Bufflehead ducks take to the wing.

Catching birds in flight is not as easy as it sounds. Although it may seem they spend quite a lot of time aloft, the fact is that capturing a good image of them is somewhat challenging. Conditions have to be running in your favour. The right time and place is always an issue with any kind of wildlife photography, but this is another level past that. There are equipment, camera and lens settings, and positioning concerns.

The camera.

The camera itself is of less concern than the features it possesses. Desirable traits include a large sensor (both in size and pixel count), fast drive mode, and access to a long focal length. Additional abilities would be access to vibration mitigation (which may be lens or body mounted), a fast processor to drive the focusing mechanism, and three-dimensional focus tracking.

The more pixels you can capture means the more cropping you can do. Rarely will a bird conveniently fill the frame as it glides through the air. Large sensors (four-thirds, APS, or full-frame) allows the use of high ISO values that will reduce sensor noise and facilitate fast shutter speeds. Although bridge-type cameras can do a good job, I have had less success with them in obtaining the shot I hoped for.

The drive mode refers to the frame rate (number of frames per second). I recommend a minimum of 6 fps, although faster rates are preferable. This brings an additional problem to bear; how many photos can be captured before the buffer fill up? When shooting RAW images the number may be significantly reduced; some of my earlier cameras capable of shooting only 5 RAW images before the buffer is full and the camera stops working. A large buffer will allow 15 or more images to be captured, and at 10 fps even this only allows 1.5 seconds of active capturing before the camera no longer functions.

Focus tracking is a valuable feature. Although not mandatory, it means that the subject will be in constant focus as the distance between the camera and itself changes. Since birds in flight move quickly, this is a great advantage. The more focus points a camera has the more accurate focusing will be. A fast internal processor will drive the refresh mechanism and actual focusing of the lens at a speed geared to keep up with the moving quarry.

The lens.

Some cameras have vibration mitigation features built into the body, but most systems out there have it built into the lens. It turns out that having the ability to use this produces mixed results. When shooting hand-held, set the vibration mitigation to active or sports mode. This turns off the horizontal component while maintaining vertical stabilization. The lens will not try to prevent you from following the bird in flight; this is especially important when slower shutter speeds are used. Another possibility would be to use a good tripod with a gimble head and turn off the mitigation technology altogether.

When it comes to capturing birds in the air, you can never have enough magnification. This is another one of those mixed blessing things. More magnification means it will be harder to keep the feathered projectile in the viewfinder. However, it also means that you will have to do less cropping and be able to facilitate greater enlargements with images you are successful in getting.

Position.

When it comes to capturing birds in flight, it seems the most common way of shooting them comes from underneath. You're on the ground, they're up in the air, and naturally, that means shooting belly and underwing. Not the most impressive angle to photograph them from. There has to be a better way.

Although I am not fond of bird towers, they do give the photographer the element of height. Being above the birds means that you can shoot them from that perspective and take advantage of their colour, form, and beauty as they glide past. There are a lot of dikes in our area; these raised berms offer a terrific way of shooting from an elevated position. It doesn't help when the birds are soaring hundreds of feet above your head, but when they are in the taking off and landing position, it certainly helps. Both of these situations pertain mostly to aquatic birds; what about birds that aren't marine species?

Again, elevation is the ticket. I have photographed swallows from rocky peaks and vultures from the rim of the Grand Canyon. Getting above the airborne beasts tends to produce better photos than shooting them from under-wing. Even a little elevation helps. Not all great photos are done from above, in fact, you can get a pretty good shot at eye-level. I do a lot of kayaking and have had many opportunities to photograph birds coming and going along the water. The great problem tends to be that you often see the bird leaving an area rather than coming to it; this results in shooting the bird's back-end, arguably not their most endearing angle. It turns out that patience and luck are highly valuable assets when it comes to the right time and place.

I have hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs of birds in flight. Ducks, herons, raptors, perching birds - the lot - and of all those photographs I have a handful that I am really pleased about. The key is to keep at it. Get decent equipment, use it correctly, and use it often. Eventually, the effort will pay off.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen