Only one in focus

[Rense]

I shot this picture:
http://rense.smugmug.com/photos/56846011-S.jpg (http://rense.smugmug.com/photos/56846011-L.jpg")
a while ago.
Only one bird (the bottom right) is in focus.
How to I get them all in focus?

Rense

[Gary Fairhead]

Its pretty hard to see what is in focus here. A larger posting with 800K on the long side would help. To start Increase your depth of field for flight shots so you have more foreground and background in focus........hey wait a second....why are you asking this question.? Is this a test or something? You have enough equipment to open a Camera Store and a Websight full of photos including Landscape and Architecture so you must know something about DOF.......:confused: and photography.........

[Rense]

Gary,
You can click on the picture for a larger version.
It is not a trick question, I do know about DOF and so on, but I've never shot a group of birds flying this fast in my life.

I allready used Av=13, Tv=1/50s @ ISO 100, and had to act really quickly.

Basically I'm looking for some tips how to 'hunt' such a flock (e.g. do you focus on a central bird, the foremost bird ?)

[tpetty]

It's tough when they are flying this far apart regardless of how much equipment you have. I use only the central focussing element and put it on one bird, or use manual focus. Ironically, I find it easier to manual focus these type shots than relying on AF. The other problem with a flockshoot as you know is lighting. Unless you have really nice light, its tough to get enough to stop the wings of all the birds. That's why I shoot canada geese!

[Rense]

tpetty,
I even didn't occur to me that you can have succes with manual focusing.
I'll try that the next time.
Rense

[tuckerd_16]

not sure what you are tyring to achieve in this pic, detail in birds ? or the flight of the birds, you need something in the background, pic is lost with just sky.

Dan

[Rense]

Dan,
Thanks for our remarks. I agree with you about the sky.

I had no specific idea, just wanted to capture the the flock of birds.
Afterwards on the pc, I discovered that only one bird was in focus.

[Gary Fairhead]

If you are panning you can get away with slower shutter speeds but 1/50 sec is really pushing it. Especially when photographing birds that have a quick wing beat. These appear to be doves or pigeons and what you think may be out of focus may be blur from the birds movements. Perhaps the bird in the bottom right was coasting .The 20 D has quite a reputation for working well with high ISO so the first thing i would do is bump that up to 400 ( under these or similar conditions).....now your at a reasonable ( depending on focul length) speed of 1/200 sec. ( 1000.sec is safer) Others may disagree but I would focus on a leading to center subject and for birds I tend to use partial metering and for birds in flight AI servo is my preference or full manual focusing if there is any chance of a branch or something else getting in the way. Increasing the exposure by 2/3 to 1 f stop with the exposure compensation dial help when shootong into the sky ( may overexpose the sky but the bird will be better exposed). There are other techniques that I am still learning and there are differences of opinion on this type of shooting. Hope this helps.......

[Rense]

Gary,
Great, these are the tips I'm looking out for.
Many thanks.

[dancad]

Basically I'm looking for some tips how to 'hunt' such a flock (e.g. do you focus on a central bird, the foremost bird ?)

Great advice by Gary.

A scene like this goes by so fast its hard to lock on one bird when there are so many to choose from. You had the right idea with a smaller aperture as you can focus, manually in a case like this, until most of the flock (as a group) seems relatively sharp and not worry about them all being OOF.

Autofocussing on birds that appear small in the viewfinder is tricky business. It is difficult to keep the focus point directly on one bird at all times and when that point is off the bird...well, the lens wants to focus to infinity (sky) and the opportunity is usually lost...this is why I think manual focussing would be advantageous here.

If you find the flock perched or on the ground you can prefocus on them and wait for them to take flight...all you have to do then is pan correctly and trip the shutter when desired.