Garden gulls in flight

[Naturenutz]

Here are some photo's of some gulls i can attract to my garden by throwing bread out on my garden shed roof.The light is only any good late afternoon.The gulls are on a large building nearby and come down for bread although they are wary.
I have a 150mm sigma lens.As you can see the photo's are not quite crisp or framed well.The last photo was cropped and shows focus not quite right.
This is my second attempt and these are better than the first time.
My question is what iso would you happily go up too and what shutter speed would you use.Also any other advice appreciated.Its amazing how hard it is to get a good close up shot,they are very fast and twist and turn often.i have a nikon d300s and sigma 150mm lens.

[Geoff F]

For flying gulls,and similar birds, I like to have a shutter speed of at least 1/1000 (use the Tv setting) and choose the lowest ISO which will give a suitable speed. Better to risk a bit of noise than a blurred photo.

I usually work with the AI Servo focus which should 'lock on' and stay sharp while panning the camera.

Exposure is often tricky and may require a bit of Exposure Compensation.

The trouble with a 150 mm lens, is that you need to be quite close so the birds are probably moving and turning a bit more erratically because they are a bit wary of you and the camera. However, if food is available, they should gradually become more tolerant. Try to relax and avoid sudden movements.

I prefer to use at least 300 mm for this sort of shot and find the Sigma 150-500 to be excellent, providing the light is good. But although it is one of the cheaper large zooms, it is hardly in the 'budget bargain department'.

[Naturenutz]

Thanks Geoff,a longer lens is on the cards one day,but for now ill have to stick with the 150mm.I will try a higher iso setting,although i want to get a decent size photo,without noise.I have heard you can use quite high iso on the nikon d300s without getting noise ?.I went to iso 640 and this allowed speeds between 250 - 500, ill experiment more.

[Lacerta]

With the Sigma 150 you going to find that the autofocus will hunt a bit before it locks on due to the amount of travel in focus ring, this is because it is configured more for close focusing, so you may want to set the focus limiter switch to the middle setting, that way the focus ring won't have to travel that far.

[Naturenutz]

Hi Heath. I understand what you are saying,i did not think of that .I have only used the lens for macro mode and mostly in manual mode until trying these gulls.I will set the lens to the middle setting and i may get quicker focus.I have come across your website a few times .Some great shots and very interesting website,i do come to your patch on occasions to priddy mineries .

[Lacerta]

Hi Vic

Many thanks for the comments, if you do get a chance, Charterhouse is a good venue, particularly for your Sigma 150. By the way I accepted your request, well at least I think I did, took several attempts!

[bob.phillips]

Taking photos of birds in flight can be very difficult and comes good with lots and lots and lots etc. of practice. The only additional suggestions to the above excellent comments are:-

Try using spot focusing ( only good of course when the bird is in the area of focus )

Use the multiple shots option - you can just delete the shots that aren't any good

Remember though, practice, practice and practice again.

Regards,

Bob P.

[Naturenutz]

Thanks Bob and all who advised.Things are definitely improving