BIF techniques for Small Super-Fast Birds

For the last 2 months I have been photographing my local burrowing owls. In the short time I've been photographing birds, I have to say that these guys are the fastest and hardest birds to capture in flight that I've encountered, given their size and sheer speed (right up there with the pileated woodys).

I've tried with the 400mm 5.6L and 500 4.0L and I've tried with the 7D and 1d Mark II. While I've gotten a few keepers, I must say that over 95% of the images are oof, not sharp/blurred; or total miss. My problem is getting the bird in the viewfinder and locked before he's out of position. Ironically, the shots where I did get a decent shot was when all of a sudden, the owl flew directly at me when he got spooked by a car driving behind him. What sucked, is that while he was sharp, I didn't have a clean background (had oof yellow tape and the sidewalk) in the image.

I've tried prefocusing the lens when they are perched and wait and as soon as they take off, and I move the lens around to get the bird in the proper position to me and in focus, the majority of time, if I do get a lock, I'm photographing the owl's butt. It's exhausting, especially when I'm handholding as I at times just hold the camera/lens with the owl in the viewfinder and wait for him to take off. Unlike other birds, that you can see them coming, and you have time to lock on this until they get into position, with these guys, their flight paths are short (usually from burrow to tree or wood post) and they fly at supersonic speed.

I'm just curious as to some of you BIF beasts out there handle similar situation (and I'd like to know if you think there's a more difficult bird than the burrowing owl to capture in flight)

Michael,

Greetings. I don't know your equipment (I shoot with a D3), but the AF tracking and shutter priority options, I think, make a world of difference. Some of my sharpest bif shots have not registered as locked by the camera, the camera thinks it is in transition from one focus point to another but by happenstance so is the bird. Shutter priority gets the shot (continuous shooting), while focus-priority & release+focus (a slightly delayed release-priority) does not. Focus takes some time to be sensed by the camera and spray and pray if shutter priority, I think, gets the best chance of the brief (un-sensed) in focus moment. ymmv.

I don't know burrowing owls but behavioral understanding (any cues to when they launch?) and flight path (put yourself almost directly in the flight path if you can). Swallows are pretty fast but have behavioral cues that help.

Just some thoughts... (oh, you might try resting that hand on top of a tripod ;) )

And one more thought... I only have a much shorter focal length option (340mm full frame). Sometimes acquisition is easier with shorter, though you need to get closer.

Cheers,

-Michael-

I'm shooting with the 7D and the 500mm f/4L IS. When I expect BIF I take of the 1.4x extender off and set the AF point to either expanded single-point or the block of nine points. The AF mode should be continuous. I pre focus, as you suggest, and follow the bird only "bumping" the AF when I'm certain that one of the AF points is on the bird. If you continually keep your finger half way down on the shutter button, then you risk the camera focusing on something extraneous if you let the AF points stray off the bird (very easy to do).

Is there a RC model airplane field near you. Pro Bob Rozinski suggested that I practice on those planes. It really does help a bunch and you get a lot of practice in a short time because the planes are always in sight. Practice taking you lens off the subject and then quickly finding the subject. Take quick pre focus points and then quickly capture the plane. I'm a long ways from mastering the 500mm plus 1.4x, but just one session with the planes greatly improved my bird following ability.

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Originally Posted by Michael Pancier

...(and I'd like to know if you think there's a more difficult bird than the burrowing owl to capture in flight)

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Ok, Michael, how about swallows, chickadees, bushtits, cedar waxwing, or simply any sparrows or birds of only a few inches long? :) If you have successfully taking BIF shots of them, I'd appreciate it if you could share your techniques with us.

David, thanks for the suggestion, I wonder if my keeping my finger on the shutter may be affecting my success ratio; today I did get some keepers with the 400 5.6L, but still have to crop given the size of the owl. I use on the 7d the cross sensor 9 point. I'll try the bump method and see if that helps. But as you noted, just getting the bird in the view finder is the big challenge.

Desmond, I won't even consider those tiny guys. It's bad enough just trying to get a still shot of a gnat catcher or warbler since they're so **** hyper....can't even imagine a flight shot...

Subscribed,and i too would love to here more about these techniques. Mike are you refering to Brian Picolo park, if so; i can agree; the tape, and bg is very tough!
don

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Originally Posted by Don Hamilton Jr.

Subscribed,and i too would love to here more about these techniques. Mike are you refering to Brian Picolo park, if so; i can agree; the tape, and bg is very tough!
don

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You got it Don. I tried to eliminate an oof tape from the pic in CS5 with content aware, and no dice. I did nail some decent ones yesterday, but with the 400 5.6L, and with some cropping.

Michael,

With the Burrowing Owls you will usualy have short fast flights somewhat erratic and low to the ground with varied bgs. This means that prefocusing at the approximate distance where you think you will attempt initial acquisition is critical. Then you need to be very fast when you do the initial acquisition, then hold the focus and shoot. If it's a typical Burrowing Owl flight, you won't have time or need to bump the focus. Most people don't understand the primary reason for bumping the focus anyway. I also suggest using the center point only. The PWs are usualy easier than the Owls becuase they often have longer, more predictable flights. Here are a couple of examples. With lots of practice it's doable. Keep practicing! :)

http://www.flightschoolphotography.com/POTN/BO1.jpg

http://www.flightschoolphotography.com/POTN/bwl4.jpg

those are sick shots Jim. You handheld these with the 500 I take it?

The owls I've been following has the misfortune to have a road about 10 feet due north of the burrows and they usually fly in a southerly direction away from the nests and then back to their nests, so I tend to get the pavement in my images, unless I get them for the short span when there's only greenery behind them.

Jim, let me ask you if you think I should be shooting at an even faster speed with burrowing owls? Not sure at what speed you got your owls, but I've typically been shooting at 1/1600 or 1/2000 at ISO 400 and wondered if I should bump it to ISO 800 to get a faster ss with them. Even at 1/2000, I get some blur on the wings.

Here's my latest where I got them sharp and with a nice BG, but cropped at about 40% @ 1/1600

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/...711e7312_o.jpg

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Originally Posted by Michael Pancier

those are sick shots Jim. You handheld these with the 500 I take it?

The owls I've been following has the misfortune to have a road about 10 feet due north of the burrows and they usually fly in a southerly direction away from the nests and then back to their nests, so I tend to get the pavement in my images, unless I get them for the short span when there's only greenery behind them.

Jim, let me ask you if you think I should be shooting at an even faster speed with burrowing owls? Not sure at what speed you got your owls, but I've typically been shooting at 1/1600 or 1/2000 at ISO 400 and wondered if I should bump it to ISO 800 to get a faster ss with them. Even at 1/2000, I get some blur on the wings.

Here's my latest where I got them sharp and with a nice BG, but cropped at about 40% @ 1/1600

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Mike,

A faster shutter speed may help increase the number of sharp shots you get. 1/2500 or 1/3200 should be a good ss to try for. I would also suggest trying a higher angle if possible. That should give you more opportunities with the green bg. Do you have a step ladder or vehicle you can stand on? Try to learn the behavior and flight patterns so you can anticipate the action you want to photograph. The key though will be to practice and develop your initrial acquisition skills. Do you remember how to do this from your workshop with me in 2006? If not, you may wish to visit me again. I have refined things quite a bit since you were here. You were one of the first custom workshops I did when I first started doing the workshops.