Bird in flight

Cheesewheel · Mar 25, 2007

Camera Model
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT
Shooting Mode
Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed )
1/50
Av( Aperture Value )
5.6
Metering Mode
Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed
100
Lens
70.0 - 300.0mm
Focal Length
300.0mm
Flash
Off
White Balance Mode
Auto
AF Mode
Manual focusing

I've never been that good with capturing flying birds, but this is my best shot. I'm pretty sure 1/50 was a tad slow for an action shot, but the sun was hiding

Is that pretty much the only thing I did wrong here?

The_Traveler · Mar 26, 2007

great use of dof but, unfortunately, bird is too OOF

Cheesewheel · Mar 26, 2007

Yeah, I have a ways to go before I can manually focus moving targets. Thanks for your comment!

shorty6049 · Mar 26, 2007

hope you dont mind, i played aroudn with it in PS, here's what i got, let me know if you dont want me editing it.

Cheesewheel · Mar 26, 2007

shorty6049 said:
hope you dont mind, i played aroudn with it in PS, here's what i got, let me know if you dont want me editing it.

No, feel free to edit it! It looks much sharper. How did you manage that?

blatalllic · Mar 26, 2007

Looks like he did a unmask sharpen....I bet its very difficult shooting moving objects...

shorty6049 · Mar 26, 2007

yeah, thats right, i used unsharp mas on it, as well as the smart sharpen, then I overlaid the original file and erased where the bird was so the background which was supposed to be blurry wouldnt appear sharpened

JustAMom · Mar 26, 2007

wow great tips shorty!!!

LaFoto · Mar 27, 2007

Yes. You are right: 1/50 sec. is too slow a shutter speed for this kind of action shot. But I like what ElShorty did with your pic and will have to read through his description of how he did this (mostly so: how he eliminated the motion blur around the wings) in his edition!!! Very good. (My ancient PS does not have "Smart Sharpen" though, hmph).

I certainly like the motion blur in the background, and you did well in your panning! I have not come this far as yet, my bird-in-flight pics all go blurred all over. I cannot refocus manually fast enough. Ugh. Bird gone! Whoosh.