Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/1250
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 320
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal Length 700.0mm
Image Quality RAW
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Focus AF
Color Space sRGB
AF Microadjustment 7
The 50D is a dream for BIF against the sky, but catching these critters on the wrong end of a 500mm plus 1.4 against a background offering little contrast isn't quite so easy!
If only this guy were looking right at you, you would have had some great light on the head. Birds in flight are tough, and photographing them against a varied BG is an order of magnitude more difficult. The good news is that your gear is up to the task; all it takes is some practice. I basically never do flight photography at an ISO less than 400. I never use AI Focus. I use AI Servo with the center point only.
The key to BIF against a varied BG is bumping your focus. What that means is locking focus briefly and then releasing the AF button. Track the bird against the varied BG and correct (bump) your focus only as needed (keep the bird in the center of the viewfinder). When you get the bird where you want it, do your final AF adjustment and take the photo.
Hi Peter. What I mean is this. Acquire initial focus using autofocus. Then stop actively focusing on the bird, and instead track it as it flies, keeping it in the center of the frame. Unless the bird is flying directly at you, it should stay in reasonable focus. Periodically fine-tune your focus by 'bumping' the focus button. When you decide to fire off a burst, the camera should be able to nail the focus very quickly.
By continuously autofocusing on a bird in flight against a varied BG, you run a very high risk of having focus drawn to the BG or to an object that the bird flies past. Once focus is lost, it is very time consuming for the camera to reaquire focus on the bird. You may miss your opportunity to get a quality flight photo.
By focusing intermittently, you decrease the likelihood of losing focus on the bird. Jim Neiger developed this technique, and it's very effective.
Flight photography is very challenging; especially so against a varied BG. It takes lots of practice and some good luck too.
Thanks very much everyone for your comments, Doug, I have been following your advice, as well as bumping focus I sometimes maintain approximate focus manually. I am going again Tuesday morning to try and improve. Fabs, I too was a little concerned about noise, I will knock off the auto ISO and just set to ISO 400 as i recall these intermediate ISO settings do not offer optimal results. I will also look at Unsharp Mask, I have been using Smart Sharpen.
Short Eared Owl
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