Cliff Swallow in flight

[Doug Brown]

I spent several hours on Sunday photographing Cliff Swallows in flight. I was near their nests, so there was a lot of activity, but the nests were under a freeway overpass. For that reason, all of my flight shots were of free flight, as opposed to catching them as they were about to enter a nest. It's a real challenge, and I was quite sore the next day. Come to think of it, I'm still sore! :)

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/photos/332044026_9ejrt-X2.jpg

Canon 1D Mark III, 700mm, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 800, + 1 2/3 EC, no flash, hand held

[Bill Bryant]

Nice capture Doug! I know how hard these little missiles can be to catch. I'm curious how many shots did you take that day, and what was your keeper ratio?

Sore? Must have been hand holding. Some people pay $50 a month to get that kind of workout in a gym! Maybe Canon should start a new marketing campaign... "white lens aerobics".

Bill

[Arthur Morris]

Pretty darned good. Would like to see the two sunlit areas--the top of the head and the rump--a bit darker/denser...

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great capture, well worth the sore muscles. :) I like the wing position and eye contact and might crop it a tad tighter.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Congratulations Doug. They are a definite challenge and this capture is great . Wonderful flight pose and eye contact .

[Doug Brown]

Hi Bill! I took 550 photos that day, and about 190 are left on my hard drive at present. I'll delete quite a few more, but 190 are in focus (not necessarily tac sharp). I did spend the afternoon hand holding; not sure you could do this on a tripod. I like your idea about white lens aerobics!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Wow Doug, this is so good. I love seeing the detail and these birds are so darn quick. You did an outstanding job especially at almost 33% sharp rate. I feel for your pain though but can only imagine how heavy the combo is. :)

[Arthur Morris]

I took 550 photos that day, and about 190 are left on my hard drive at present.

Hey Doug, I would humbly suggest that if you keep more than 5-10 images in the situation above that your storage problems will soon be unsolvable... The days of keeping all sharp or all useable images (as was the proper strategy with film) are long gone...

[Doug Brown]

Agreed Artie.