Black Kite in flight

lostprophet · Jun 17, 2008

Some shots of Black Kites in flight

CLICK IMAGES FOR HIGH RES VERSIONS

K8-90 · Jun 17, 2008

Wow, that first was is spectacular! Love the last, too!

saltface · Jun 17, 2008

I agree, one and three are great. Two would be better if the primary flight feathers weren't all skewampus.

cszakolczai · Jun 17, 2008

wow... those are amazing what kind of equipment are you shooting with?

Bifurcator · Jun 17, 2008

Yeah, these are awesome! It's extremely difficult (for me at least) to get shots like this - unless he decides to do his maneuvers only a few meters away from me that is.

I like 1 and 2 best. 2 is especially interesting because I think it shows how the design (of the bird) reacts to and deals with stress. I know, I'm a hopeless engineer - I can't help it.

BTW, the owls on your hardpoint site are magnificent!!!

Are these taken using tracking? If so what camera body is this?

BoblyBill · Jun 17, 2008

A couple of questions here Andy... What shooting mode do you use to get sharp focuses? For excample, when set on AI servo and AF point selection is set to auto does the camera do a good job of getting the focus right? Or do you select a specific AF point and track the object with that point while keeping it in AI servo. Oooor.... do you set your camera on manual focus and just hit a continous burst until the object goes through your DOF (a much harder way of getting good shots it would seem to me)?

BoblyBill · Jun 17, 2008

Bifurcator said:
Yeah, these are awesome! It's extremely difficult (for me at least) to get shots like this - unless he decides to do his maneuvers only a few meters away from me that is.

I like 1 and 2 best. 2 is especially interesting because I think it shows how the design (of the bird) reacts to and deals with stress. I know, I'm a hopeless engineer - I can't help it.

BTW, the owls on your hardpoint site are magnificent!!!

Are these taken using tracking? If so what camera body is this?

I'm pretty sure he is using his Canon 1D Mark II and possibly a 300mm L with an extender 2X am I right Andy?...

An engineer you say? What type?

Bifurcator · Jun 17, 2008

BoblyBill said:
I'm pretty sure he is using his Canon 1D Mark II and possibly a 300mm L with an extender 2X am I right Andy?...

An engineer you say? What type?

Ah, thanks for the camera details! It'll be interesting to find out the operational mode.

Engineer - official training? Computer Science (M.C.S.), unofficial training? Natural Engineer, life and realities. (D.Sc.L.R.)

kellylindseyphotography · Jun 17, 2008

Woah. 3 blew me away. POTM.

lostprophet · Jun 17, 2008

Well they were shot using a Canon 1D mkII with a 300mm F2.8 IS L lens, no extenders for a change.

I was using AI Servo focussing with all 45 AF points selected so the camera can track more easily

My own fave would have to be the 2nd shot as its not often you see the feathers all ruffled up, it was caused by the way the bird suddenly turned and the fact that its going through its summers molt

BoblyBill · Jun 17, 2008

Thanks for the info LP... I'll try that with my camera to see how "smart" it is... Amazing pics man!!!!

doenoe · Jun 17, 2008

Allthough all of the shots are awesome, i really like the second one. Shows the stress on the feathers with some of the manouvres they make, excellent

Bifurcator · Jun 17, 2008

lostprophet said:
Well they were shot using a Canon 1D mkII with a 300mm F2.8 IS L lens, no extenders for a change.

I was using AI Servo focussing with all 45 AF points selected so the camera can track more easily

My own fave would have to be the 2nd shot as its not often you see the feathers all ruffled up, it was caused by the way the bird suddenly turned and the fact that its going through its summers molt

Thanks for the info! So these are not only excellent photographs they show excellence in the users aptitude and use of the equipment too!

Thanks again for both the images and the info! Appreciated!