BIF Advice please

[Steve Kaluski]

This ongoing project with the Little owls has suddenly kick off big time and I am now getting requests for 'in-flight' images too. Therefore I am seeking any help in achieving more success in this area. Those who are more au fait with this type of shooting, whether it would be better to: manual focusing, auto focus, pre focus etc. Not sure if in manual focus the 'Case' setting works, likewise customising those setting? Any advice on the more 'tech' parts would be extremely welcome.

This is just one from this morning as an example. I'm not looking for feedback on colour, sharpness, exp as the PP is done on the laptop in the car. Light is really variable in this location and continues to constantly change, meaning in matter of minutes SS can be 1/1600 - 1/8000, however I try to achieve 1/3200 wherever possible.

BTW this seems to be his/her favourite 'perch' at present, as I have to keep taking a brush and a bottle of water to clean it down in parts.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

Subject: Little owl landing (Athene noctua)
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 200-400f/4 Gitzo tripod/Uniqball head
Exposure: 1/8000s at f/5.6 ISO2500 EV -1.33
Format: Landscape

[Binu John]

Stunning shot, Steve! Love the wingspread, landing pose, exposure and details! Very well done!

[Loi Nguyen]

Steve, looks pretty sharp to me and you caught him in a good pose. Since this is his favorite perch, pre-focus on the perch and AF would be best in my opinion. I'd wait until he comes into focus before pressing the shutter button. Pressing the shutter button too early forces you to track the fast incoming bird, which is not easy. I will leave the comments for the Case to others sine I'm not so sure which works best myself :). What is the dark BG? It gives a spot light appearance, which works well here. Yes, keep the SS high is key here. I usually shoot at 1/3200 or higher too for something like this. Loi

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Steve, I am no Pro so will leave the 'tech' advice to the masters of BIF here. For me, this works well, the incoming and landing pose is great, I like the fanned out wings, the intense focus of the owl on the perch, those claws showing, all works well. I can see you are having a bit of fun with those owls!!!! TFS.

[Andy Shepherd]

It's a great effort, Steve. Wing position is especially good, as is the focus on the eye. A little separation between the perch and the left hand wing and it would have been just about perfect.

Looking forward to more shots, so keep em coming.

Andy...

[Randy Stout]

Steve:

I can't help with the specific settings because of your shooting a Canon, but certainly would prefocus on the perch to get very close to the final setting and wait until the bird was almost landing before engaging the autofocus. Lots of variables in regards to selected focus points, etc, that can best be answered by a Canon shooter.

Lots like a great opportunity!

Cheers

Randy

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - You know I love your little owls so I'm just following this thread to see the advice as well. I'm sure you'll capture great flight images.

Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Steve I reckon it matters little if you prefocus or you are ready but roughly focused. I am astounded at the 1DX focusing speed and decisive nature. Arties guide to Af settings on the 1DX is a good buy.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Steve,

I like this one, it stands out nicely against the BG, great pose, good sharpness. The colors look a bit dull and desaturated on my screen. I do wish the perch had not interested with the bird

As for this type of shot, you need to use AF while pre-focusing somewhere close to the perch. Choice of AF settings will depend on the distance to the bird and the BG.

The "AF case" is a just permutation of the three settings by the way, you can edit any of them and use it.


best

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi folks thanks for the kind words.

I will to try and put some background in behind the location:

The 'perch' is an old gate post rotted over time, which last year had some lovely green/yellow lichen, now all gone, the dark BKG is the willow tree. The parent(s) which I cannot sex them, has been constanly flying down to the post as it has been 24/7 feeding the owlets that have arrived since I put the conservation owl box up at the end of last year. The distance approximately from leaving the tree to the post is around 10m or in old money 30ft and the flight i under 2 seconds. My theory was to pre-focus around 6-12 inches behind the perch and as soon as the owl started it's inward bound flight start shooting with the hope it would enter the 'kill zone' of focus, guys do you think the about is about right? Also there is NO flight plan, meaning they come from any direct to the perch so all I can do is set the frame to one area. having the wing intersect the perch is not an issue, as each successful frame captures the wing display differently so it would be a matter of choice within PP. I think my rational in achieving the shot was perhaps correct, however I am open to further thoughts on improving success.

Having never really spent to much time trying to achieve this I really take my hat off to you guys in Avian who are nailing any BIF.

The "AF case" is a just permutation of the three settings by the way, you can edit any of them and use it.


Hi Arash, yes I have some set for Wildlife, but shoot with AF, if you manually pre focus do the AF Case permutations actually kick in? As I have never pre focuses I have no experience if the Case settings stop being active. Also by pre focusing, setting all FP highlighted does it work, or because you have set an area anything entering will be picked up? Not sure if I am making this clear?

[Holger Leyrer]

Nice image. The wing spread and the fixed stare works perfect for me. Well done.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

You are getting some great results here Steve!
Just look at the nice feather detail obtained here. Good composition and subject. Lots of great advise above that is also useful for many like me!

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi folks thanks for the kind words.



Hi Arash, yes I have some set for Wildlife, but shoot with AF, if you manually pre focus do the AF Case permutations actually kick in? As I have never pre focuses I have no experience if the Case settings stop being active. Also by pre focusing, setting all FP highlighted does it work, or because you have set an area anything entering will be picked up? Not sure if I am making this clear?

Hi Steve,

I have no idea what you are talking about. There is no such thing as "case setting stop?". Maybe continue discussion offline....



best

[keith mitchell]

Can't help with the tecs Steve, but looks to me that you can't be far out,your Owl against that dark BG looks very good to me.
Enjoy reading and hopefully learning from the comments on this.

Cheers Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

That's what I am hoping for Keith. I think with that D4 you should not have any problems nailing this type of shot too.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve,

well done , would be more than happy with this one , leaving the tonal/color stuff aside, what you asked for.Specially not being a ´specialist´for BIF.
Hope to see more of them flying, looks like you are very fruitful with your Owls.

Cheers Andreas

[Loi Nguyen]

Steve, I'm not claiming to be a BIF specialist, so I think you just need to experiment. If I were shooting this, below is what I would do.

1. Center AF
2. Focus where you would like to take the image. May be a couple of feet after the perch.
3. This is a fast flying bird and coming directly at you, so no panning required.
4. AF case 1 or 4, tweak the tracking sens or acel/decel as needed.
5. Don't touch the shutter button until the moment you want to take the pictures. I know this is hard. One tends to want to focus the bird from far and then track. But tracking this little bird is hard. I don't have that skill!
6. You have the zoom, so may be set the lens to 200 to find the bird in the view finder and then zoom in as he is approaching. I find finding a fast bird in a view finder while it's on a tripod is probably the hardest part.
7. Once the bird approach the kill zone, squeeze the shutter. The action will override the tracking sens setting and instantly locks on the bird. Hopefully you will get 2 or 3 frames with good focus.

BOs will hunt 24/7 to feed the chicks. So you will have plenty of time to practice. It sounds like fun. Please post the outcome!

loi

[arash_hazeghi]

a few points:

you can't use zoom while trying to capture a zipping small owl. before you can mentally decide and rotate the zoom ring, the flight is over

you need to keep the shutter half pressed and ready to fire, this is to reduce the shutter lag and increase your chances. the best approach is to use AF lock in this situation. I will post an example soon.

[Neil Burton]

I am no expert but you might want a second diffused flash to illuminate the BG a little. Have you considered an IR trigger, would work if he lands in the same place, providing his route stays the same. Of course with the 1Dx you can fire off 12fps, but that might scare him?

Lovely shot though, you seem to be doing quite well ;)

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Neil, they have grown up with the shutter going off like, as Rachel would say, 'an AK47' as these are the owlets from last year and very comfortable with the noise and this is why I give then space to by using long lenses. I've already got remotes etc set-up, but as per last year, they instinctively land on it rather than pose for it. The owls come from all directions so that is another factor, no set pattern. I think the direction I was taking was the right route, albeit not quite using the correct terms, but hey. One thing is good is the AF On (cheers Arash) which seems to be helpful in other situations too, however it is going to be trial & error with a lot of near misses as per some of the comments from those who also have tried this.

So onwards & upwards as there is a lot happening and with this it hopefully will bolster the image selection, so many thanks folks.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Steve I think you will be amazed at just how many shots you get in focus, I just can't get used to how decisive that camera is!!

[Steve Kaluski]

I agree Jon, after over 2 years usage I can't remember how I managed, LOL. I've even forgotten the loss of the 'reach' factor after off loading the MKIV for another 1DX last year.