Being prepared for opportunities is one of the fundamental factors when it comes to being successful with bird-in-flight photography. This takes some planning, and is also directly impacted by how we set up our camera gear.
In a recent article, Best BIF Settings, we discussed the importance of determining the best camera settings to use based on our individual photographic approach, objectives, and the gear that we own.
In response to that recent article a couple of readers contacted me by email, and asked why I specifically use a combination of Pro Capture L and Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking for all my bird in free flight photography. The simple answer is because I want to be prepared for opportunities that often appear/disappear in a split second when photographing birds-in-flight.
Rather than describe some opportunities when this combination of camera technologies on my E-M1X has enabled me to capture some images, I thought it would be more instructive to simply show some very recent examples.
What follows are four short image runs of terns in flight dropping fish they had been carrying. In three of the four examples illustrated, the tern is photographed catching the dropped fish in midair.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.
These four image opportunities all happened yesterday morning while I was at Hendrie Valley… and all within a 10 minute time frame. Let’s have a look at these four image runs, along with the time of day at which they were captured.
7:05 AM
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2999 pixels on the width, subject distance 65.8 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3003 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.8 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3007 pixels on the width, subject distance 62.2 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2251 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.4 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3003 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.3 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2999 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.1 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3001 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.1 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3001 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.1 metres
7:06 AM
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3001 pixels on the width, subject distance 54.3 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3005 pixels on the width, subject distance 59 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3003 pixels on the width, subject distance 59.1 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3030 pixels on the width, subject distance 59 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3003 pixels on the width, subject distance 56.9 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3009 pixels on the width, subject distance 59.4 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3003 pixels on the width, subject distance 59.9 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 3001 pixels on the width, subject distance 60.4 metres
7:11 AM
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/2500, ISO-1600, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2999 pixels on the width, subject distance 64.3 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/2500, ISO-2000, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2984 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.6 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/2500, ISO-2000, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2995 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.9 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/2500, ISO-2000, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2999 pixels on the width, subject distance 63 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/2500, ISO-2000, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2999 pixels on the width, subject distance 63.3 metres
7:15 AM
OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2997 pixels on the width, subject distance 71.5 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2997 pixels on the width, subject distance 72.6 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2997 pixels on the width, subject distance 72.3 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2997 pixels on the width, subject distance 69.4 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2997 pixels on the width, subject distance 73 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2982 pixels on the width, subject distance 70.4 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2995 pixels on the width, subject distance 71.6 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2999 pixels on the width, subject distance 72 metresOM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, -0.7 EV, 1/2500, ISO-250, Pro Capture L, Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking, cropped to 2995 pixels on the width, subject distance 72.7 metres
Prepared for opportunities.
To me, being prepared for opportunities involves understanding the subject matter I’m planning to photograph, as well as the venue. Then, combining that knowledge with using the right settings on my camera equipment.
When I spot a tern in flight with a fish in its beak my immediate thought is that this could be an opportunity to photograph a fish being dropped in midair… and the tern trying to retrieve it. So I pan with the tern as best I can using my “C1” settings on my E-M1X’s Custom Mode dial.
These settings include Pro Capture L at 18 frames per second in continuous auto-focus and operating in conjunction with Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking with a single, small AF point engaged. Half depressing my shutter release activates Pro Capture L and enables my E-M1X to store images in temporary memory.
If the tern happens to drop its fish I can respond immediately by fully depressing my shutter release and thereby write a predetermined number of image files that are being stored in temporary memory to my SD card. It is akin to using my E-M1X like a mini time machine. And, that’s something that I absolutely love using.
Technical Note
Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. This is the 1,292 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.
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2 thoughts on “Prepared For Opportunities”
The title for this blog could have been: Playing with your food. Smile.
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The title for this blog could have been: Playing with your food. Smile.
Great shots, by the way. So many of them!
Thanks Daniel… glad you enjoyed the images.
Tom