, I rarely shoot above ISO 800 unless forced to do so as the detail robbing noise gets too great for my taste. Yes ISOs like 1600 or 3200 are useable sometimes based on the end use of the shot and how much cropping there will be.

This is the type of shot where you will have to make compromises as the light is not optimal. No matter what you do there will be trade offs that the photographer will need to deal with on the spot. That is part of the joy of photography...there may not be one right way to do something!

The 70-200L should be plenty sharp with the 2.0 extender on it. Some things to consider are:
1. You are shooting at f/5.6 which is wide open when using the extender. Lenses are not at their best wide open.
2. At 1/100 sec, subject motion can be a problem with these small birds and that can contribute to your problem.
3. at 560mm (the effective focal length) any vibration of the camera when shooting can cause some blur. Use a remote release.
4. ISOs between the multiples of 100, 200, 400, 800 can be a little more noisy due to digital enhancement thus robbing you of sharpness.
5. Depth of Field is very shallow at higher focal lengths, especially wide open. Always focus on the bird's eye. Move the focus point if you have the time.
6. Are you shooting at maximum resolution? Shooting at lower resolutions will not give the detail you want.
7. Is this photo cropped? If so, how much. This photo looks a bit noisy. Have you applied any noise filter or sharpened it?

Ed

I own the older 100-400 mm Canon lens and it is my go to for birds in flight. It is relatively light in weight and is sharp as heck. I happen to like the push pull zoom. Some don't care for it. The one downside is that it tends to inhale some dust that builds up over time. It doesn't seem to affect image quality and is easily cleaned by knowledgeable technicians. Most of the shots I have posted in the Birds in Flight/Birds on water forum were taken with that lens. It is very reasonable in price these days since it has been supplanted by the MkII. It is well worth your consideration.

Ibis's don't change direction or speed very much in flight. They may swing around to come into the wind when landing but that's about it. They can be framed more tightly than a bird like a tern that is likely to be quite erratic. With experience, you will begin to judge how tight to get....just keep practicing!

Professionals who shoot sports usually shoot with their lens wide open. In your case that would be f/2.8. They do this because they want the shallow depth of field so that the subject stands out from the background. You don't state which canon camera body you are using but I surmise that because it has a "Sports" setting it is one of the t-X ii series.

If you are just learning to drive a car as a teenager, would you want to learn on an automatic or a stick? Automatic, of course as this lets you concentrate on controlling where the car is going and what traffic around you is doing without the added confusion of shifting gears and working a clutch. Learning to drive manual shift can come later. The same is true with photography. Despite what many have told you, there is no reason not to use an automatic mode while you are learning to handle the camera, get your subject in focus and in the middle of the frame.

When shooting lacrosse, and I have done a lot of it, set your camera to Av (aperture priority) f/2.8, ISO 100 and let the camera pick a shutter speed. I can almost guarantee in bright sun you will be shooting at 1/2000 more than enough to stop the action. On a cloudy day, increase your ISO to 400 or even 800 to maintain the high shutter speed. Use AI-Servo autofocus (tracking focus) and, If your camera allows, use a small cluster of AF points in the center. If your camera only has 9 AF points, use them all.

If you keep the sun pretty much behind you, you will get well exposed shots.

After you have gotten some experience then you can start playing around with exposure compensation or using manual settings. You will know when you are ready when you start to recognize that certain situations require adjustments in exposure such as backlit situations or where the subject is in shade and the background is very bright.

Don't fall into the trap that says you must learn how to shoot manual right out of the gate. I have several friends who take great pictures using complete auto settings. Do they miss some shots? Yup, but that doesn't stop them from enjoying what they are doing. When you feel ready, get a copy of Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure". It is one of the best books out there to help you understand all the manual controls you have available.

Professionals who shoot sports usually shoot with their lens wide open. In your case that would be f/2.8. They do this because they want the shallow depth of field so that the subject stands out from the background. You don't state which canon camera body you are using but I surmise that because it has a "Sports" setting it is one of the t-X ii series.

If you are just learning to drive a car as a teenager, would you want to learn on an automatic or a stick? Automatic, of course as this lets you concentrate on controlling where the car is going and what traffic around you is doing without the added confusion of shifting gears and working a clutch. Learning to drive manual shift can come later. The same is true with photography. Despite what many have told you, there is no reason not to use an automatic mode while you are learning to handle the camera, get your subject in focus and in the middle of the frame.

When shooting lacrosse, and I have done a lot of it, set your camera to Av (aperture priority) f/2.8, ISO 100 and let the camera pick a shutter speed. I can almost guarantee in bright sun you will be shooting at 1/2000 more than enough to stop the action. On a cloudy day, increase your ISO to 400 or even 800 to maintain the high shutter speed. Use AI-Servo autofocus (tracking focus) and, If your camera allows, use a small cluster of AF points in the center. If your camera only has 9 AF points, use them all.

If you keep the sun pretty much behind you, you will get well exposed shots.

After you have gotten some experience then you can start playing around with exposure compensation or using manual settings. You will know when you are ready when you start to recognize that certain situations require adjustments in exposure such as backlit situations or where the subject is in shade and the background is very bright.

Don't fall into the trap that says you must learn how to shoot manual right out of the gate. I have several friends who take great pictures using complete auto settings. Do they miss some shots? Yup, but that doesn't stop them from enjoying what they are doing. When you feel ready, get a copy of Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure". It is one of the best books out there to help you understand all the manual controls you have available.

Keep up the good work, Mike! As I have said many times before, shooting BIFs is a skill that takes some practice before you get proficient. One thing that helps me is, when using a zoom lens, you can zoom out to locate the bird in the viewfinder and then zoom in to frame the bird being careful not to frame too tight. That will allow some movement of the bird in the frame without cutting off a wing or tail.

Chaman,

Thanks for the comments. Purple Martins have iridescent blue/purple colors that do not show up well in flat light such as I had when I was shooting. In fact they can look rather black. A little extra exposure brought out the color but, as you have noted, leaves them looking a bit washed out. Extra saturation does make them pop but, to my eye, they look unnatural. What I came up with was a compromise that I can live with. The post was intended to be more about getting practice in tracking and focusing on small birds rather than making wall hangers.

As an aside, blue color in birds as well as iridescence is what is know as structural color. "There is no blue or purple pigment involved. Blue and iridescent colors in birds are never produced by pigments, however. They are "structural colors." The blues are produced by minute particles in the feather that are smaller in diameter than the wavelength of red light. These particles are able to influence only shorter wavelengths, which appear blue, and are "scattered" -- reflected in all directions. Thus structural blue colors remain the same when they are viewed at different angles in reflected light. If, however, they are viewed by transmitted light (that is, with the feather between the light source and the observer), the blue disappears.
Iridescent colors are produced by differential reflection of wavelengths from highly modified barbules of the feathers that are rotated so that a flat surface faces the incoming light. The detailed structure of the barbule reflects some wavelengths and absorbs others, and the reflected wavelength changes with the angle of reflection. The structural color is registered by the eye in response to the reflected wavelengths and changes with the angle formed by the light, the reflecting surface, and the eye." - Stanford University, the color of birds.

One of the things all BIF photographers need to do is practice their skills. Over the Memorial Day weekend I spent a few hours at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge near Seneca Falls, NY. The wildlife drive was so crowded that I decided to get in some shots of the Purple Martins coming and going to their nesting colony near the visitors center. There was a lot of activity as it is early in the breeding season with birds carrying nesting material and changing places brooding already laid eggs while the mate went out to forage.

It was an overcast day hence the white backgrounds. This also meant that I was shooting at less than optimal settings. I like to shoot, in bright sun, at 1/2000, f/8 and ISO 800. I found myself shooting at 1/1250 at f/ 6.3, not the best aperture for my 100-400 Mk I and not quite fast enough to stop the action. I don't like to shoot at a higher ISO as that introduces too much noise with my 7D Mk II. You make do with what nature gives you.

I prefer the higher shutter speed as these are smaller birds that move quickly and somewhat erratically and therefor are hard to keep centered in the frame. For autofocus, I used all 65 points with the center point as the initiating point which works well against the clear sky. On the 7D Mk II this is available only when in AI-Servo AF. I also used autofocus Case 5 which is for" erratic subjects moving quickly in any direction". For those of you using Canon 1, 5 and 7 series cameras you will know what I mean. This allows me to tailor the AF system's tracking sensitivity, AF point switching speed and sensitivity to speed changes.

Martins, as well as other birds, fly into the wind as they come in for a landing. So all I needed to do was to watch for an approaching bird, get it in my viewfinder early and begin tracking it. As soon as the bird was large enough in the frame I would focus on it using Back Button Focusing and began shooting using the high speed continuous setting.

I ended up shooting about 600 frames, kept 75. The discards were either out of focus, poor angles like butt shots, or duplicates. Here are 4 that I hope you enjoy.

I encourage all of you to get out and practice your skill set. Find a Martin colony, a flock of seagulls, or terns and just try different settings to see what works for you!

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I own the 7D Mk II and it doesn't rattle. Call canon tech service for help.

Well done! Sandhill Cranes are magnificent birds to see and photograph!

Continuous autofocus is what is called for for BIF's: AF-C in Nikonese, AI_Servo in Canon speak. I usually use just a small cluster of AF points at the center of the viewfinder. Pick one bird and focus on it.

Mike, Welcome to the BIF/BOW section. Pretty pretty darn good for a first post!!!! Oyster catchers are pretty common along the southern Jersey shore. What aperture did you use for this shot? Remember, DOF is limited with these long lenses. In this case the camera seems to have focussed on the near wing leaving the eye just slightly out of focus. a little more DOF would have helped. i often use f/8 as that seems to be enough at the distance we are usually shooting BIF's,

Ed