Here I come !!!

[Desmond Chan]

D300 200-400 @400 hand-held. Manual exposure mode, all natural light and background. ISO 200 f4 1/1000s.

Cropped.

Good thing about swallows is they are acrobatic.

Thanks for looking !!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Desmond,
I like the the delta wing formation captured here. He is flying at a good fast clip....the head angle is good and so is the eye contact...good show...:cool:

[Gail Spitler]

Desmond - I am in awe of your ability to get these wonderful in-flight images, especially of swallows. Keep 'em coming.
Cheers
Gail

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

When you say cropped, how much did you crop? I am asking as it looks rather cropped. I do love the banking pose and the fact you can capture these fast little flyers! On another note, why not push the ISO and shutter speed at the same time? Just a thought. Thanks and regards. :)

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Desmond ... we all could only wish it was a full frame !!! Tough birds do track and even at this size and accomplishment !!!

I like the selected crop and look Bg very complementing On the tech side would crank up the ISO, your camera performs very well !!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Desmond - looks like the ISO police have you in their sights - have to agree 200 is a bit slow for action like this.
Good job on the capture - you must have lightning reflexes - like the pose and the BG - Good show :)

[Desmond Chan]

This one is a large crop. I'll be happy to have one without a lot of cropping.

Lately, I've been questioning if it is humanly possible to get a shot of a flying swallow filling the frame from one end to the other without cropping. Mind you a tree swallow is about 5-5.75 in in length with a wind span of about 14-15 in. And the closer the swallow is to you, the faster it appears to be flying.

As for the ISO, I don't remember why I used ISO200. Probably was some shots that I took earlier.

Thanks for the comments, everyone !

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Lately, I've been questioning if it is humanly possible to get a shot of a flying swallow filling the frame from one end to the other without cropping. Mind you a tree swallow is about 5-5.75 in in length with a wind span of about 14-15 in. And the closer the swallow is to you, the faster it appears to be flying.

I tried once in not so ideal light with 300 and 1.4x - guess how long my enthusiasm lasted! LOL!

You could perhaps pull it off with an 800mm and I do wait for anyone that has the lens to have a crack at it. I most certainly would try with a 1D body.

Artie, the challenge is out to you buddy! :D

[Desmond Chan]

I tried once in not so ideal light with 300 and 1.4x - guess how long my enthusiasm lasted! LOL!

You're probably not the only one. Last time a guy went with me to shoot the swallows. I don't think he found it very exciting either :D:D

You could perhaps pull it off with an 800mm and I do wait for anyone that has the lens to have a crack at it. I most certainly would try with a 1D body.

Guess what, I actually also wonder if it is easier to shoot with longer lens than a short one. I don't have a 600 or longer so I don't know. But I could imagine picking out a small swallow out of the sky with a 800 may not be easy. And if you miss it, it may be hard to find the swallow again given the lens's so narrow angle of view. Then the other thing is: can you move a heavy prime fast enough to keep up with the little bird?

More practice needed.