Young male Purple Martin

[Isaac Grant]

In my never ending quest to nail one of these flying bullets in flight, I managed to get this frame which I like. They are never easy but with patience and luck you can do fairly well with them. These birds never come down to eye level so it is impossible to get a straight on shot. From Lemon Creek Marina in Staten Island, New York.

Canon 7dii and Canon 100-400 ii. ISO 800, SS 1/1250, F8, 278mm, +1 1/3rd

Converted in DPP 4. In PS I cropped, sharpened and applied noise reduction to the background.

[William Dickson]

Very nice Issac. I like the flight pose you captured, and also the HA. Nice detail as well. Personally I would have went with more SS.

Will

[Isaac Grant]

You are 100% correct. Normally I go for much more shutter speed. Had it set to AV instead of manual. Bird was right next to a very bright area of sky and the sensor did not think I needed the speed. If the bird was slightly higher the sky was not as bright and my SS would have been better. Of course this is why you don't shoot this type of shot in AV and let the sensor do the thinking for you.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nice capture, Isaac. I agree with the slow shutter speed but it worked out for you. The wing position could be better but I am not faulting, just commenting, because I have tried to photograph these and failed miserably. Good detail, nice colors (looks like a Florida sky). Thank you for sharing.

[Tim Foltz]

Isacc, I know this is a difficult quest, but I do have a few nits though. Slight halo around the bird and awkward wing position.
On the plus side nice HA and catch light.

-Tim

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for the comments. I actually like the wing position with the wings pulled back but bent but good to hear other perspectives. Also I do not see a halo around the bird. I do see some slight motion blur around the wings. Not sure why there would be a halo as the bird is selected separately and sharpened and the background was then selected and applied noise reduction so there should not be any sharpening halo (at least I think there should not be)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, these guys can be really tough. Best bet is a stiff south-west or west wind in the late afternoon near a "condo", especially when they have hungry chicks inside. Then you can get them as the hover momentarily before entering the hole. The pose in this image reminds me of such a hover. I do admit I'd have preferred those wings a little more open. Sharp and well exposed.