Photographing FALCONRY. Educate me!

[CoachP8]

Saturday, I'm going to the California Hawking Club's annual "Sky Trials." On signal, the birds will circle-up to 2,000 feet and dive at 200mph onto or chase down a pigeon and then return the prey to the falconeer, his dog and the handler in assistance.

The Club's website is www.calhawkingclub.org.

A hot clear sky will probably kill the extreme areial shots even with heavy ND filters, so we hope for an overcast. I will use a Mark II and the lens choices below. Also available is a variety of monopods and tripods. In addition, I will take a 10D and a GL2 with shotgun mike.

If you have birding experience, especially in falconry, PLEASE EDUCATE ME!

[Scottes]

Bring the 400 L & the 70-200. Leave the rest. If you can, bring two bodies, one for each lens, so you don't have to keep changing lenses and/or miss shots because the wrong lens is on. The 70-200 on a 20D would be very nice. If you have a 1.4 TC then bring it.

Use AI Focus, and the * button to focus.

When tracking, wait for the right time to release the shutter and be sure to follow through. "Spray and Pray" will have limited success, but I urge you to try at the end of the day after some practice. A nice series of shots can be very rewarding.

You probably want 5 frames/sec set on the MkII unless you're really good at controlling the machine gun at 8fps.

Don't hope for overcast. Against a clear blue sky you'll overexpose to capture the bird correctly, and you might get lucky and not blow out the background. With overcast you'll be shooting against white, so you *will* blow out the overcast. Plus you lose 2-3 stops when overcast. A lightly cloudy day (10% - 20% clouds) is actually quite nice since the bg becomes varied with blue & white out-of-focus elements.

A bird flying against a pure blue background gets old quickly. Try to get *some* other feature into the shot - whether tree tops, or mountains or out-of-focus clouds - anything, really.

You'll probably want f/4-f/5.6 to get fast shutter speeds. But at the end of the day try a much slower shutter and track the bird. The resulting motion blur of the background can be awesome. Don't expect a lot of keepers, though, but a single good one can make the day.

Don't be afraid of ISO 400 to get shutter speeds. You may get noise in the bg, which can be ugly if the bg is blue sky or clouds, but this is the easiest form noise to remove.

Practice! Get a couple kids to play catch with a softball. An hour of shooting that softball will do wonders.


Here's some Osprey shots I took last year before I knew most of the above. This day actually taught me a lot of the above. :-)
http://www.itsanadventure.com/Osprey_lg/

Good luck, and be sure to post some shots when you get back.

[Jon]

Oh, Jeez! I think I'd try the 70-200 and 1.4xTC on the 1D Mk II for starters. I think that'll have to be hand-held. I'm sure you won't be able to give the pigeons direction. And with the falcon in a stoop . . .

You going to be able to be very close to the competitors? If so, I'd have the 28-70 on the 10D for the returns shots. That might be OK roughly pre-set on a tripod.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Wow,. not much that hasn't been covered...

Shoot a lot.. :)

I shoot AV with a wide open aperture most of the time to keep shutter speeds as high as possible. Tripods are out of the question IMHO unless you have a gimble mount.. but even then,. they can be restrictive. So high shutter speeds are essential.

Recently I was shooting at a demonstration where the I was within 4 or 5 feet of the bird handlers.. and yet the 100-400mm was NOT too long a lens. It alowed me to get some wonderfull portraits of the birds and isolate them from the handlers and the yuckee background. (Keep your flash handy for this kind of shot) So I do not think the 70-200mm will be too long for 99% of what may come up.

The money shots will be the above mentioned protraits to some extent but more.. the pidgeon action. So the 70-200mm may be our most important lens depnding on how close you can get to this action.

Your 400mm will be the "diving" lens,. as you may want to back off a bit to get something other than a straight over head shot.


What time of day will this be?

At this time of year,. the sun is never directly overhead.. so with the sun off to one sied and slightly behind you.. you may have excellent opportunities to get a lot of light under the falcons wings. Obviously.. the farther from noon time.. either AM or PM the better for this aspect.

If there are two "shows" go to both. :)

[CoachP8]

Scottes suggestion to simulate tracking with a softball will be VERY VALUABLE TRAINING!!! Coaching a variety youth sports for 30 years has taught me that all preparation requires SPECIFICITY and practice, practice, practice. These Canon Forums work.

THANKS...

Norman "McDuffie" Pate

CDS: 0530 til 1200 hrs

[CyberDyneSystems]

Coach.. that'll be "magic" timing... the early morning will make for some nice lighting!

Good luck,.. and be sure to post some pics! 8)

[iwatkins]

In addition to the great advice above, forget all about tripods/monopods. everything happens so fast they will just get in the way.

High aerial shots don't usually work, bird is just too small.

However, most birds returning to the handler or being sent out will fly low and horizontal, hopefully against and distant dark background of trees. Here is where you can really isolate the bird.

I've shot British Superbikes, shot airshows, shot touring cars etc. But I've never found them anywhere near as difficult as trying to catch a peregrine falcon at the bottom of a stoop dive, or many hawks/falcons when they are free to fly at targets at their natural speed. :D

Most of all, take some time to not have the camera to your face, most of these birds are wonderful to watch in their own right.

Some of my falconry pictures below. In both cases the birds were "playing" against the fast swung targets. Both birds were at around 80mph at the target (so we were told). Shot using the 10D + 100-400L at ISO200 on a bright day. Shutter speeds around the 1/500 sec mark IIRC.

Cheers

Ian

http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Gallery/Fauna/Images/20040619_1254_5866.jpg

http://www.asrv84.dsl.pipex.com/Gallery/Fauna/Images/20040619_1300_5878.jpg

[Conk]

Great info given here especially by Scottes. However, I must disagree with Ian's statement to leave the monopod at home. I believe the monopod is very necessary. A little awkward but once you get used to it you'll find it valuable. I'm very used to shooting Radio Control Aircraft. Some of these are very fast and without a monopod and a 300mm it would almost be impossible to get a clear shot at times at full zoom.

[tommykjensen]

Great info given here especially by Scottes. However, I must disagree with Ian's statement to leave the monopod at home. I believe the monopod is very necessary. A little awkward but once you get used to it you'll find it valuable. I'm very used to shooting Radio Control Aircraft. Some of these are very fast and without a monopod and a 300mm it would almost be impossible to get a clear shot at times at full zoom.

I disagree, birds are a lot more unpredictable than radiocontrolled aircrafts.

Here are my galleries of Hawk training

http://www.klein-jensen.dk/ee/list.php?exhibition=20
http://www.klein-jensen.dk/ee/list.php?exhibition=21

A monopod would have been limiting my possibilities.


Scottes, great tips.

[tommykjensen]

The money shots will be the above mentioned protraits to some extent but more.. the pidgeon action. So the 70-200mm may be our most important lens depnding on how close you can get to this action.

Could not agree more :wink: Anybody remember this. (http://photo.klein-jensen.dk/photohtml.php?n=HarrisHawk1.jpg)

[Conk]

Great info given here especially by Scottes. However, I must disagree with Ian's statement to leave the monopod at home. I believe the monopod is very necessary. A little awkward but once you get used to it you'll find it valuable. I'm very used to shooting Radio Control Aircraft. Some of these are very fast and without a monopod and a 300mm it would almost be impossible to get a clear shot at times at full zoom.

I disagree, birds are a lot more unpredictable than radiocontrolled aircrafts.

Here are my galleries of Hawk training

http://www.klein-jensen.dk/ee/list.php?exhibition=20
http://www.klein-jensen.dk/ee/list.php?exhibition=21



A monopod would have been limiting my possibilities.


Scottes, great tips.

Maybe so, but it can't be too predictable what the pliot is going to do with a stunt plane either. I challenge you to give a monopod a try. I had a very difficult time tracking stunt planes without a monopod. Keep in mind we're using a 300mm.

[tommykjensen]

Maybe so, but it can't be too predictable what the pliot is going to do with a stunt plane either. I challenge you to give a monopod a try. I had a very difficult time tracking stunt planes without a monopod. Keep in mind we're using a 300mm.

You can always talk to the pilots and ask them to do specific things, I challenge You to tell a bird which way to fly :wink:

[Conk]

Maybe so, but it can't be too predictable what the pliot is going to do with a stunt plane either. I challenge you to give a monopod a try. I had a very difficult time tracking stunt planes without a monopod. Keep in mind we're using a 300mm.

You can always talk to the pilots and ask them to do specific things, I challenge You to tell a bird which way to fly :wink:

Ok Tommy.

[CoachP8]

Tommy,

Just like Scottes advice to prepare by tracking a softball, your example of the power in a crystal clear portrait improves my chance of sucsess capturing my prey.

Thanks to all of you posters.

Stormin' Norman
AKA CoachP8

[CyberDyneSystems]

And yet.. part of the beauty of a monpod.. is it is small, lightweight, and assuming ne has a Quick Release,.. easy to "dump" when it gets in the way.

If I have a heavy weight lens.. especially one without IS,.. I tend to have it mounted on a 'pod anyway... even if I need to dump it when the going gets tough.