backyard birds in flight with wide angle

[profesrp]

sharing is caring, looking for positive critique of birds in flight. im using the om-5 with m.zuiko 12-40mm pro lens and procapture. i have bird feeders for the small songbirds in my garden and wanted to photograph them, but small gardens are small spaces so no big telephoto lenses. i came across some youtube videos addressing my particular wants, so i built props and lured the little bullets in. immediately i realised the problems i would face, DoF! the birds move so fast that even getting em in focus is hard enough but sometimes their wing tips are soft, DoF is measured in mm's, yikes! so here are a couple images for your critique. thanks for your imput

 

[Digger...]

G'day there, birds in flight aren't the easiest to capture. Use continuous servo to track there movement with the shutter on high speed.

You've done well with these 2, what species are they?

 

[Jeff15]

Hello and welcome. Very nice shots but number two for me ...

 

[profesrp]

G'day there, birds in flight aren't the easiest to capture. Use continuous servo to track there movement with the shutter on high speed.

You've done well with these 2, what species are they?

thanks, they are great tits, common in britain, fast as lightning! i use procapture on the om camera, same as your con servo. out of 900 images i kept 10

 

[Overread]

Getting shots that close and with only 40mm to work with those birds will indeed be like lightning to photograph. You might actually find a modest telephoto will help, getting you a bit further from the bird and giving you a bit more room to work with and a little more depth of field.

The other option is to use a higher ISO and close your aperture down to a smaller f number so that you've got that greater depth whilst retaining enough shutterspeed. If you're already using lures and props you might also find a diffused off-camera flash helps for the lighting as well.

 

[MitchP]

Very nice shots!

 

[Woolsocks]

The other method is to use manual focus and burst shooting. But I can't see anything you got. The resolution is so tiny after first zoom.

 

[Bill in Texas]

sharing is caring, looking for positive critique of birds in flight. im using the om-5 with m.zuiko 12-40mm pro lens and procapture. i have bird feeders for the small songbirds in my garden and wanted to photograph them, but small gardens are small spaces so no big telephoto lenses. i came across some youtube videos addressing my particular wants, so i built props and lured the little bullets in. immediately i realised the problems i would face, DoF! the birds move so fast that even getting em in focus is hard enough but sometimes their wing tips are soft, DoF is measured in mm's, yikes! so here are a couple images for your critique. thanks for your imput

Nicely captured.