HELP!!!! need advice from bif guys --swallows in flight --GOT ONE!!!!

[ddt0725]

Hi Jim -


Wow, much improvement on your second attempt! The cropped version looks really good! Yesterday, I was at the Chicago Botanic Gardens and saw birds like this flying everywhere and you are right - they are not easy to photograph in flight! Here's a very cropped version of one I caught but I'm not sure if it is a swallow, it was flying with them & just as erractic over the water catching mosquitos. It's not very good since I took the photo with my macro lens [:P], I left my 100-400mm at home this time!! [] I just couldn't watch all these birds and not try to get at least one!

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Denise

[lynx0069]

hi denise......nice shot with a macro lens [:P] which one do you have? its the 100f/2.8L right? it looks like a swallow to me, hard to tell if its a barn or tree swallow though. i dont think its a purple martin though, toolight on the belly.


jim

[ddt0725]

which one do you have? its the 100f/2.8L right?

Yes, it's the 100 f/2.8L IS. Not exactly a BIF lens but great for everything else I was photographing!

Denise

[Richard Lane]

Great shot Denise! I like that the bird is flying into the frame with a full wing span.


Nicely done..., especially with that shorter lens!


So, lets see the Macro Garden Pictures.


Rich

[lynx0069]

dont mean to be petty.......but, richard, it is my thread, and denise's shot is a good shot, but if you are going to comment denise's, it would have been nice to comment mine as well.


jim

[peety3]

One of the things I've learned from following Birds As Art's bulletins from Art Morris is:


Shots are best when the sun and the wind are at your back.


Birds usually take off and land into the wind. Having the sun come from the same angle as the wind means your subjects are better lit.


If the sun and wind are opposite, you're asking for challenges. That said, I haven't looked at your shots to see if I could tell the wind direction.