Black Headed Gull - Advice Please

[riggy]

These are the first attempts of flight shots. At present I am using a sony a200 but only have a 18-70 lens so the shots are cropped a bit. Any advice on how to improve these shots more than welcome



Cheers
Paul

[Words]

Hi Paul

You are going to be struggling with a short lens, though it's not an impossible task. Also the look of the sky suggests that this was one of those winter-grey days. The main thing I check with brids in flight is the exposure compensation. With dark birds I add a bit of positive compensation to avoid the bird appearing as a silhouette, but with gulls being lighter than the sky you don't need to worry (in fact on bright days I use a very small amount of negative compensation on gulls to stop the highlights getting blown).

The other tricky bit is getting the focus really sharp. Much easier if they are moving across your line of vision rather than coming at you (when the focusing point will constnatly be getting shorter), but if the A20 has what Canon calls AI focusing (it changes cosntantly) that can help as long as you keep the bird in the focusing point.

Other than that, it's just a case of practice. And then more practice.

[Dadzinsky]

I agree with words, the biggest thing is practice, and you'll find a technique that suits you and your camera, keep taking plenty and analyse your pictures, remembering what and how you did it.

[Ollie]

Hi Paul,
I'm not familiar with the Sony A200 so can't advise on camera settings but I would say your lens is letting you down.

You are really going to struggle getting good in flight shots with an 18-70 lens. I would recommend nothing less than a 200mm lens and a 400mm if possible unless you have a spot where you can entice the birds to fly past quite close to you.

For an 18-70 lens I would say you have done as good a job with these as is possible.

As others have said it's practice and more practice and with the right lens in good light it will all come good. I find available light is the most crucial factor in getting good sharp in flight shots. On dull days the success rate will be very low due to slow shutter speeds. Increasing the camera ISO will help but it will also increase the noise. In good light you can get the shutter speeds needed to get the sharp shots as long as your panning technique is up to scratch.

Hope this helps
Roger

[riggy]

Thanks for the advice a new lens is the next item on my shopping list but only got the a200 at the end of Jan. At the moment just trying to practice and play with settings etc as well as photoshop and RAW.

Paul