Shooting Swallows
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Dagny
Member
It is doable, but challenging for sure. Here's a violet green swallow in flight taken recently. The white objects are not lens or sensor dirt but seeds from cottonwood trees in the area. Plan on deleting many, say 95%, of attempts.
Taken with Nikon Z9, Nikkor 500mm PF, 1/4000th, f/8, iso 1800 (auto iso), AF wide area with animal detect on. I use the 500mm's save and recall AF point set to the distance I expect to shoot at based on observation. Best AF results when the bird is against open sky, the AF won't focus on a branch etc. Track with both eyes open! A trick used by skeet shooters and scoped rifle shooters, not natural but it is a learned technique. Set your camera to highest frame rate, use a high performance card (I like Delkin black) that keeps up, and hold the shutter release down. If you are new to BIF, practice on slower birds like hawks, ravens, crows.
Good luck!
Taken with Nikon Z9, Nikkor 500mm PF, 1/4000th, f/8, iso 1800 (auto iso), AF wide area with animal detect on. I use the 500mm's save and recall AF point set to the distance I expect to shoot at based on observation. Best AF results when the bird is against open sky, the AF won't focus on a branch etc. Track with both eyes open! A trick used by skeet shooters and scoped rifle shooters, not natural but it is a learned technique. Set your camera to highest frame rate, use a high performance card (I like Delkin black) that keeps up, and hold the shutter release down. If you are new to BIF, practice on slower birds like hawks, ravens, crows.
Good luck!
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Jack McEwan
Well-known member
In the local park there is a birdhouse that’s frequently occupied by tree swallows. As they approach the birdhouse they slow down and occasionally hover making these speedy little birds easy to photograph.
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Bird porn
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bcaress
New member
Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a "shot". Really great photo RayBC
Thanks bcaress. All invisible to the naked eye which only sees mom touch and fly past chick.
Marion Anstis
Active member
Excuse my ignorance, but what does DMF mean?As fast as SS as light levels allow.
IS/VR/OSS.....OFF
Highest FPS your camera has.
Usually easier to use a high MP body and shoot a bit wider to make use of cropping
Best to use a stacked sensor MILC or DSLR. The only non-stacked sensor MILC I'd want to use is R5.
Practice, practice, practice
But all that said, the number one technique that has allowed me to get good swallow shots with all sorts of cameras is having a camera/lens system that allows DMF. Manual focus to help out the AF is what gets me my success with swallows. Any Canon DSLR or RF with latest FW. Any Nikon DSLR or Z. For Sony only 70-200/2.8II, 400GM, 600GM OR A7RV body with new DMF software option (although A7RV not really a great swallow camera).
Here is just a small taste of some swallows over the past few years with a number of systems....
Canon R5:
August 21, 2021-6.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
Canon R3:
April 01, 2022-4.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
D500:
April 02, 2020.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
D850:
April 12, 2019.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
Z9:
March 26, 2023-2.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
A7RIV:
April 05, 2020.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
A9:
June 28, 2019.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
A9II:
May 22, 2020.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
A7RV:
April 30, 2023-2.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
A1:
July 11, 2021.jpg by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
Just make sure and sit down lest you fall down. And stay away from the water's edge
raptor photo
Well-known member
What camera do you have? If it is a newer mirrorless camera, then practice should give you the results you want. If it is lower end, you need to use some special techniques. I have a D3500 so my two best strategies are finding swallows flying over water, and just focusing on the water below the swallow. It'll give you good results after a little bit. The other strategy is finding a nest. When the swallows are flying out, try to find the right manual focus setting for swallows the moment they fly out. Spend like 10 minutes perfecting the manual focus to match your distance and reflexes, and by then you'll be getting great flight shots almost every time.
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eaj101
Well-known member
Superb!As fast as SS as light levels allow.
IS/VR/OSS.....OFF
Highest FPS your camera has.
Usually easier to use a high MP body and shoot a bit wider to make use of cropping
Best to use a stacked sensor MILC or DSLR. The only non-stacked sensor MILC I'd want to use is R5.
Practice, practice, practice
But all that said, the number one technique that has allowed me to get good swallow shots with all sorts of cameras is having a camera/lens system that allows DMF. Manual focus to help out the AF is what gets me my success with swallows. Any Canon DSLR or RF with latest FW. Any Nikon DSLR or Z. For Sony only 70-200/2.8II, 400GM, 600GM OR A7RV body with new DMF software option (although A7RV not really a great swallow camera).
Here is just a small taste of some swallows over the past few years with a number of systems....
Canon R5:
Canon R3:
D500:
D850:
Z9:
A7RIV:
A9:
A9II:
A7RV:
A1:
eaj101
Well-known member
I'm at least as frustrated with swallows as you are. They're beautiful birds in flight, but... It's like photographing flying bullets. One trick that goes back to manual focus/film days is to pre-focus on a specific place and let the bird 'fly through' the focus point, triggering the shutter at that point. A remote release helps. Try and use an f-stop high enough to give yourself some depth of field to play with. You need fast reflexes and good anticipation and you'll miss a lot of shots anyway, but it does work.
NIkon used to have something called trap focus on the D800 but left it off later models. I think it's been restored in a least some of the Zs, but I haven't tried it and don't know what its reaction time is. It essentially used to be the same way as the manual focus trick I described - pre-focus, lock focus, let bird fly into focus, which the camera detects and trips the shutter. Pre-capture is another possibility. Might be worth trying.
NIkon used to have something called trap focus on the D800 but left it off later models. I think it's been restored in a least some of the Zs, but I haven't tried it and don't know what its reaction time is. It essentially used to be the same way as the manual focus trick I described - pre-focus, lock focus, let bird fly into focus, which the camera detects and trips the shutter. Pre-capture is another possibility. Might be worth trying.
arbitrage
Well-known member
DMF= Direct Manual Focus (Override). Basically when a camera/lens allows one to turn the manual focus ring at anytime to help out the autofocus without having to switch the lens to MF.
I believe for Nikon, manual focus override has always been supported.
On Canon DSLRs DMF was always supported.
Some of the Canon MILC and lenses didn't support it. The RF 100-500 didn't support it at first but then a FW update to the R5 and the lens allowed it to be turned on in the menu.
Sony only supported it on a couple lenses via a dedicated switch on the lens. However, they've now added the option to the camera body in the A7RV (and likely any future cameras) so you can use DMF on any of their lenses now.
Kumarsnaveen
Member
Find a place where swallows are nesting, it's a good way to start. But many a times finding interesting backgrounds is tough.
Usually swallows collect mud to build nests just after Sumner, so observe where they land to collect soft mud. They make multiple rounds, so lie on ground and wait for them to arrive or leave when they are at a reasonable speed.
Usually swallows rest about few hours after sun rise on twigs, so find such places that are at eye level and wait for them. Usually when they are resting, they may take flight for sometime but return to same place or closer to earlier resting place like bee-eaters.
Usually swallows collect mud to build nests just after Sumner, so observe where they land to collect soft mud. They make multiple rounds, so lie on ground and wait for them to arrive or leave when they are at a reasonable speed.
Usually swallows rest about few hours after sun rise on twigs, so find such places that are at eye level and wait for them. Usually when they are resting, they may take flight for sometime but return to same place or closer to earlier resting place like bee-eaters.
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DGettisNC
Well-known member
Well I can't seem to resize correctly anymore lol, these all look pretty rough compared to the normal export from LR.
But anyway, finally got a chance to try out the 800PF on some swallows on Saturday, pretty bad lighting as well, though.
But anyway, finally got a chance to try out the 800PF on some swallows on Saturday, pretty bad lighting as well, though.
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Nice job with the 800PF. I made my first attempt at Swallows in flight a couple days ago and started with the 800, but could not follow them reliably enough to get a good focus lock. Finally switched to the 400 f4.5 and had some luck. They were going back and forth to a nest box, so had a somewhat reliable flight path I could concentrate on.
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BlackRockArt
Well-known member
Lance, gorgeous shots!Some great advice given here so far. I did my real first attempt at Swallow photos the other day with my Z9 + 800 PF and had some decent success. I am no expert in Swallow photos by any stretch but I did observe and ended up lucky with about 10 shots but only a few with decent wing position and a few had the nicitating membrane over the eye. This was more of a "something to do whilst photographing other birds" on the pond type scenario as I am not into photographing Swallows. It was more of a "let's see what the Z9 + 800 PF can do" and was reasonably impressed. I was a long way away from them as I wanted to be able to follow their action without losing them in frame with such a long lens. This was a very large pond and they were flying all over the place and this was just a lucky sequence. These are heavily cropped.
Z9 + 800 PF, 1/4000s f/6.3 at 800.0mm iso2000
Z9 + 800 PF, 1/4000s f/6.3 at 800.0mm iso2500
Oliver
Thank you very much, Oliver. Much appreciated!
David Berry
🇦🇺 Australia 🦘
I cheated, too! That is, I focused on the fledglings and waited for the parent Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) to bring them food.
… David
… David
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arbitrage
Well-known member
I processed a few more swallow images from the Nikon Z9 and 400 f/4.5 lens.
The Z9 was a challenge to get the swallow images. It took me a couple outings to really dial in the best techniques for this AF system. I was really frustrated the first day. Almost wanted to give up. The A1 makes this so much easier with just some MF help and Wide AF (no tracking).
But I persevered and managed to figure out a way to get a decent amount of keepers in a 1-2hr session.
The main hinderance with the Z9 is it has a very difficult time grabbing the swallow when it is further out over the water, this means one has to acquire it when it is much closer and therefore is much larger in the frame and moving through the FOV much faster. I also found that a smaller Wide Area AF did the best at initial acquisition but then it is very difficult to hold that smaller AF area on the darting bird. So the clunky handoff method had to be employed and I found handing off to Auto AF much better than 3D AF (not sure why). In some cases I was able to do initial acquisition and shooting all in Auto AF.
The other issue is I try to take my swallow images after they have left the water so I get them over more pleasing green/brown backgrounds which is grass and trees (I never bother shooting them against the sky...but that is the easiest situation for the cameras if one wants that type of shot). The Z9 struggles somewhat in keeping the tracking on the swallow as it moves up from the water and over the grass/tree background. Sometimes it would hold and sometimes not. When it held I would get the shots I prefer over the green or brown.
By my third session with the Z9 and swallows, I was having fun again. Challenging but fun.
Here are a few I just processed shot back in March/April....
NZ9_3100-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
NZ9_3195-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
NZ9_3363-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
NZ9_4384-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
NZ9_4496-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
NZ9_3094-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
The Z9 was a challenge to get the swallow images. It took me a couple outings to really dial in the best techniques for this AF system. I was really frustrated the first day. Almost wanted to give up. The A1 makes this so much easier with just some MF help and Wide AF (no tracking).
But I persevered and managed to figure out a way to get a decent amount of keepers in a 1-2hr session.
The main hinderance with the Z9 is it has a very difficult time grabbing the swallow when it is further out over the water, this means one has to acquire it when it is much closer and therefore is much larger in the frame and moving through the FOV much faster. I also found that a smaller Wide Area AF did the best at initial acquisition but then it is very difficult to hold that smaller AF area on the darting bird. So the clunky handoff method had to be employed and I found handing off to Auto AF much better than 3D AF (not sure why). In some cases I was able to do initial acquisition and shooting all in Auto AF.
The other issue is I try to take my swallow images after they have left the water so I get them over more pleasing green/brown backgrounds which is grass and trees (I never bother shooting them against the sky...but that is the easiest situation for the cameras if one wants that type of shot). The Z9 struggles somewhat in keeping the tracking on the swallow as it moves up from the water and over the grass/tree background. Sometimes it would hold and sometimes not. When it held I would get the shots I prefer over the green or brown.
By my third session with the Z9 and swallows, I was having fun again. Challenging but fun.
Here are a few I just processed shot back in March/April....
NZ9_3100-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on FlickrNZ9_3195-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on FlickrNZ9_3363-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on FlickrNZ9_4384-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on FlickrNZ9_4496-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on FlickrNZ9_3094-Enhanced-NR by Bird/Wildlife Photos, on Flickr
raptor photo
Well-known member
Incredible shots! Interesting to hear of the Z9's struggles, have you tried any other mirrorless cameras to see how they perform?I processed a few more swallow images from the Nikon Z9 and 400 f/4.5 lens.
The Z9 was a challenge to get the swallow images. It took me a couple outings to really dial in the best techniques for this AF system. I was really frustrated the first day. Almost wanted to give up. The A1 makes this so much easier with just some MF help and Wide AF (no tracking).
But I persevered and managed to figure out a way to get a decent amount of keepers in a 1-2hr session.
The main hinderance with the Z9 is it has a very difficult time grabbing the swallow when it is further out over the water, this means one has to acquire it when it is much closer and therefore is much larger in the frame and moving through the FOV much faster. I also found that a smaller Wide Area AF did the best at initial acquisition but then it is very difficult to hold that smaller AF area on the darting bird. So the clunky handoff method had to be employed and I found handing off to Auto AF much better than 3D AF (not sure why). In some cases I was able to do initial acquisition and shooting all in Auto AF.
The other issue is I try to take my swallow images after they have left the water so I get them over more pleasing green/brown backgrounds which is grass and trees (I never bother shooting them against the sky...but that is the easiest situation for the cameras if one wants that type of shot). The Z9 struggles somewhat in keeping the tracking on the swallow as it moves up from the water and over the grass/tree background. Sometimes it would hold and sometimes not. When it held I would get the shots I prefer over the green or brown.
By my third session with the Z9 and swallows, I was having fun again. Challenging but fun.
Here are a few I just processed shot back in March/April....
arbitrage
Well-known member
Yes, I've shot swallows with A9, A9II, A1, A7RIV, A7RV, Canon R5 and R3. Also D500 and D850.
Back on page 1 of this thread I did a post showing an image from each of those cameras....a lot of gear can get the job done, they just each take different techniques. Some are hindered more by AF, some more by VF stutter/blackout (A7RIV and V and R5).
I found the easiest cameras to get the job done were the three stacked sensor Sony cameras (A9, A9II and A1) and the Nikon DSLRs (D500/D850). Canon R3 is pretty good also. R5 and Z9 are similar...R5 hindered by its slideshow effect and Z9 by the issues I discussed earlier. A7RIV and A7RV are really hindered by the blackout/laggy EVF and lack of FPS.
howlynn
Member
I attempt to shoot swallows while they are feeding on a bug hatch, usually Tree swallows and Violet Green swallows.
These are from the Arkansas River below Lake Pueblo Dam, CO.
I watch for a flight pattern where the swallows will keep circling a area where the hatch
is occurring. I use the highest shutter speed for the conditions.
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Some good advise here!
I was inspired by the pictures here and grab my new Fuji X-H2S and went out to see what it could do. I brought a chair and sat down with the sun on my back. Sitting down helps me follow the the fast flights and the sun from that direction helps my Fuji to focus. Here are a few of what I got. Heavy crops!
/Curt
1. X-H2S, Fuji 200/2 + 1,4TC, F 2,8, 1/6400, ISO 400
2. X-H2S, 200/2 + 1,4TC, F 2,8, 1/8000, ISO 400
I was inspired by the pictures here and grab my new Fuji X-H2S and went out to see what it could do. I brought a chair and sat down with the sun on my back. Sitting down helps me follow the the fast flights and the sun from that direction helps my Fuji to focus. Here are a few of what I got. Heavy crops!
/Curt
1. X-H2S, Fuji 200/2 + 1,4TC, F 2,8, 1/6400, ISO 400
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2. X-H2S, 200/2 + 1,4TC, F 2,8, 1/8000, ISO 400
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I think a stacked sensor helps but it could be done also without it. Here are some older pictures taken some years ago with Fuji X-T3. Heavy crops!
/Curt
3.
4.
5. A heavy loaded construction worker (Fuji 100-400, at 400 F5,6, 1/4000, ISO800)
/Curt
3.
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4.
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5. A heavy loaded construction worker (Fuji 100-400, at 400 F5,6, 1/4000, ISO800)
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