New to BIF - Critiques Welcome

[MikeInMI]

I've done photography a long time and even did weddings for a few years, but BIF is a whole new experience. Here are a couple of pics I recently took of some sandhill cranes. I shot these with a Sony A1 and the 200-600mm lens at 600mm. I used a tripod with a gimbal head and shot these at 1/2500, f/6.3 + auto ISO (ISOs were ranging in the 2000-4000 range). Mostly I know I need a lot more practice to get my technique down for acquiring focus and tracking. Takes me too long to do that and I miss a lot of shots, but I do get some keepers like this. Any suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

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[Patrick M]

these are brilliant!

 

[JAS]

Nice way to start. These are gorgeous shots. Keep then coming.

 

[Whiskeyman]

... and I miss a lot of shots...

So do I, Mike. And I'll guess that many others here do so, as well!

 

[WonderfulNaturePhotography]

nice shots
I like the second one most as it is more crisp.
For the first one I advice to do a noise reduction (eg Denoise from Topaz) but don't overdo as you will get too plastic look
I would also place both images a bit more to the right as there is a lot of action involved so the birds have more "space" to fly into. Are these out of camera or did you do a crop?

 

[NorthernFocus]

You're off to a good start. Great action/poses in both images. As mentioned above if these are cropped you might try re-cropping and place the birds in the frame with more space in front than behind so motion appears to me moving into the frame.

W/respect to finding the birds in the VF the 200-600 has such a short throw on the zoom that it's easy to zoom out until you locate the bird then zoom back in. I find with the foot of the lens resting in the palm of my hand I can easily move the zoom ring with my thumb. Also you might try keeping both eyes open with one eye looking over the camera and one in the VF. When you see the bird in both eyes then close the other eye.

 

[John 2]

Good shooting.

 

[MikeInMI]

You're off to a good start. Great action/poses in both images. As mentioned above if these are cropped you might try re-cropping and place the birds in the frame with more space in front than behind so motion appears to me moving into the frame.

W/respect to finding the birds in the VF the 200-600 has such a short throw on the zoom that it's easy to zoom out until you locate the bird then zoom back in. I find with the foot of the lens resting in the palm of my hand I can easily move the zoom ring with my thumb. Also you might try keeping both eyes open with one eye looking over the camera and one in the VF. When you see the bird in both eyes then close the other eye.

I really appreciate the feedback, Dan. It really helps me.

Your feedback on the cropping on this is something I've heard from others and gives me a chuckle. In some of my outings, the birds were too far away and so I cropped the heck out of them with a corresponding loss of quality, of course. In this particular case, there is no crop at all. Mostly I am delighted that I've gotten to the point that I could fill the frame with these birds. Given the adrenaline rush I'm feeling when I'm tracking these guys and effort I put forth to maintain focus and tracking, I'm delighted, even at the cost of imperfect framing. Maybe the next level of achievement is to be able to get the right amount of spacing in the right place while I am shooting, tracking, focusing! (Don't hold your breath for me to get there this year, though). LOL.

I so appreciate everyone in this forum and other forums. I've found so many photographers very generous with their willingness to help others and it has really helped me a lot!

 

[DRwyoming]

Any suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.

Very nice shots. I particularly like the lighting on the wings and eye in that first shot.

I agree with the recommendation to allow your subjects a bit more room to fly into the frame so perhaps shooting or cropping so the subjects are a bit further to the right and have more room in their flight direction so they don't appear to be flying out of the frame. That hits me particularly with the first shot as the Crane is looking straight ahead and out of the frame. The second shot where they're a bit smaller in the frame and the closer bird is looking slightly your way works better IMO.

 

[MikeInMI]

nice shots
I like the second one most as it is more crisp.
For the first one I advice to do a noise reduction (eg Denoise from Topaz) but don't overdo as you will get too plastic look
I would also place both images a bit more to the right as there is a lot of action involved so the birds have more "space" to fly into. Are these out of camera or did you do a crop?

I appreciate the feedback and went back and checked, you are absolutely right about the first one. I did apply Topaz DeNoise to the second one, but didn't on the first one, for some reason. In fact, of the 7 shots I selected as my top pics from this shooting session, I put everyone through Topaz except this one. An oversight. Thanks for pointing that out.

As for cropping, the first one is cropped but I went all the way to the left. There wasn't anymore frame on the left to leave, though in PS I could easily add some additional space and given that background, I'm sure I could do it easily without anyone noticing. On the second one, there was no crop. It was SOOC (as far as crop). I was delighted to fill the frame on birds in flight -- it's been a goal, but not without its downside, I see. LOL. Thanks again.

 

[MikeInMI]

Very nice shots. I particularly like the lighting on the wings and eye in that first shot.

I agree with the recommendation to allow your subjects a bit more room to fly into the frame so perhaps shooting or cropping so they subjects are a bit further to the right and have more room in their flight direction so they don't appear to be flying out of the frame. That hits me particularly with the first shot as the Crane is looking straight ahead and out of the frame. The second shot where they're a bit smaller in the frame and the closer bird is looking slightly your way works better IMO.

Good observations! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment.

 

[Isaac Grant]

With practice you will get better at anticipating where the birds will be and getting your camera in the right spot so that you don't miss the action. The A1 is so good that once you are on the birds you should not miss at all. Here is what I would recommend as a good way to hone your BIF skills. Go to a local duck pond, breeding colony, beach, place where gulls congregate, etc. Practice on large slow birds like cranes, gulls, geese, gulls. Watch the birds with your eyes and pan the camera along with them as they fly. For a while do not even do it with your eye to the camera. Just take some time working on lifting camera and following the bird until it becomes second nature. Once you have that down a bit then do the same thing with your eye to the camera. The thing is that when birds are flying they are not where they were when you lifted the camera so it is a very different technique than what you are used to. You have to put the camera where they will be, not where they are and that takes some getting used to.

Once you get the technique down then you will surely have a much higher hit rate and lose less opportunities. With practice you will be able to apply those skills to smaller and faster birds like shorebirds, ducks, falcons and so on.

 

[MikeInMI]

With practice you will get better at anticipating where the birds will be and getting your camera in the right spot so that you don't miss the action. The A1 is so good that once you are on the birds you should not miss at all. Here is what I would recommend as a good way to hone your BIF skills. Go to a local duck pond, breeding colony, beach, place where gulls congregate, etc. Practice on large slow birds like cranes, gulls, geese, gulls. Watch the birds with your eyes and pan the camera along with them as they fly. For a while do not even do it with your eye to the camera. Just take some time working on lifting camera and following the bird until it becomes second nature. Once you have that down a bit then do the same thing with your eye to the camera. The thing is that when birds are flying they are not where they were when you lifted the camera so it is a very different technique than what you are used to. You have to put the camera where they will be, not where they are and that takes some getting used to.

Once you get the technique down then you will surely have a much higher hit rate and lose less opportunities. With practice you will be able to apply those skills to smaller and faster birds like shorebirds, ducks, falcons and so on.

That is very helpful, Isaac. I really appreciate you taking the time to write that out for me!

 

[Isaac Grant]

Yeah I really can't stress enough how much practice helps in these situations. It is a very different skill than shooting static subjects. I find myself doing the technique I mentioned often when out in the field. I recently spent a few afternoons shooting tiny shorebirds (White-rumped, Least, Semi-palmated Sandpiper and a relatively easy Lesser Yellowlegs) in flight. They are small and fast and I was only shooting them in close range. I needed to be deadly accurate with my panning and anticipation which of course I was not each time. But when the birds were further out I practiced so I could be ready when the birds got close. It is one thing to shoot a bird flapping after a bath, or taking off from a perch but it is quite another to shoot them in direct flight against a varied background. These are the situations where hand eye coordination is key and will make or break the opportunities. Good luck

 

[Highbow]

I really like the second one Mike, BIF is always a challenge for me as most of my photography is hand held as I hike my way through the areas around the lakes near my location.

 

[O]

You're off to a good start. Great action/poses in both images. As mentioned above if these are cropped you might try re-cropping and place the birds in the frame with more space in front than behind so motion appears to me moving into the frame.

W/respect to finding the birds in the VF the 200-600 has such a short throw on the zoom that it's easy to zoom out until you locate the bird then zoom back in. I find with the foot of the lens resting in the palm of my hand I can easily move the zoom ring with my thumb. Also you might try keeping both eyes open with one eye looking over the camera and one in the VF. When you see the bird in both eyes then close the other eye.

Great suggestions

 

[O]

I've done photography a long time and even did weddings for a few years, but BIF is a whole new experience. Here are a couple of pics I recently took of some sandhill cranes. I shot these with a Sony A1 and the 200-600mm lens at 600mm. I used a tripod with a gimbal head and shot these at 1/2500, f/6.3 + auto ISO (ISOs were ranging in the 2000-4000 range). Mostly I know I need a lot more practice to get my technique down for acquiring focus and tracking. Takes me too long to do that and I miss a lot of shots, but I do get some keepers like this. Any suggestions are welcome and much appreciated.View attachment 45461 View attachment 45460

My self as a general rule consider flipping all images to see if it contributes, unlikely in this case but good to remember.
Nice moment and capture, well done, i assume they were in poor light or falling.

I find while a nice capture of both images, in the second shot the image is a little dark or dirty especially in the whites and the blacks are to black especially in the shadows and back ground, i am wondering if its related to your combination of white balance, exposure mode, iso and shutter speed settings ? or is it from processing, I am only going on the cropped version i see on my screen.

Agree Negative space ( previously mentioned by Northern Focus.) should be in the direction of travel.

Myself where possible flipping an image so the subject is flying left to right can in circumstances often be more effective as that's the direction we read in the western world, (not essential) example car bike boat, wild life is often and exception but worth always testing.


Only an opinion

 

[MikeInMI]

My self as a general rule consider flipping all images to see if it contributes, unlikely in this case but good to remember.
Nice moment and capture, well done, i assume they were in poor light or falling.

I find while a nice capture of both images, in the second shot the image is a little dark or dirty especially in the whites and the blacks are to black especially in the shadows and back ground, i am wondering if its related to your combination of white balance, exposure mode, iso and shutter speed settings ? or is it from processing, I am only going on the cropped version i see on my screen.

Agree Negative space ( previously mentioned by Northern Focus.) should be in the direction of travel.

Myself where possible flipping an image so the subject is flying left to right can in circumstances often be more effective as that's the direction we read in the western world, (not essential) example car bike boat, wild life is often and exception but worth always testing.


Only an opinion

I really appreciate your taking the time to provide such helpful information. It never occurred to me to flip the image. I need to try that.

FWIW, neither image is cropped. I've usually shot pretty wide to be able to keep the birds in the frame and I was amazed that I was successfully in tracking and shooting birds this tight. But that doesn't negate your point. My "next level" of learning is making sure I'm not too tight -- that I'm leaving enough room on the left.

And yes, to your question about the light. We were near dusk.

Thanks again!!

 

[ssheipel]

Look great to me. As mentioned elsewhere above, I feel both shots have the subjects feeling a wee bit crowded by the edges of the frame. Still, BIF successes here.

 

[bajadreamer]

I certainly agree with most of the above comments, especially about the positioning of the birds. I do have a little different take on the 2nd shot; the symmetry of the two birds is the redeeming factor, IMO. Seldom do I like juxta positioned birds even BIF.
Regarding the head/eye angle of the 1st shot, certainly it would be more engaging to have slight eye contact with the bird. If you want to get real crazy, look at Alan Murphy's video on moving the eye/changing the shape of the eye very slightly. Yes, it is photoshopping, but it can change a good image into a great image if the bird is "looking at you".
You have done a great job of keeping very large, long birds in the frame. Usually I end up with legless, wingless birds in this situation.