Little Bee - eater with a bee

[Carl Walker]

Can anyone give me some advice for shooting these guys as they are pretty fast. I am finding that I am shooting with a " hit and miss " scenario. I am happy with that but was hoping that some of you might have a much better technique.

As these birds often utilise the same perches around the area of the nesting hole it is fairly easy to predict the landing and direction. I focus on bird on the perch and anticipate take off and once it has left the perch after shooting frames I then quickly look up from camera to pick it up again and watch it coming in. Obviously depending on distance to subject, I can move the camera slightly with sufficient time to shoot frames blind hoping to catch it with a series of frames till it lands.

With this in mind I have just recently tried an new technique whereby I focus on the bird and then put the lens onto manual and turn it slightly CW or ACW depending on what I am anticipating. I guess I just need to practice a lot to get a feel for it to become more successful. Any advice would be very welcome. Hope you understand what I am getting at. I also realise that more DOF will assist. I am also in that phase of learning to use manual but I keep chopping and changing between modes.


This pair of little bee - eaters are getting quite used to me now. They are flying to perches a lot closer to my vehicle now. The female is spending more time in the nesting hole so I am guessing she is sitting on eggs.

Bean bag support

Canon 1D Mk IV, 300 f2.8 plus 2 X extender Mk III

ISO 3200 - 1/2500 sec- f5,6


The light was overcast, hence the high ISO and my SS was high as I was anticipating flight shots. Up until now I have only used up to ISO 3200 but have progressed right up to 6400 with reasonable results.




PP work in PSE 9
LM on bird - cloned small branch on bottom RHS - 1 round of NR on BG and none on bird - USM

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent moment you have captured, Carl. I like the position of the bee (perfect profile pose), stare of bee-eater,open beak and composition.
Love the colors, nice details,red eye and backdrop.
Another round of sharpening on bird will not harm the beauty of image.

Regards,
Satish.

[Lyle Gruby]

Love the action you caught, bird and prey look great. I'd consider cloning out the second branch and toning down or blending in the more defined OOF bright spots in the BG--mainly the one in the LLC. I'd also run another round of NR on the BG. The bird is sharp enough for my taste.

[Frank Schauf]

Great timing, great action.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Awesome action Carl, the bee adds a great deal to this! Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Carl, great timing to get the BE flipping the bee. Colours look spot on, and they really stand out against the grey BG.

With regards to nailing incoming shots, you already have the knowledge that most times they will return to the same perch that they just took off from. I will focus on that perch and you soon work out how long they take to return - mostly they see something, fly off and come straight back to the perch. You need to have space in your frame, and as soon as you see a hint of him returning, just fire a long burst. Not every incoming pose will be at the right angle, but you will get some with open wings. In this image, you would have certainly cut off his wings, as you were too close. Fine for a perched shot. Yes, they are extremely fast.

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely timing and a great catch , good colours reproduced
the bee adds a lot to the frame.
In case you are shooting same birds for a period of time then you may notice that each bird has its own way of actions before they fly , normally around 80% of times they do perform the same routine when they go around with it, i did observe the chestnut headed bee eaters and found that it could be predicted with good accuracy however they have a habit of sitting under the shade making it difficult to get them in action due to low light. May be spend a hour plus with this one and write down how they behave before they fly off, also remember to have a lot of space around in the frame when you compose it, may help to get it .
I love this one, you have a great timing and it should be workable with you

[keith mitchell]

Carl you really have caught this very well excellent action shot that I would be thrilled to bits with.

[Carl Walker]

Hi Everyone - thanks for all your comments. Stuart I am doing what you mentioned - I just thought there might be a little secret tip out there.
Vishaljadhav thanks for your input. I do know their behaviour quite well now (last 3 weeks now I have managed to get there almost every morning an 1 1/2 before I start my daily work regime and most days in the late afternoon up until last light) and have a much better success rate now especially on take off by watching them intensely through the view finder for long periods of observation. I will document some of this behaviour on my blog when I have enough material if you are interested. You never stop learning. Thanks again

[Andre Pretorius]

Well done Carl! To sort BG, run NR, if you have a mask to mask bee-eater. If you do not make another mask, run the blur tool over with darken mode.
Love the pose!
Would darken/burn perch a bit.

[Carl Walker]

Hi Andre points noted. I will try that with the blur tool. Just wondering why you and Lyle suggest another round of NR. I don't seem to be able to see noise on my screen and I did calibrate 2 days ago. I get the oof light spots. Just wondering Mr P

[Rob Hartley]

first post as I have been skulking rather than participating! I know it is mantra that everyone MUST shoot RAW but why not try JPEG? The extra FPS I get is useful and for difficult subjects, I get 3 or 4 chances more of a good shot
Rob

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Carl, excellent timing, couldn't of asked for more and as Stu said, colours look spot on.

Just a thought, but could you plant a 'perch' near the nesting hole and basically 'set it up' so both perch & bird offer you the best angle and having the BKG far enough away and with a fixed lens, it will give you that nice soft, 'killer' BKG?

TFS
Steve

[Carl Walker]

Hi Rob thanks and it is good that you are now participating - only way to go forward - I am also new and have learnt that it helps heaps to comment. My camera shoots 10 fps so I don't have an issue there and even my old 7D copes very well as I use it if the LBE come too close for my other lens.

Steve - thanks. There are great little perches near the hole already. I have thought about the different scenarios. There are two nesting pairs that I visit. One is a meter off the road and I work them in the afternoons where I can work with the sun. The other I use in the mornings for the same reasons. The morning one has branches of a fallen fever tree strewn all over the place from a previous fire as well as other trees pushed over by elephant. Luckily they utilise a number of different perches so there is ample opportunity. It just depends how they feel that day. I also refrain from interfering too much and would rather keep it that way. They venture to within 2 meters at times and I just have to sit still for fear of chasing them if I move

The only thing they hear is the the noise of the camera when I'm there and they are not phased at all. I have plenty of shots that are close but not tack sharp sadly but i will get some good ones with persistence. Thanks for your thoughts.

[Barry Ekstrand]

What a great shot, one that I would love to get! Perhaps a bit more sharpening as mentioned before, but to me it is near-perfect and a wonderful shot.

Barry

[gail bisson]

I envy you! I would love to have private access to 2 pairs of bee- eaters!! My jealousy bone is throbbing!
I really like this. Image reminds me of the IOY with the LBR tossing it's prey.
I would be thrilled to have this shot in my files.
Love the action and colors and BG.
Too bad the OOF branch is intersecting the tail. If this is a favorite perch I might do some selective pruning.
Gail

[MohsenVahedipour]

Excellent timing with nice details. Very well done.