Bird Detection AI, Birds in Flight, Micro 4/3 (OM-D/M.Zuiko), Pro Capture

More Kingfishers in Flight

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This article features ten new photographs of more kingfishers in flight, captured during two recent visits to Grimsby harbour. On Monday and Tuesday this week I had one opportunity on each day to photograph a kingfisher in flight.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

The first six photographs in this article were captured with an image run from Tuesday. In this case the kingfisher was flying away from me, so the shooting angle was not ideal.

OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2000, ISO-500, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2330 pixels on the width, subject distance 55.4 metres
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2000, ISO-500, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2287 pixels on the width, subject distance 55.4 metres
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2000, ISO-500, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2501 pixels on the width, subject distance 55.9 metres

Opportunities to photograph kingfishers in flight are rare. As mentioned earlier, this image run was the only chance I had during my visit to Grimsby harbour on Tuesday. The above photograph is my favourite from that day.

OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2000, ISO-640, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2259 pixels on the width, subject distance 59.9 metres
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2000, ISO-640, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2383 pixels on the width, subject distance 59.5 metres
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2000, ISO-640, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2100 pixels on the width, subject distance 61.1 metres

As you can see in the three photographs above, the shooting angle got progressively worse. As a result many of the photographs at the end of this image run were unusable.

My best images of kingfishers in flight occured on the previous day. During my visit on Monday I spotted a bird at a distance that was flying towards me. Unsure of what it was, I took an initial Pro Capture L run.

OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2500, ISO-800, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2190 pixels on the width, subject distance 56.3 metres

As soon as I realized that there was a kingfisher flying towards me I decided to pause my shooting, and take a second Pro Capture L run when the bird flew in closer to me. This decision proved to be a good one as my second Pro Capture L run yielded my three best ever photographs of kingfishers in flight.

OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2500, ISO-640, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 3069 pixels on the width, subject distance 36.6 metres
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2500, ISO-640, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 3003 pixels on the width, subject distance 36.6 metres
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS with M.Zuiko MC-14 teleconverter @ 560 mm, efov 1120 mm, f/9, 1/2500, ISO-640, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, Pro Capture L, cropped to 2808 pixels on the width, subject distance 36 metres

Each of us use the camera equipment that best suits our individual needs. Regardless of what we may happen to own it is important that we experiment with our camera gear to determine which settings work best for our shooting style. When rare photographic opportunities present themselves its also important that we remain calm and focused.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. Crops are noted.

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