HOVERING

[FUJI]

Thanks to Nanny Ferret's reminder that I have a great wildfowl pool close by, I decided to do some homework last night:

Very often, we want to learn about what can be difficult photographic challenges and our first stop is usually to ask for advice on forums like this one, during my time as a member of TIPF I have received lots of help:

But, there is another way...just search for answers on YouTube where you will find dozens of excellent (and not so excellent) tutorials from experts in their field:

I searched ...Birds in Flight...and was able to watch and absorb two excellent videos, one a tutorial and the other by watching a lad learn from a pro:

The core settings given, were shutter at 1600 or faster, aperture at 5.6 ...... ISO up to 400 plus according to ambient light with Autofocus on CONSTANT......both tutors and pupil wre using very expensive 500mm lenses...I have a 300 and a 200.

This morning I prepared my camera for BIF.....I took bread to break up for the ever hungry Ducks, Swans, Geese, Moorhens and the huge resident flock of Black Headed Gulls.

The latter are a Joy to watch as they perform amazingly fast Aerobatics in an attempt to catch thrown bread....I managed to persuade a family of kids to break and throw my bread as I practiced what I had learned from the YouTube Tutorials......

As you can see, get aim and reactions just right and it works......there are more to follow, but need to take a break from my woodturning and processing pics...my dinner and then a warm armchair are beckoning:

Here a Black Headed Gull is curling its wings in a near stall to catch enough air to enable a bread-catching hover....great to watch and even beter to capture at the right moment:

Best viewed LARGE....Click on Pic:

FUJI

[NannyFerret]

It's worked really well. Nice shot.

Thanks for the tips. I will have to have a go next time I am there.I do find tracking them quite hard through a viewfinder on the Nikon DSLR since I have the cataracts, but I have the Nikon bridge and the Panasonic bridge so will probably try with one or the other of these.

[colinb]

bloody 'ell that is a stunning picture Fuji, I don't really like the 'bird on a branch' type pictures but that is simply a cracker :bow:

[Kobione]

That is a cracker, Fuji, Something I haven't really tried. Well done.

[Barbara]

Fuji that is a cracker

Must get myself down to my local pond

[FUJI]

Thank you all:

Here is the YouTube BIF Tutorial....it is well worth watching and absorbing:

FUJI

[Black Pearl]

Great focus, great timing and I love the angle with the hint of trees to give it environment.

Massive chromatic aberrations though.

Most RAW converters have a Lens Correction option that will reduce or even eliminate them.

[FUJI]

Great focus, great timing and I love the angle with the hint of trees to give it environment.

Massive chromatic aberrations though.

Most RAW converters have a Lens Correction option that will reduce or even eliminate them.

Explain please BP......CHEERS!

FUJI

[Black Pearl]

Had to dig through a few files as very few of my lenses suffer much from Chromatic Aberrations (CA's) - soooooo.

This is an extreme corner crop from my Sigma 10-20mm which shows them from time to time.

The first example is uncorrected and shows blue (ish) CA's between the very bright and dark area of the rocks:

Same file opened in the same software (Photoshop CS5) but with the Lens Correction turned on:

[FUJI]

GOT IT!

Thanks BP, just what this Forum is all about.......the pics were taken with my TAMRON 18/200, a lens that receives a fairly poor press, but beggars can't be choosers...........My SONYA55 and the lens focus very efficiently when set on Constant Focus, the setting eats the battery though, which is why I always have a charged spare to hand.

Right!.....I have a pic with .....Lens Abberation......what do I have to do in CS3 to get rid of it?.....and.....do I do that before or after using layers and brushes to develop the pic to its best?

Because of what I learned from the excellent YouTube video above, I was determined to really concentrate, by practicing what I learned........yesterday I made a determined effort to concentrate on fast flying birds using settings the sane or very close to what were recommended.

The results are going through RAW conversion as I type this.....on camera, I appear to have.....Hit The Spot....a few times.....perhaps five in fifty plus frames. The Black Headed Gulls I practice on are excellent subjects because they fly and do aerobatics at very high speed like fighter planes.

I have been fascinated to observe them using flaps, rudder and aeralons just like aircraft.....it makes you think, that nature was there millions of years before us.

FUJI

[Blackwolf]

Thank you for that link never even thought about getting some tips from you tube I have been trying to master BIF for a while you have definitely achieved it with that pic love it

[Black Pearl]

You correct it when processing the RAW file as doing it after is nigh on impossible to the same degree of accuracy.

Post a screen shot of your Camera RAW screen and I'll see if i can work out which tool you need. The one is my CS5 (I think) is different.