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Rosl Roessner
06-08-2009, 04:54 AM
Tomorrow I will have the opportunity to take some Pictures of Nightjars at night. But of course, they will be in flight.
Is there any chance to get decent images? The distance between me & the Bird will be about 5 - 15 m, I guess.
I have no idea, how I should try to get some.

My gear:
Canon Mark III / 500 mm lens f 4 / diff. Converter / Canon 580 EX Flash / Better Beamer / Extra Power Pack.

Can you please give me some good advice about the settings I should try, and to manage to focus at night?

Not very much time to loose, so I hope for help from the BPN!
Thanks a lot!
Rose

Octavio Campos Salles
06-08-2009, 07:07 AM
Rose, I have the same idea for an upcoming trip to the Pantanal in the next couple weeks. In fact I have always had that shot in mind.

Focusing is out of the question, so I guess the only option, if you don't have an automatic firing system by laser beams, is to use more flashes (I'm sorry, I don't think one is enough for this). Set your camera on a tripod near the area you think the nighthawks will pass and about 3 or more off camera flashes positioned pointing to the same area, but near the action. The lens can't be a very long one for this, I though of something around 200 or 300mm. Set your speed to the max flash-sync speed and a closed down aperture to get more depth of field and thus more chances of actually having a bird in focus. If needed boost up the ISO a lot, but don't give up on a closed aperture.

Then just fire away when you see a bird flying into the frame.... and hope for the best!

With some nightjars it's a bit easier, as they have a favorite perch where they keep coming back after short aerial hunts. Just pre-focus and wait. I have done that in the past, but it needs a lot of refinements and a better wing position http://www.octaviosalles.com.br/imagens/galeria/acurana3.jpg

Let us know if it works!

Octavio Campos Salles
06-08-2009, 07:08 AM
I'm sorry, that was supposed to be Rosl, not Rose...

Alfred Forns
06-08-2009, 03:17 PM
Will be interesting Rosl

Are you going to use flash as main? Ambient with high IS? I think you will have to play it by ear and improvise. I can shoot twenty minutes or so after sundown but AF becomes erratic and won't track. If it doesn't work at all would give manual pre setting .... a real shot in the dark !!! :) Good luck !!! btw if you have any 2.8 lenses might give them a try !!

Rosl Roessner
06-08-2009, 03:25 PM
Alright, not the easy thing I guess ;)
I have only the 70-200 2.8, this will be too short I think.
I'll have to use the flash as main light source, if there is no full moon tomorrow (very cloudy at the moment).
Did never try to get images during night, but I'll try it tomorrow... Don't expect much. If you have more ideas, go on...
Do you think, it would be better to take the 300mm lens(f4), instead of the 500?
I might be much faster in finding the bird in the viewer and focus on it?
Too bad, that I have no decent spare body.

Alfred Forns
06-08-2009, 04:16 PM
Rosl the 300 would would be a better choice finding the birds Sure hope you can get close !!!

Harold Davis
06-08-2009, 06:24 PM
rosl, if the birds are going to be no more than 5-15m from you, the 70-200 should be perfect. good luck!!!

Octavio Campos Salles
06-08-2009, 07:06 PM
Besides, even if you can find the bird with the 500mm (a great achievement on itself), your focus will have to be pretty dead on the bird with a large aperture, otherwise the flash light just won't reach it out there. How are you going to focus at NIGHT on a flying bird? I have no idea...

So, the birds will have to come flying in nearby, use the 70-200mm with a closed down aperture (f/16 or more), a pre-focused distance, flash manually set to as low a power you can get (better freezing), and some luck... not to mention a LOT of wasted frames.

good luck

c.w. moynihan
06-09-2009, 07:07 AM
This is probably the best approach to night "flight" photography. It may not work with your subject unless there is a consistent area the bird is flying too/landing.

http://www.naturescapes.net/docs/index.php/category-photographic-technique/41-photographic-tech%20nique/306-tom-vezo

Lance Peters
06-10-2009, 03:46 AM
The Photo Trap looks cool - some limitations of course.

Jim Neiger
06-30-2009, 06:09 PM
Try having a friend with a spotlight track the bird with the light for you. This wll allow you to focus. Then use a flash with BB and a shutter speed below your flash sync speed. This should give you enough light to expose the bird properly and the flash should freeze the motion when the SS is too slow to do so. It will be very difficult. I tried this without the camera flash on Owls in flight in Australia. I got several images, but none were sharp enough because I did not pan perfectly and the SS was only about 1/80. I think I would have been able to make sharp images if I had used a flash and BB in addition to the spotlight. Good luck!