Black-neck Stilts in-flight: My first attempt at getting these Stilts in-flight. Not perfect, but glad to get these shots off. I like their bright pink long legs against their white...

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

My first attempt at getting these Stilts in-flight. Not perfect, but glad to get these shots off.
I like their bright pink long legs against their white and black coloring.
They are fairly loud (sounds a bit like killdeer).

Downloads are recommended. Hope you like these.

(Download)

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Good job, jd! I like them!

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

Retired CPO wrote:

Good job, jd! I like them!

Thank you Chief

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

The captures are good. Birds in flight are difficult to get perfect and you will go through a lot of "film" to learn this skill. Two questions for you. Why do you choose to have the pictures so dark? Why did you crop the pictures so tightly?

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

Nice series

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

JeffDavidson wrote:

Nice series

Thanks Jeff

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

abc1234 wrote:

The captures are good. Birds in flight are difficult to get perfect and you will go through a lot of "film" to learn this skill. Two questions for you. Why do you choose to have the pictures so dark? Why did you crop the pictures so tightly?

Thanks for your comments.
I hadn't realized how dark they look until i looked again.
I do tend to crop close, perhaps closer than I should.
Here's one of the shots that I re-processed. I like how this turned out better than my first uploads. I will work on redoing the others.
I am learning.

(Download)

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

jdtonkinson wrote:

Thanks for your comments.
I hadn't realized how dark they look until i looked again.
I do tend to crop close, perhaps closer than I should.
Here's one of the shots that I re-processed. I like how this turned out better than my first uploads. I will work on redoing the others.
I am learning.

A world of difference. I can really appreciate the birds now. Still cropped too closely. I would make the frame less panoramic and more space on the left. The lead stilt seems to be flying out of the picture or into a brick wall. You might also want to see how a little negative vignette might help.

Auto-focus is a bear for birds in flight. If you set it to full-frame, the sky confuses it. If set on spot, tracking the birds can be extremely difficult. The only thing that works for you is that the depth of field is so great that it may make up for focusing errors. You might try manual focus set at infinity. I like using a tripod too.

Keep practicing on both your shooting and processing. And keep posting. You will get there.

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

abc1234 wrote:

A world of difference. I can really appreciate th... (show quote)

Ok thanks again for your suggestions. I'll keep working on it.
I do have issues with focusing when in flight.

Hanson

I will try manual focus set at infinity too.

hettmoe Loc: Rural ND

Very nice!

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

hettmoe wrote:

Very nice!

Thank you

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

I don't know what Nikon calls it but set your camera to use "expanded central spot". That uses about 9 focus points near the center of the viewfinder (or wherever you move them) to focus. Single point to too hard to keep on the subject and, as you have found out, using full frame can confuse the camera. Manual on infinity is not the answer as depth of field is very limited with a long lens. A 400 MM lens, at f/10 on your D800E at 60 feet has only about 5" of DOF! Also, check to see if your lens has a focus limit switch. You may be able to help the lens if it doesn't have to run through the entire focus range from minimum focus distance to infinity.....something like 30' to infinity....

jdtonkinson Loc: Red Wing, MN

birdpix wrote:

I don't know what Nikon calls it but set your came... (show quote)

Thank you very much. I have a choice of Single, 9-point, 21-point or 51-point, plus auto. I will try the 9-point next. I tried adjusting my aperture to F11 hoping to get more dof.
I have a lot to learn, but trying

abc1234 Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois

jdtonkinson wrote:

Thank you very much. I have a choice of Single, 9-point, 21-point or 51-point, plus auto. I will try the 9-point next. I tried adjusting my aperture to F11 hoping to get more dof.
I have a lot to learn, but trying

Depth of field is not an issue as I said in my earlier post. The birds are far enough away that you can set the distance to infinity or the hyperfocal distance. You can set the aperture to wide-open or two stops down for a bit more sharpness. Probably will not matter much. That way, you can increase the shutter speed for less movement blur or decrease the ISO for less noise.