GIFs (gulls :-)) - Jordan Lake Dam, NC: Nikon D7200 Nikon 70-300mm AF-P FX lens The (ring-billed) gulls fly pretty close to land near the dam, so very little cropping applied at 300mm.

srscary Loc: Cary, NC

Nikon D7200
Nikon 70-300mm AF-P FX lens

The (ring-billed) gulls fly pretty close to land near the dam, so very little cropping applied at 300mm.

Comments/critiques welcome.

Question : does spot or center-weighted metering work better than matrix metering for BIFs when single point auto-focus (continuous) is used? I know, experiment ... will do :-)

Ring-billed gull
Ring-billed gull...

(Download)

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

srscary wrote:

Nikon D7200
Nikon 70-300mm AF-P FX lens

The (ring-billed) gulls fly pretty close to land near the dam, so very little cropping applied at 300mm.

Comments/critiques welcome.

Question : does spot or center-weighted metering work better than matrix metering for BIFs when single point auto-focus (continuous) is used? I know, experiment ... will do :-)

Nice series. I find watching and photographing Gulls to be infinitely interesting! Added a few Gull shots. Thanx for sharing.

(Download)

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Good work, Ronnie! Thanks for sharing.

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

Well done! My experience is, if you can follow or track the BIF well then spot will work the best if there is not too much contrast, otherwise I use center weighted.

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

JeffDavidson wrote:

Well done! My experience is, if you can follow or track the BIF well then spot will work the best if there is not too much contrast, otherwise I use center weighted.

Very true. I use Spot Metering on BIF along with Group AF (Nikon). This time of year I find little contrast on these dark days gives AF fits!

Brucej67 Loc: Cary, NC

srscary wrote:

Nikon D7200
Nikon 70-300mm AF-P FX lens

The (ring-billed) gulls fly pretty close to land near the dam, so very little cropping applied at 300mm.

Comments/critiques welcome.

Question : does spot or center-weighted metering work better than matrix metering for BIFs when single point auto-focus (continuous) is used? I know, experiment ... will do :-)

I live in Cary as well and spend a lot of time at the dam, great place for ring neck gulls, blue herons and black vultures. I want to photograph the eagles when they come to the open area. I like your shot, I was there a week ago and got almost the same.

(Download)

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Wonderful talent you have

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

Nice gull BIFs. They aren't as hard to photograph as most.

srscary Loc: Cary, NC

Sinewsworn wrote:

Nice series. I find watching and photographing Gulls to be infinitely interesting! Added a few Gull shots. Thanx for sharing.

Thanks Timothy for your comment and your shares.

srscary Loc: Cary, NC

UTMike wrote:

Good work, Ronnie! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Mike for your feedback as always.

srscary Loc: Cary, NC

JeffDavidson wrote:

Well done! My experience is, if you can follow or track the BIF well then spot will work the best if there is not too much contrast, otherwise I use center weighted.

Thanks Jeff for your comments and advice.
I will try non-matrix metering during my next BIF outing.

srscary Loc: Cary, NC

Brucej67 wrote:

I live in Cary as well and spend a lot of time at the dam, great place for ring neck gulls, blue herons and black vultures. I want to photograph the eagles when they come to the open area. I like your shot, I was there a week ago and got almost the same.

Thanks Brucej67 for your comments and the share. That guy could be the cousin of the one I photographed in a similar pose :-)

I first became aware of this site from another UHH member's post recently. It will be great to see eagles. Please DM me if you visit and see any.

I did capture one GBH this weekend, but the picture wasn't that great.

srscary Loc: Cary, NC

joecichjr wrote:

Wonderful talent you have

Thank you very much joecichjr.

srscary Loc: Cary, NC

kpmac wrote:

Nice gull BIFs. They aren't as hard to photograph as most.

Thanks Ken for your feedback.

Yeah - the gulls are more orderly in their flying patterns then say, mockingbirds and robins that I have observed in my backyard. The latter seem to have random number generators wired into their brains!

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

srscary wrote:

Thanks Timothy for your comment and your shares.