Photographing Kites and Buzzards

[PMG]

Pete my recommendations would be: AV priority, spot metering - not average metering and a tripod - failing the tripod - then a monopod which would double as a walking stick - or strap onto your pack if you don't want anything in your hands. But don't forget if its not in your hands - its not ready to go when something unexpected crops up!! Even a monopod can make the difference in you getting a sharp shot and a soft shot ..........

I don't walk your sort of distances - in fact I couldn't if my life depended on it - so I always carry my tripod - I won't make a move without it these days and I think it shows in my shots?

I'd be very tempted to put a ball head/quick release grip onto the monopod - have a look at some of the ones advertised...........

And finally good luck!

Pauline

[Pete Collins]

Richard,

That's a terrific photo!


Pauline,

Thanks for the advice!

Pete

[Jon]

Pete
there are several ways to get optimal exposure. Quite possibly the simplest is to point your camera at the grass and use that exposure. This is all well and good until light levels change in which case repeat the procedure. Another method is to use AV mode and partial metering - good provided the subject occupies the majority of the "partial area" but this can be prone to error.
Another way is to meter the sky and then meter the grass, note the difference and then dial in the necessary extra exposure - this may be +1 or +1.5 stops or even more. This will therefore take care of the majority of light changes.
The other thing (and I don't want to start world war three use RAW - trust me it is better)

Hope this helps

Jon

[glsammy]

Whilst I agree with what Jon said, I'd just put one small word in favour of JPEG. RAW is obviously better, especially if there's likely to be exposure variation, but JPEG will allow you to get more shots in.
I know I get frustrated with the buffer rate on my 20D when shooting RAW, so I tend to switch to JPEG when doing flight shots, just to allow me a chance of a fair few efforts. Your FZ18 will be very slow if using RAW, so for that reason alone I'd recommend using JPEG.

[Pete Collins]

Thanks for that advice, Jon and Graham.

I think I'll stick to JPEG for the time being. I know you can do more post-processing with RAW, but I don't really want to get into that just yet. For the time being, I'm happy enough just using Picasa to crop and sharpen my photos (I think I added some saturation to one photo).

Unfortunately, I've not had another chance to look for Buzzards and Kites yet, as I've had some minor virus. Hopefully the end of this week or next week I'll be off on another long walk in the part of the Chilterns where the Kites are. Meanwhile I've been enjoying taking photos of birds in the garden - I'd love to get one of a GS Woodpecker, the only one I've got so far was taken from 60 feet away through the patio windows.