Red Tailed Hawk perch sequence.
Sep 30, 2014 22:08:22 #
I've been wanting to get a shot of a red tailed hawk either landing or taking off, but I never seem to be in the right place, at the right time. Today, I happened to be in the right place, at the right time, but there are always complications.
Most of my bird pics are of birds in flight, and the background is usually very bright, clear sky. Today was no different. I was tracking a hawk, in the sky, when suddenly, it dipped below the horizon, giving me a dark hill for a background. I could not stop to change settings, so I kept tracking, hoping that the camera's settings would still allow me to save the shots. Going from bright sun to dark background screwed up my vision, temporarily, and I didn't even know if I had gotten a shot of the landing. In fact, my hiking partner had to point out where the bird had landed, because I couldn't see much.
Anyway, the shots were salvageable. Here is the sequence.
Most of my bird pics are of birds in flight, and the background is usually very bright, clear sky. Today was no different. I was tracking a hawk, in the sky, when suddenly, it dipped below the horizon, giving me a dark hill for a background. I could not stop to change settings, so I kept tracking, hoping that the camera's settings would still allow me to save the shots. Going from bright sun to dark background screwed up my vision, temporarily, and I didn't even know if I had gotten a shot of the landing. In fact, my hiking partner had to point out where the bird had landed, because I couldn't see much.
Anyway, the shots were salvageable. Here is the sequence.
Sep 30, 2014 22:15:59 #
Sep 30, 2014 22:33:39 #
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Sep 30, 2014 22:37:54 #
Anvil wrote:
I've been wanting to get a shot of a red tailed ha... (show quote)
You did a great job of tracking...nice flight captures :thumbup:
Sep 30, 2014 22:45:03 #
Thanks. I frequently practice tracking with the vultures. They are always up there.
Sep 30, 2014 23:21:58 #
Question: Did you set focus on manual in order to maintain focus on the bird during your sequence? Looks like bird remained at about the same distance from the camera during your shooting making manual focus possible.
Sep 30, 2014 23:41:08 #
No, I use AI Servo autofocus (Canon EOS 70D). I also use back button focusing. When I am shooting birds in flight, I use all focus points. When I am shooting anything else, I use single point focus.
I've experimented with several types of settings, when shooting BIFs. Currently, I use shutter priority, with a shutter speed of at least 1250. If the day is cloudy, I'll set my ISO to auto, but if it is sunny, I will settle on the lowest ISO setting I can get, while still maintaining my desired shutter speed. Currently, I'm also using spot metering, but I go back and forth between spot and evaluative. No matter what I do, when shooting BIFs, I always set the exposure compensation to +2/3. If I don't do that, all my BIF shots end up being underexposed, no matter what metering I use.
I've experimented with several types of settings, when shooting BIFs. Currently, I use shutter priority, with a shutter speed of at least 1250. If the day is cloudy, I'll set my ISO to auto, but if it is sunny, I will settle on the lowest ISO setting I can get, while still maintaining my desired shutter speed. Currently, I'm also using spot metering, but I go back and forth between spot and evaluative. No matter what I do, when shooting BIFs, I always set the exposure compensation to +2/3. If I don't do that, all my BIF shots end up being underexposed, no matter what metering I use.
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Oct 1, 2014 13:04:50 #
Anvil wrote:
No, I use AI Servo autofocus (Canon EOS 70D). I a... (show quote)
Thanks for the info Anvil, or is that Ansel?
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