One swift in flight, C&C please...

[Jaime Seuma]

and my first post!
I've been trying for some days to get some pictures of these wonderful and fast swifts in the neighborhood.
I've learned that the task is definitely challenging, and after haven discarded many pictures and selected a few, finally this morning I've gotten one that makes me partially satisfied.

http://www.pbase.com/jaimoten/image/123974818/original.jpg

I don't find the picture to be perfect, but at least the face and most of the bird are in focus and sharp.
I'm not happy with his left wing (no pun intended) because half the way it starts to be out of focus... but that's the best I've been able to achieve -so far-.

I've used the Canon 1D Mark III, Canon 70-200 and Canon 1.4x TC.

And finally, I'd like your comments/criticism; as of today I am obviously an amateur (bird) photographer and my main goal is to improve my skills, to find the best composition/exposure...

Thanks in advance

Best regards

[Doug Brown]

Welcome to BPN Jaime! You picked a challenging subject for your first image post, and you got it nice and sharp. The image appears somewhat underexposed. It would help if you would include your complete techs along with your images. I would remove the dark stuff from the LLC. Also, the maximum image dimensions are 1024 pixels wide and 800 pixels tall. Looking forward to seeing more of your images!

[Colin Knight]

Wow, Jaims- putting that Mark III AF to the test, and your technique too! Doug hit a bunch of good points. We're waiting for the techs.

[Katie Rupp]

Welcome, Jaime! I'm impressed that you were able to capture that fast-flying, small Swift as well as you did! Looking forward to more as you keep working on it.

[Jaime Seuma]

Hi friends
@Doug: first of all, sorry about the size of the picture! I actually cropped/downscaled to ensure 1024x7xx px, but as last step during PP I added round borders... and that made the image to grow a little. I have downscaled to 1024x755 and re-uploaded to the server (pbase.com), hopefully when the cache in browsers and server is refreshed you will see the picture at this smaller size. I'll be more careful for the future posts.
And yes, it is a bit underexposed, mostly disturbing in the belly area of the bird, I will try to re-process it pulling levels up a bit. That will make the sky to wash out a bit, though; and I think I like it better this way. Maybe I can use masks or something to selectively pull up levels (?)
@clknight: thank you very much; will you believe that until I got this last picture, I had been trying both my 1D3 and my 50D and the nicest pictures were shot with the old trusty 50D? I thought that the AF system would be the more important factor for the task, and I was wrong :-) . Patience and choosing the 70-200 f/4 have been the key. I had been thinking in a 'prepared' setup with the cam pre-focused and waiting for the swifts to appear in position -much as the technique you have explained for some of your small birds in flight- but swifts flight is too fast and unpredictable...
@Kati: thanks for your kind words, they are indeed small fast flying lovely creatures.

I'm sorry I didn't realize that the EXIF data were lost during the PP, anyways, here you are:

Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Shooting Mode: Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ): 1/1600
Av( Aperture Value ): 5.6
Metering Mode: Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation: +1
ISO Speed 400
Lens: EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal Length: 268.0mm
Image Quality: RAW
Flash: Off
White Balance Mode: Auto
AF Mode: AI Servo AF
Long exposure noise reduction: Off
High ISO speed noise reduction: Off
Highlight tone priority: Disable


Thanks for looking the picture and for your words!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Welcome to BPN Jaime! Doug has covered a good amount and I agree with him. I can appreciate how difficult these guys are to track and focus, but ideally the image would have taken before the subject has passed you (here it is angling slightly away). I also wouldn't be afraid to use even higher ISOs for this type of image...your camera can take it, and you'd have higher shutter speeds for better keeper ratio (less images lost due to subject motion blur).

Having said this I find it an impressive first post with a high degree of difficulty.

P.S. Yes to masking the bird before selectively adjusting the exposure on it....

[Jaime Seuma]

Welcome to BPN Jaime! Doug has covered a good amount and I agree with him. I can appreciate how difficult these guys are to track and focus, but ideally the image would have taken before the subject has passed you (here it is angling slightly away). I also wouldn't be afraid to use eben higher ISOs for this type of image...your camera can take it, and you'd have higher shutter speeds better keeper ration (less images lost due to subject motion blur).

Having said this I find it an impressive first post with a high degree of difficulty.

P.S. Yes to masking the bird before selectively adjusting the exposure on it....

Hi Daniel
Thanks for your kind -and encouraging- words!
I think that there is good advise in them, all the C&C in the thread has already made me think.
I have to definitely pull up ISO and get some more shutter speed, and I have to compensate EV maybe 1 stop more (and perhaps use manual mode?).
As for the picture having been shot the tiniest bit too late... I wish I had been able to shoot before!
I've found something that I hadn't experienced yet: the cam may need near to 1 second to get the subject in focus... and with swifts, 1 second may be toooo much time. They change direction and suddenly they are too far.
But I get your point.
And yes, this is my first post... I have been shooting birds for a while, nothing fancy; but then I guess that if I try to select my best to publish here, I'll feel more compelled to improve because of the high standards I've seen in the different threads.

Again, thanks a lot.

Regards