hard time shooting birds in flight

[rick93]

Hey friends,

Getting focus right on has been tough for me. Last week I finally got a shot that I thought was kind of decent. Thought I would share it on here and see what you all think and what I have to improve.
The background was kind of dark so I had to bump ISO up to 800. Shutter speed was at 1/250 sec ( I guess should have been faster but it wasn't very light) f/5.6 and focal length at 259.0mm. This is the first one I got with a dark background so that the birds colors are visible.
Why is the background so grainy? Is it because of the high ISO?

1.

Thanks all

 

[greybeard]

Noise (grain) is probably due to high ISO. But, noise is better than blur. I added about 50 percent luminance with LR which helps keep the noise in balance. Great capture!

 

[Forkie]

Very nice shot!! Sounds like you're doing all the right stuff. You need to keep the shutter speed up - I rarely go below 1/640 for in-flight shots. Unfortunately, bumping up the ISO comes with the the risk of noise. Some days the weather simply doesn't allow for in-flight shots and there's nothing you can do unless you are lucky enough to have a fast telephoto lens.

Everything you said you are doing sounds fine.

 

[AgentDrex]

Risk of noise??? Ha! I prefer noise in my shots. Softens everything very nicely. But I'm a weirdo. When it comes to sharp photos, what's good for the goose may not be good for the Drex.

Pretty good shot. I can never seem to pan correctly when shooting birds in flight. I will continue trying though. Thank you for the inspiration!

 

[sm4him]

Yeah, I have YET to get a good bird-in-flight shot. Every time everything finally all lines up right...camera settings, right weather conditions, bird flying...I seem to choke and miss the fool thing!

For a shutter speed of 1/250, I'd say that's a heck of a shot! I've been told to keep it over 1/1000 for the sharpest in-flight shots, but you either have to have great natural lighting conditions or flash for that.

 

[rick93]

Thanks all. Looks like I was lucky because I'm the noob of the noobs. Thanks again and lets keep shooting.

 

[Ernicus]

Very cool shot. Ran it through Imagenomic plugin in ps and came out similar to the other edit only with a bit more noise removal...still preserving the lines.

I have only gotten one bird in flight myself....they are a pain for sure, but fun to try.

 

[rick93]

Wow Ernicus, that edit is amazing. Wish PS wouldn't be so expansive!

 

[EricD]

Nice flight shot.....for me thou I always try to shot 1/500 or more for flight shots

 

[Ernicus]

Wow Ernicus, that edit is amazing. Wish PS wouldn't be so expansive!

I can't wait till I fully learn how to use that plug in. I love it so far.

 

[Ernicus]

You should def hook up and listen to Eric D, his bird shots are stunning works.

 

[rick93]

Yes, EricD BIF shots are amazing!

 

[manny212]

Great capture , I like the motion blur in the wings. Well done.

 

[Terenas1986]

Here is how I shoot ANY moving object:
- choose a focuspoint (usually 1) [if you have time before it]
- center the subject on the focuspoint
- shoot like crazy (DO NOT wait between the focusing sound and shutter... press... press... press and keep the focuspoint on the object)
note: you might wish to consider moving to Continuous shooting mode!

 

[Joel_W]

I've shot Butterflies at ISO 800, and didn't have a noise issue. How much of a crop did you do? That could be a major contributing factor to all that noise. Personally, the image looks great as is, as the noise really doesn't bother me.