This article discusses best BIF (bird-in-flight) settings, and shares a selection of recently captured photographs of purple martins in free flight. All of the featured images were captured handheld at Biggar Lagoons Wetlands in Grimsby Ontario a few days ago during a quick 1.5 hour visit. It was a very productive outing that created over 100 useable images in a very compressed time frame.
Category Archives: Bird Detection AI
Puffins Flying in Fog
This article features a selection of images of puffins flying in fog, which were captured handheld during our recent trip to Newfoundland. We were hoping for decent weather but unfortunately Mother Nature did not cooperate. Eleven of our fourteen days spent touring Newfoundland were dominated by fog and rain. This included our three days at Bonavista and our short duration, daily visits to the nearby Elliston puffin colony.
Catching Up In Post
Catching up in post with images we have already created can be a challenge, especially if we’ve been out with our cameras on a regular basis. The volume of unprocessed files can be daunting. In an effort to start to get myself somewhat current I’ve been spending time purging some of my April files and processing a few images. It can be interesting what one finds when catching up in post.
Swallows Diving
This article features a selection of handheld photographs that document tree swallows diving at the large pond at Biggar Lagoon Wetlands in Grimsby Ontario. Folks who have attempted to photograph tree swallows in flight can attest to the fact that these diminutive birds are fast and erratic flyers. I often refer to them as ‘pocket rockets’.
Right Place Right Time
As nature and bird photographers we sometimes overlook the importance of being in the right place at the right time. Often our attention is overly focused on camera gear. We can spend hours debating the relative merits of camera format, brand, model and lenses used. If we care about our craft we’ll invest time in skills development like our eye/hand coordination. All of that goes for naught if we aren’t at the right place at the right time to capture our images.
Juvenile Bald Eagle
This article features some images of a juvenile Bald Eagle captured handheld during a recent visit to the Big Creek National Wildlife Area. Last week a friend and I were exploring some birding areas on the north east shore of Lake Erie, when we unexpectedly came upon a juvenile bald eagle.
First Swallows of 2023
This article features a selection of images of the first swallows of 2023 to arrive in our area of Southern Ontario. During the past few years I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time photographing these pocket rockets with some success… so I was looking forward to their arrival this spring.
Ducks with 40-150
This article features a selection of handheld images of ducks captured with the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 zoom and MC-20 teleconverter. As noted in a previous article, I was not initially planning to do any bird photography on this particular day, and left my M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS at home.
Pigeon In Close
This short article features a small selection of handheld images of a pigeon flying in close, captured with an M.Zuiko PRO 40-150mm f/2.8 zoom and MC-20 teleconverter.
I wasn’t planning to do any bird photography on the day that these photographs were created. As a result I had left my M.Zuiko 100-400mm f/5-6.3 IS at home. It was a good thing that I did.
BIF Boredom
Regardless of how much we may enjoy photographing birds-in-flight there is a risk that BIF boredom can set in from time to time. On a personal basis I find this risk most often surfaces during late fall/early winter and during the hottest summer months. During these time periods we are in-between major bird migration movements. As a result the overall variety and number of birds can be reduced. The local species that remain may seem uninteresting to us from a photographic perspective.