Sandpiper in flight

[arash_hazeghi]

Another shore bird image from SF Bay.



1DX 600II + 1.4X III f/5.6 1/3200sec ISO 1250. hand held. These are a bit more difficult than other shorebirds given their small size and speed, w/o the 1DX it would be very difficult to nail these in flight. I hadn't done it before. I hope you like this frame.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Arash, this is the best Sandpiper-in-flight I have seen! TFS. Great work as usual.

[Graeme Cox]

WOW lovely capture

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Beautiful, Arash! As you say, capturing 'smaller' birds as well as this is not easy. Nice sharpness, beautiful BG!

[shane shacaluga]

Great flightshot and the light is just spot on.

A bit off topic, but I see you use 1/3200 a lot and aperture wide open. Are you determining the ISO by adjusting it after a few shots on your expected subject, or do you have any special way of metering?

Thanks for sharing

[ramesh anantharaman]

What first catches is me is the magnificent light on the Bird. All other techs are just amazing but the light is to just die for!!!

[Grace Scalzo]

So difficult and you nailed it. Perfect wing position and eye contact.

[Bill Dix]

So you couldn't just be satisfied with the large birds, and had to go after the peeps. This is just amazing. Love the light on the bird against the dark BG, great wing position and flight angle, super techs. Congrats on a very difficult shot.

[Declan Troy]

FYI this is a Dunlin (a type of sandpiper).

[gail bisson]

Well done Arash! Nice light and BG.
Gail

[Ian Wilson]

Hi Arash,
I am very impressed by your wader flight shots. I have tried it and any success I have had is by good luck rather than good management. Can you please give a little insight into your AF settings? For example, single or expanded AF points, second shot priority speed or focus, AI servo parameters for tracking sensitivity, accel/decel and AF point auto switching.
Thanks, Ian

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Excellent light, flight angle, and a nice dark bg. You keep pushing the bar Arash, there's no stopping you :cheers:
Can anybody age this Dunlin? Is this a juvenile?

[Robert Kimbrell]

That Beautiful Arash, I recall reading one of your posts about wanting to shoot smaller and faster birds. Well done.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

"Difficult to nail in flight" is an understatement. But I guess I'm not too surprised you were the one to pull it off!

I'd say the top left is a bit of a distraction, but I can't seem to get my eyes off the bird. So maybe it's not that bad after all.

[Tim King]

You're killin' it.

[dankearl]

IQ is superb, you make the bird look huge!
Great skill and craft, I await The songbirds in flight.....

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Arash,
I am very impressed by your wader flight shots. I have tried it and any success I have had is by good luck rather than good management. Can you please give a little insight into your AF settings? For example, single or expanded AF points, second shot priority speed or focus, AI servo parameters for tracking sensitivity, accel/decel and AF point auto switching.
Thanks, Ian

Thanks Ian, I used center point with expansion, priority set to medium and AI-servo tracking sensitivity set to lowest. BTW, all the settings and reasoning behind them are explained in my guide.

best

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment

[arash_hazeghi]

Great flightshot and the light is just spot on.

A bit off topic, but I see you use 1/3200 a lot and aperture wide open. Are you determining the ISO by adjusting it after a few shots on your expected subject, or do you have any special way of metering?

Thanks for sharing

Thanks Shane, I set the metering by experience. I don't really have a special way. I take a shot or two to confirm before starting to shoot. I change my exposure as light changes.

[Rob Melone]

Always one of my favorites arash, especially captured like this one!

[Gabi Sandu]

You are the master of BIF. Great job.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone for your comments