A red-tailed hawk looking at me

Red tailed hawk captured using 3-d focus tracking
It's the height of the Covid-19 blues and the only way to mollify the hard edges social distancing has been building is to get out of the house and do some photography.  Fortunately, it is something which can be done that complies with the six-foot rule.  And so, most days, I pack a camera and go off to some potential shooting bonanza and hope for the best.

With spring well on its way the variety of bird species to be seen is growing daily.  Two days ago I spotted my first white-crowned sparrows of the season.  Last week it was a bevy of swans, around 85 or so, taking in the sun down at Pitt Polder.  Although I am very fond of chickadees, towhees, and juncos, the truth is I am glad there are now some other birds about to train my lens on.

A red-tailed hawk soared overhead while I was enjoying walking along the Alouette dikes near Harris Road in Pitt Meadows.  I had my camera and a long lens with me as I was hoping to get some wildlife photos.  Photographing a bird perched is completely different from photographing one in flight, and so I had to alter my Camera's settings.

There are a host of issues, but below is a list of some of the things you need to account for when shooting flying birds.  These include:

  • Severe backlighting - I shoot in Manual exposure mode and add anywhere from 1 to 2 stops of extra light as a means of compensating.
  • Turn Vibration Mitigation off - Since you are shooting a moving subject the VM setting will try to prevent your motions from being translated to the subject.  You want this.
  • Choose a fast shutter speed - this was taken at 1/800th of a second.  The aperture was wide open and I had to bump up ISO to 250 in order to get it.
  • Select continuous shooting on your drive mode - I choose a high frame rate because it is very likely that most of my photos will come out poorly.  If I can get a burst of 20 of so shots, it is likely that one or two will turn out.
  • Turn focus options to Auto and 3d - the ability of the camera to do this is highly dependent upon the model and the lens.  It is not a feature all cameras have, or can do well.
It usually takes me a minute to switch over from one format to another.  If your camera is equipped with a custom setting function you may be able to set one channel up for quick access.  I am not fond of them because it uses Program mode, but it is a great way to quickly convert settings.

Have a look at my new website.  www.ericspix.com.  Thanks for reading.  Eric Svendsen

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