So I found some ducks...

Civchic · Mar 18, 2014

And this is damn difficult! LOL. I know my little 55-250 is nothing compared to some of your lenses, but I have to start somewhere. Today was my first time trying to track birds in flight, and I think I should've had my shutter speed up even more. I got ONE halfway okay in flight shot that wasn't horribly OOF. The ducks are still springtime skittish so I couldn't get too close, either. But at least it felt a little springlike today!

#1

mar 18 three gentlemen by civgirlca, on Flickr

#2

mar 18 boss duck by civgirlca, on Flickr

#3

mar 18 best in flight by civgirlca, on Flickr

And of course, not a duck

mar 18 squirrel by civgirlca, on Flickr

Must keep practicing!

tirediron · Mar 18, 2014

Good start- keep shooting!

dxqcanada · Mar 18, 2014

BIF is not easy, gatta have fast accurate focusing, good panning, and fast to super speed shutter.
It takes time to get it right most of the time ... I still have not got it down pat.

Hey, back in the old days I shot birds in flight with a 70-210mm lens on a manual focus camera using 200ASA film ... funny, I still feel more comfortable using my AF camera in MF.

Hmm, how's the ice by Cootes ?

JacaRanda · Mar 18, 2014

Agreed it's a good start. If you continue to practice and learn using that 55-250, you are going to do very well when you decide to upgrade. The BIF is not bad at all, you just needed the light to be nicer (between you and the duck).

robbins.photo · Mar 18, 2014

Nice series Civ! Just out of curiosity what program are you using to post process? Reason I ask, your duck in flight shot could be punched up a bit if you bring the highlights down a tad, reduce the levels a bit and then up the contrast and maybe the saturation just a touch. Just a thought

Civchic · Mar 19, 2014

Robbins.photo, I'm ashamed to admit I'm still using Canon's RAW editor. I'm saving all my decent RAW files for when I finally get Lightroom though! It's just that if I spend much more on my hobby this month (ie new lens, new strap, a couple of books...) my husband might kick me out! LOL.

Dxqcanada - the ice at Cootes is still pretty solid, but we're starting to get the warnings now with the rain and the sporadic warm weather. You know the ice fishermen push the limits, and it still looks pretty darn solid. But the bay is almost completely open now. The swans will be back soon.

Everyone, thank you! The light was not ideal, shooting at lunch hour, but I take what I can get, at least it wasn't cloudy! I'm excited to keep trying. The hawk migration is soon, I need to get some practice in before then.

robbins.photo · Mar 19, 2014

Civchic said:
Robbins.photo, I'm ashamed to admit I'm still using Canon's RAW editor. I'm saving all my decent RAW files for when I finally get Lightroom though! It's just that if I spend much more on my hobby this month (ie new lens, new strap, a couple of books...) my husband might kick me out! LOL.

Lol. Well I'd be more than happy to give some sound marital advice.. but I'm divorced so I'm probably not the best source for that sort of thing. In the meantime check out a program called The GIMP - it stands for Gnu Image Manipulation Program. It's a photoshop like editor that was originally developed for Linux system but was later ported over to run on windows. It's free and it has a lot of very powerful features.

GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program

WesternGuy · Mar 19, 2014

Civchic, these are very good for a first start. Nothing wrong with the BIF, with practice you will get better. My only comment would be to watch the crop - you are placing most of your subjects in the centre of the picture. If you are unfamiliar with the "Rule of Thirds", you should look it up. Much better to place the subject in one of the "thirds" position so that they are looking into the image. Placing them in the centre makes for a very static image. For example, in #2, I would have placed the duck in the left thirds position so that it has room to look into, or appear to be walking into the right two-thirds of the image. I would have done a similar thing with the one in flight - placed it more to the right into the right third of the image so that it appears to have room on the left to "fly into" - make sense. You can check out this reference - Secrets of Digital Bird Photography

WesternGuy

Civchic · Mar 19, 2014

Western Guy and robbins.photo - is this a bit better?

And robbins - thanks for the software hint - I've downloaded and will check it out when I have a bit more patience.

mar 18 best in flight 2 by civgirlca, on Flickr

BillM · Mar 19, 2014

Nice job on the update :thumbup:

WesternGuy · Mar 19, 2014

I think it is much better. I would even give it a bit more room on the left if you have the space, but you are definitely on the right track. :thumbup:

WesternGuy

robbins.photo · Mar 19, 2014

Civchic said:
Western Guy and robbins.photo - is this a bit better?

And robbins - thanks for the software hint - I've downloaded and will check it out when I have a bit more patience.

mar 18 best in flight 2 by civgirlca, on Flickr