ISO
When you read the five-part series of PhotographyTalk.com articles, starting with Digital Photography—Taming the Three-Headed Exposure Monster, Part 1, you’ll learn that one of those three heads is ISO.
ISO is a number that represents the light sensitivity of your digital camera’s sensor and is an acronym for International Organization for Standardization, which sets those numerical values. An ISO of 100 is usually considered normal. Today’s DSLR cameras will allow you to shoot at higher ISO settings (200 to 400) and still produce high quality digital photos. The shutter speed is the key, however; it should be 1/500, 1/1000, or even faster. You’ll find that you’ll have to experiment a bit to select the right ISO in relation to shutter speed and aperture, or f-stop.
Wind and Light
Before you even think about composing a picture of a flying bird (or birds), note the direction of the wind and light. If possible, choose a shooting position that puts the wind and sunlight behind you. Birds tend to ascend and descend into the wind, so if the wind direction is at your back, the birds are more likely to fly toward you on takeoff. You want the sun to reflect off their bodies and faces as they approach you. You can also position yourself 90 degrees to the wind direction to photograph birds moving across your camera frame.
Composing a Picture
The following compositional tips will help you capture spectacular digital photos of flying birds:
- Choose the bird or group of birds you want to shoot, and then set your auto focus. With other birds in the air and the possibility that your target bird(s) will quickly changing direction, you also need to sharpen your auto-focusing skills.
- As with any action, or motion, photography, you want to position the bird in the half frame it is entering, from either the left or right, and leave the other half frame open, so it gives the illusion of the bird flying into that open space. As you become more fluid changing the auto-focus point almost continuously, you’ll be able to position birds, so they have this leading space.
- One of the digital photography techniques that will help with this is to compose the picture so the bird’s eyes are in the center of the frame, which is also your auto-focus point. If its eyes are in focus in the center of the picture, then virtually all of its body is in the entering half frame. It then appears that it is flying into the other half frame.
- Use the advantage of a long focal-length lens and position yourself at some distance from the birds you want to photograph. You want to be farther than any picture you might take, so the birds move closer to you, either directly or across your field of vision. You’ll find it easier to keep birds in focus when they are moving 90 degrees to your position.
- If you attempt a panning shot (with the camera moving in the same direction as the birds), then continue that movement, and the taking of pictures, even though the bird has moved past the optimal composition point. You’re more likely to record that breathtaking motion photo.
- Because you’re shooting with a long focal-length lens, apply the camera-steadying techniques in the PhotographyTalk.com article, Steady Your Camera.
- Although a standard tripod, with a ball head, is more than adequate, consider a tripod, with a head that gimbals. This means it moves more freely to provide additional angles and makes it easier to pan with the flying birds.
Use the tips and techniques in this two-part PhotographyTalk.com article and you’ll be shooting great digital photos of everyday backyard birds in flight as well as eagles, ducks, geese and wading birds you’ll find in the wilderness.