Unlike photographing landscape view where your object is not moving, in photographing birds in flight you are targeting the flying objects.

Getting Started

The best way to get started in photographing birds in flight is with large easy subjects such as gulls. For my first attempt I went to the local park and had a friend throw seed to the gulls. This brought them flying over straight away, giving me plenty of opportunities for flight shots. Once you’ve practiced with gulls and have some confidence, move up a level to ducks, geese and swans.

Focusing

Photographing birds in flight you should be careful with the focus setting. Set your camera to evaluative metering and turn continuous focus on. On Canon cameras this is called AI servo and on Nikon cameras it’s called continuous servo. Turning this mode on means your camera will continually focus on the bird as it flies. If the background isn’t cluttered light up all of the AF points and allow the camera to track across them. If the background is cluttered, light up a single AF point, usually the center one, as it tends to be more accurate.

Give the auto focus system time to lock on to the bird. Unless you really have a small window of opportunity, it’s worth sacrificing the first few seconds of action in order to get the focus locked.

Also turn continuous shooting on, so that when you press the shutter release button you can take lots of shots in quick succession. This gives you the best chance of getting a good shot during the brief period when the opportunity is there.

Shutter Speed

To freeze the birds motion as it flies aim for a high shutter speed. I generally strive to get a shutter speed of at least 1/1000s but 1/500s or more usually works. An alternative technique is to use a slow shutter speed to blur the bird’s motion. I usually find a shutter speed of around 1/30s works well. See also the basic technique in exposure.

Exposure

Remember to check your exposure. White skies will trick your camera, causing it to underexpose. You may need to overexpose by 2 stops or more. Check also the basic techniques in anticipating the bright and dark background.

Composition

Trying to compose a shot of a bird in flight takes some practice. You usually only have a few seconds to pan with the bird and simply getting it in frame can be a challenge.

Shots generally look better if the bird is flying into the frame, giving it space to move into. As well as creating a more pleasing composition, this is also the easiest way to follow it with your camera. If the bird fills about half of the frame then this is easy because you can use the center focus point. If it doesn’t then you will need to use an off center point. See also photography composition techniques.

The difficulty with this is that the off center focusing points are generally not as accurate as the center one. The safe option is to choose the center point and crop off the side afterwards. Once you’re confident you’ve got the center point shot nailed you can risk choosing another point.

Behavior

Knowing more about flight behavior will help you to get the shots that you’re looking for. Most birds tend to take off and land facing the wind. Knowing just this one thing allows you to know the best time to get specific shots.

The best time to get front lighting is when the wind is blowing from roughly the same direction as the sun is shining. If you then position yourself so that the sun is behind you, you should get more shots of front lit birds coming towards you to land or taking off. See also lighting in photography.

If the sun and wind are roughly 90 degrees apart then it’s great for taking side on shots with the bird flying parallel to the plane of the sensor. When taking shots like this, remember that the wing position, as discussed below, becomes more important.

The ideal time for getting a back lit shot is when the wind is blowing roughly into the sun. Position yourself so that the sun is in front of you. This can be great for taking shots where the sun is shining through the wings. It will give you considerable advantage if you’ve studied the behavior of the species you’re photographing. Imagine the kind of shots you could get if you knew even more about them.

Wing Position

If the bird is flying parallel to the sensor plane try to take your shot with its wings either fully up or fully down. The majority of the time this results in a better photograph and it ensures that the wings are clear of the head.

If its flying angled towards you then any wing position will work.

The wing position can also give a different feel to a photograph. With the wings fully down it can give more of a “gliding feel” to the movement. Leave enough space for the wing movement otherwise you may clip the edges of wings. Also be mindful that if you focus on the body the wing’s downward motion may cause you to lose focus.

By: Andy Brough (on Article Dashboard)

About Author:
View photographic examples of the bird photography tips discussed here, and learn everything you need to know about wildlife photography here.

See also:

• Photography coloring techniques
• How to read image histogram in the camera display
• Understanding rules of thirds in composition