Tree Swallow Banking Flight Up Close

[Jim Neiger]

Osceola County, FL - 1D4, 500mm, hand held from boat, 1/3200, F5.6, ISO 800, manual exposure

The only way to get the Tree Swallows large in the frame with the 500mm is to set the focus limiter to the close setting. This means you must prefocus and then never focus on anything but the bird. If you miss you are done until the next Tree Swallow flies by close. I clipped a wing on this one, so I cropped the other to match.

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful shot Jim! How do you gauge where to prefocus?

[Jim Neiger]

Beautiful shot Jim! How do you gauge where to prefocus?

I just pick something to focus on at the distance I like for the Swallows to be large in frame, then I try to pick up a swallow when it's at a similar distance, focus on it, and then follow it until it gives me a good look. In this case I focused on some crud in the water that was about 15 feet from the boat. By setting the focus limiter to close I can get birds in the 15-30 foot range that is normaly inside minimum focus when the limiter is on the long setting. I had been using the long setting with the 1.4xTC to get them large in frame, but you can get them larger with the 500mm alone and the close setting. Next time I'll try the 1.4xTC and the close setting. So far the 1D4 is doing great.

[Jim Fenton]

I'm impressed Jim :)

Really enjoy the lighting,m the wingspread is fantastic and I know how tough it is to get these beautiful speedsters in flight, especially at close range.

Crop works well and the missing wing parts don't bother me a bit.

The MKIV looks like a great tool!

[Alfred Forns]

Excellent Jim Difficult to track that little bird with all that magnification !!! Love it !!

[Marina Scarr]

This capture kicks some major butt, Jim. You nailed the pose and ha just right and got gorgeous light to boot. Thanks for the info on how to attempt to photograph these speed deamons. If at first you don't succeed...try try again...is what I have to keep telling myself.

[Arthur Morris]

Pose and AF: killer. Sharpness on the eye: killer. Was this a horizontal original? The image looks dark especially the BKGR, and there is lots of noise in the shadows and the wing. Was the original well under-exposed? The light almost looks to warm.... Perhaps color balancing it would make it look more pleasing.

[Jim Neiger]

Pose and AF: killer. Sharpness on the eye: killer. Was this a horizontal original? The image looks dark especially the BKGR, and there is lots of noise in the shadows and the wing. Was the original well under-exposed? The light almost looks to warm.... Perhaps color balancing it would make it look more pleasing.

It was cropped from horizontal. The bg is water. Exposure was pretty much as you see it. The whites are on the edge, but not over in the original. The late afternoon light was very warm light.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely flight shot Jim and thanks for the explanation. Excellent pose and sharpness. Dave

[niranjan sant]

excellent,i feel its the toughest bird to catch in flight

[Desmond Chan]

Too bad about the clipping of wing, but still excellent capture !! Amazing details !

For me, the most impressive part is the moving of a long and heavy lens fast trying to stay on the swallow. And the closer the bird is, the faster it feels they move.

[Bill Dix]

Jim - a beautiful image, great eye contact and amazing AF technique. Thanks for sharing. Yesterday I had the great pleasure of seeing your images at AMNH - just gorgeous!

[Nagesh Mula]

Its a nice shot Jim, liked your flying shots. The NR on the bird will help a lot. Congrats!!