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Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/2000 sec. at f/8 set manually. |
Flight Photography Considerations: Wind and Sun Direction & Subject Tonality
On my busman’s holiday morning yesterday we had perfect flight photography conditions for about 30 minutes: when the wind shifted from the north/northwest (the worst!) to the south/southeast at about 8:30 we had the geese landing right at us with the sun at our backs. Birds will always land and takeoff into the wind. The adult blue morph Snow Goose in the image above came in just a shade to my left of right down sun angle.
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Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/2000 sec. at f/9 set manually. Fine point: note that for the white morph adult Snow Goose image I used 1/3 stop less light than for the blue morph image above. |
The adult white morph Snow Goose in the image above came in just a very few degrees off the perfect light angle.
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Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/1250 sec. at f/8 set manually. Fine point: note that for this immature dark morph Snow Goose image I used one full stop more light than for adult white morph image above. |
The young blue morph Snow Goose in the image above came in slightly to my right of perfect sun angle. With the top of the cottonwood tree in the lower left corner of the frame I like the high-in-the-frame upper-right placement of the subject here as it yielded perfect compositional balance.
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Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/1650 sec. at f/8 set manually. Fine point: note that for this immature white morph Snow Goose I used 1/3 stop more light than for the adult white morph image above. |
Here the wind has shifted to the southwest; this is an ideal condition for creating images of birds landing parallel to the imaging sensor. At this point we have seen images of both young and adult light and dark morph Snow Geese.
If my comments on exposure (which are based on the varying tonalities of the geese) confuse you, you need to get a hold of the ABP/ABP II combo (and save $10 in the process). Then you need to study the section on exposure theory in the original “The Art of Bird Photography” (soft cover) and follow that up with work on the Exposure Simplified section in “The Art of Bird Photography II” (916 pages on CD only). If you already own the books and are still confused than you need to either hit the books or join an IPT.
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Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400: 1/800 sec. at f/5.6 set manually. In a given lighting situation I use the same exposure for both Sandhill Cranes and the young white morph Snow Geese as both are gray birds with small patches of white. This image was made as the birds flew into a south/southwest wind in early morning. The soft early morning light required a slow shutter speed and a wider aperture than I used for the young white morph Snow Goose image above. The crane flying with its feet tucked in indicates that it was a very cold morning with the temps in the teens. |
I will be photographing at Bosque in about forty minutes and fly home this afternoon. Be sure to see the complete Bosque IPT report in the next Bulletin.
Shopper’s Guide
Here is a list of the gear that I used to create the images above.
Canon 800mm f/5.L IS lens
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV professional digital camera body
And from the BAA On-line Store:
Gitzo 3530 LS Tripod
Mongoose M3.6 Tripod Head
Double Bubble Level
If you are considering the purchase of a major piece of photographic gear be it a new camera, a long lens, a tripod or a head, or some accessories be sure to check out our complete Shopper’s Guide.
Thanks Robert.. And thanks Artie!
I have some pretty deep customization on my bodies and button assignment seems to work well. Focus Tracking with Lock-on is in position two or three in My Menu. AE-L/AF-L on both my D3 & D300 is set to the Dynamic AF selection, so I can have quick access to the number of points active with a press of the thumb and turn of the sub-command. AF mode can be changed with the a flip of the switch on the back of the body.
I’ll try it your way, but I wonder which would get changed more often.. active AF points or the Focus Tracking setting.. Always worth a try!!
My AF selection has been Auto, Closest Subject Priority for solo BiF’s (top setting on the camera back). Reasoning behind it is that if it’s a solo BiF, it will be the closest subject unless there are other birds around it, in which case it’s a flip of the thumb to switch to to either Dynamic 3D for slower birds or clusters of BiF’s where Closest Subject would be vulnerable to acquiring the wrong target or Dynamic 21 PT for when 3D can’t keep up. Lots of data to interpret in 3D and it’s a bit slow even on the D3. And by having Dynamic AF point selection assigned to the AE-L button I can increase or decrease the number of points without taking my eye from the viewfinder. Thoughts on this?? Am I barking up the wrong tree?
I’ll certainly try Long for Focus Tracking but wouldn’t it stall or loose acquisition when a BiF is coming right at you at a rapid rate, as in Artie’s images above?
I am still feeling my way through what works best and I am always open to trying a different setting. Certainly appreciate your feedback and I would love to discuss this further.. If it’s better to switch to email, I’ll do so..
Hi Michael,
Focus tracking with lock-on: Long is the preferred setting. I find this works very very well with subjects such as flying birds up to full frame in size. I use the setting with AF-on only (Also known as back button focus).
For future reference the newer generation Nikon bodies such as D3S, D3X, D700, D300S allow you to set customize a button such as AE-L/AF-L to access the top item in my menu:
Menu>Custom Settings Menu>f6> Assign AE-L/AF-L button > Top item in MY MENU
You could use set this up to access Focus tracking or almost anything else you would need.
Hope this helps. BTW Currently Artie and I are editing my Nikon Camera User’s Guide that hopefully we be available this year, I hope! You are welcome to ask me anything else here or via email.
Thanks Artie for giving me the chance to contribute.
Robert
Thanks Micheal, I know zip about Nikon AF so I have e-mailed Robert O’Toole with your questions. He is currently working on a Nikon Camera User’s Guide…..
Awesome post Artie.. much of this was covered in your excellent Art of Bird Photography.. I’ve read that so many times it’s got a wonderful patina to the corners!!
When wind and sun is ideal and the birds are launching and landing directly at you, how do suggest setting AF? To be specific… the D3 (and bodies through the D300 I believe) has a setting Focus Tracking with Lock On that allows the photog to customize how long the body stays locked on to fast moving subjects coming directly at the camera. It also controls how long AF lock is retained should a secondary subject pass between you and the primary subject being tracked. Gotta figure Canon has a similar setting though I am not familiar with what it is.
I typically set the Focus Tracking wth Lock On in the D3 to Short for BiF. I’ve tried Off, but it seems to negatively impact the predictive focus.. and if the AF point strays from the bird, the camera immediately acquires the next closest subject, typically the background. A setting of medium or long doesn’t seem to work especially if the subject comes directly at you like your images. Unfortunately, this setting is buried in the Custom Setting Menu’s and isn’t available to be added to a function or DoF preview button to change it on the fly..
So.. suggestions? I am inclined to keep it on Short or Off and concentrate on AF tracking technique… What says Artie??
A few days ago I spent some time at the Cosumnes River Preserve in California’s Central Valley attempting to photograph, among other things, our Pacific Flyway population of Sandhill Cranes. When attempting flight photography I always keep in mind your entreaty to keep the Sun and wind to your back, and it is so rewarding when those elements do actually come together. Thanks for the reminder and the great examples!
Loved the flight photos and picked up some helpful information.