hobbit123 Loc: Brisbane, Australia

Out of eighty photos this is the only one not going into the recycle bin. I can't believe how difficult it is to get everything right...

(Download)

Silverman Loc: Michigan

What Camera settings did you use, I as an amateur am interested in taking Photos of Birds in flight.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Nice image. Birds in flight take lots of practice. I suggest you start with large slow-flying birds. Are you set up for back button focus? How about auto ISO? I recommend Steve Perry's ebooks. They are filled with easy to understand info. By the way; you'll always have lots of culls.

hobbit123 Loc: Brisbane, Australia

Thanks for the encouragement. Yes I'm using back button autofocus (from a Steve Perry YouTube video) and auto ISO. For this particular shot my settings were 170mm focal length, 1/5000th sec, f/2.8, ISO320 (Auto ISO). I have no idea how the 1/5000th got to be selected because I didn't intentionally choose it. I thought I had it set to 1/640th :-) because I wasn't actually aiming to shoot birds in flight. When I pressed the shutter button this bird was actually sitting on the post. It was an accident :-)

krashdragon

Dont knock it, sometimes accidents make good photos. You just proved it.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Definitely a keeper!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Your D500 is a good action camera and bird photography takes a lot of practice and you will still have a lot of discarded shots, esp of birds in flight. That is where digital is great and burst shooting is your friend. You have a good start, keep it up. There are some good tutorials and books on bird photography. One of the first important things is location and field of view without stuff in the way and where you can get close. I have a popup hunting blind I use in my yard and other places. In the yard I fill the feeders, go in the blind and sit quietly thinking nice thoughts or reading and a lot of the birds forget I am there and come back to chow down as close as 4-5 feet from the blind. It has screened windows on all three sides that can be unzipped and the screen dropped and the door on the fourth side and you can unzip part of it so the top half becomes another window. I put a piece of scrap plywood for a floor and have an old office swivel chair to sit and I can turn to look out any of the windows. Actually I have had birds only two feet away, but on the top of the blind over my head. All I could do was watch the canvas dimple as they walked around and listen to them. Even worse than the butterfly that landed on my lens hood once, at least I could see and watch the butterfly.

Then if you want a real challenge try Bees In Flight. I was taking pictures of bees in my yard last week. About 225 shots of bees landing on, taking off or circling flowers and by the time I culled the out of focus, partial bees, plants in the way or bee butts when they changed direction I was down to 19 and half of those are sitting on a flower, 10 or so shots I took of just the flowers, I had 7 keepers.

hobbit123 Loc: Brisbane, Australia

Thanks for the tips. 7 from 225 makes me feel a whole lot better :-)

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

angler Loc: StHelens England

Nice shot.

crafterwantabe Loc: Mn

Very nice

water falls Loc: Green Bay,Wi

Great shot!

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

You are starting down a slippery slope. Bird photography can be a very addictive endeavor. Not only will you spend hours and hours turning into months and months trying for that great capture, but you can possibly drain your bank account seeking longer lenses and faster cameras. Just be prepared.

A couple of suggestions, believe it or not, having your camera set at 1/5000 was not a bad thing. I would actually suggest starting there, having your lens as open as possible and setting the ISO accordingly to get good exposures. That faster shutter speed will give you better results to begin with even though you may see a bit of noise in your images due to the associated high ISOs. Depending on your personal tastes, try to shoot with the sun at your back in the morning and evening. With the sun overhead, lighting can be a problem and early and late light provide better illumination. Back button focus I think is simply a personal preference. I used in for some time, but stopped to keep the variables down. I was loosing shots because I didn't have the button properly depressed to have the focus active. With shutter button focusing you take that variable out of the equation. And take the time to look at other folks images. Fighure out what you like about the image, and what's wrong with the image. Try to figure out what is it you like, and dislike. That will help lead you to what you are seeking. For a few, take a look at the photography of Artie Morris, Denise Ippolito and Chris Dodds (there are hundreds more), but each has their own style but all good. But most important, get our and shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. I could go on and on but good luck and have fun!

agillot

am using a 800 older lens , all manual .for small birds in the bush , 800 is the minimum [ on a crop sensor ] due to the distance and birds shyness .i start at f11 / 1000 sec / iso 500 in sun light , and modifie from there when needed .nothing wrong to hand focus birds not flying .

Rich Maher Loc: Sonoma County, CA

Nice shot. As you have discovered they're not all keepers.
Just keep on clicking.