This article discusses some of the issues associated with photographing incoming birds in flight. All photographs were captured handheld using the Pro Capture H mode on the Olympus OM-D E-M1X.

To demonstrate some of the considerations to keep in mind, this posting features parts of two image runs. The first is of a nuthatch flying in to take some food from an outstretched palm.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

I used a single auto-focus point positioned on the peanuts in the outstretched palm.

By half-depressing the shutter release on my Olympus OM-D E-M1X I activated the Pro Capture H Mode. This allowed my camera to begin to record images and store them in temporary memory.

You can see as the nuthatch approached it began to spread its wings in order to slow down to land.

The nuthatch’s wings are fully extended, creating a nice visual display.

In the frame above we can see that the nuthatch is now at the proper approach angle and is beginning to extend its legs and digits.

Wings swept back and it legs and digits fully extended in preparation for landing, the above image communicates a good level of anticipation.

Just as the nuthatch is about to touchdown it closes its eyes. I find this absolutely fascinating!

Touchdown! The nuthatch has made a successful landing on the fingertip of the outstretched hand. It is critical to note that all of the eight images that you just viewed were captured before I fully depressed the shutter on my OM-D E-M1X. When photographing an incoming bird it is important to time your shutter release to allow the Pro Capture H mode to record the critical frames in temporary memory.

I use Pro Capture H when photographing incoming birds as I want to ensure I get as many unique wing positions as possible. In this mode, my E-M1X uses a frame rate of 60 frames-per-second. The eight photographs you just viewed were all captured in a total of about 0.15 seconds. I waited until the nuthatch had landed on the outstretched hand before I fully depressed the shutter on my Olympus OM-D E-M1X. This locked in the images stored in temporary memory and wrote them to my memory card.

Now, let’s have a look at our second sample run of images. This time we’ll be viewing a blue jay coming in to feed.

As you can see with this first image, I was in a bit tighter as I wanted to fill the frame more fully when photographing the incoming blue jay.

Birds like blue jays that are a bit larger, tend to fly at a somewhat slower speed. You can get in tighter to their landing target and still get a reasonable number of key frames. In this case I captured seven key photographs in this image run. All of the images were captured in a total of 0.12 seconds.

When using the Pro Capture H mode it is important to remember that the first frame of the run locks focus for the balance of the images.

When photographing an incoming bird using this mode, it is critical to choose a shooting angle that allows the bird to land at a 90-degree angle to your camera.

Photographing incoming birds that are not parallel to your camera’s sensor can go in and out of focus quickly. This can limit the usability of the images captured during a Pro Capture H run.

We see a similar body position to the nuthatch. Wings pulled back, legs and digits extended just prior to touchdown.

I find it quite interesting that, unlike the nuthatch, the blue jay kept its gaze focused on the outstretched hand for its entire approach.

Photographing incoming birds can be a challenge at the best of times. The Pro Capture Mode on Olympus cameras like the OM-D E-M1X make this type of image capture significantly easier. In fact, it makes photographing incoming birds something that can be done at a 100% confidence level when proper technique is utilized. This approach to Pro Capture can be used in other situations such as birds returning to their nest or to a favourite perch.

As a photographer who loves to photograph birds, I cannot imagine owning at least one camera that did not have Pro Capture H capability.

Technical Note:
Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. All images were produced from RAW files using my standard process, and are displayed as 100% captures without any cropping.

How you can help keep this site advertising free
My intent is to keep this photography blog advertising free. If you enjoyed this article and/or my website and would like to support my work, you can purchase an eBook, or make a modest $10 donation through PayPal. Both are most appreciated. You can use the Donate button below. Larger donations can be made to tom@tomstirr.com through PayPal.

Word of mouth is the best form of endorsement. If you like our website please let your friends and associates know about our work. Linking to this site or to specific articles is allowed with proper acknowledgement. Reproducing articles, or any of the images contained in them, on another website or in any social media posting is a Copyright infringement.

Article and images are Copyright 2019 Thomas Stirr. All rights reserved. No use, duplication or adaptation of any kind is allowed without written consent. If you see this article reproduced anywhere else it is an unauthorized and illegal use. Posting comments on offending websites and calling out individuals who steal intellectual property is always appreciated!