B.I.F.L.A.B. (bird in flight like a boss) Method

Hi there. I noticed a lot of people were surprised I was able to use a T1i and 55-250 lens to manually focus on swallows in flight. I made a simple guide which shows the methods I use. If shooting film back in the day has taught me anything, it's that there is always a way to get your shot even if it means a little practice and patience on your part. I did a lot of nature and sports photos using this method for years on a Pentax K1000. Even when I got a Canon Elan 11e with AF, I just used MF.

I call it the B.I.F.L.A.B. method.

CLICK HERE!

I see many people are checking out the guide, based on website hits.

If you have any criticism or suggestions for more techniques, please let me know!

Looks good.
I will give manual focus a shot.
I havent had much reason to try it on moving wildlife but those darn sparrows are so unpredictable.

Bravo! I've mentioned manual focus on birds in flight here and got run out of town on a rail. Whatever it takes to get the shot, I say!

Just a heads up that I have been forced to lock all of the content and tutorials. I was being too generous giving people the same knowledge for free that they would usually have to pay hundreds of dollars for in a workshop. Plus, I have been given little indication that the content is at all helpful for the 10,000+ people who have visited so far. Since February, only 2 people have contacted me through my website saying it helped them.

Sorry about that, guys. I was really hoping I could continue making these tutorials, but so far it has been a colossal waste of my time and money.

I'm just going to keep my secrets to myself for now and go out and take photos.

That was very nice in what you were doing, and if nobody said that to you much, that's just the way people are sometimes. That's too bad (really) that you gave, and people didn't take, usually they take, for whatever reason. (I have noticed in the last few years that has happened to more people like you than it seems)

I definitely understand your reasoning though, it makes sense, and human nature is strange sometimes.
Now you can probably imagine how Santa Claus must feel. heheh

Really, to be honest, I read this page and saw your examples, and I wondered how you did the manual thing, and it made me wonder how I'd be at it, and I plan on trying it, so it helped me, just by looking at your shots. (I don't know if I can do it yet, of course)

The main thing is, I really do hope that it hasn't made you think bad of people in general, and think that people aren't worth it.

Thanks for trying, I'm sure that some, or a lot were like me, they just didn't say they did check things out, or say, "Thanks!".

Thank you for trying to reach the masses, and I hope things work out better in whatever it is that you do next. You definitely can't say that you didn't try.

Randy

recrisp wrote in post #17273694
That was very nice in what you were doing, and if nobody said that to you much, that's just the way people are sometimes. That's too bad (really) that you gave, and people didn't take, usually they take, for whatever reason. (I have noticed in the last few years that has happened to more people like you than it seems)

I definitely understand your reasoning though, it makes sense, and human nature is strange sometimes.
Now you can probably imagine how Santa Claus must feel. heheh

Really, to be honest, I read this page and saw your examples, and I wondered how you did the manual thing, and it made me wonder how I'd be at it, and I plan on trying it, so it helped me, just by looking at your shots. (I don't know if I can do it yet, of course)

The main thing is, I really do hope that it hasn't made you think bad of people in general, and think that people aren't worth it.

Thanks for trying, I'm sure that some, or a lot were like me, they just didn't say they did check things out, or say, "Thanks!".

Thank you for trying to reach the masses, and I hope things work out better in whatever it is that you do next. You definitely can't say that you didn't try.

Randy

The guides are back up. A generous guy made a donation.

I have no beef with potn members. In fact i feel obligated to give back here, as I have learned plenty from potn myself. It's the rest of the internet visitors who are downloading my stuff by the thousands.

I'm still going to put in advertising to help with costs. I'm going to also put a $1 charge for the photoshop tutorials.


It's kind if like spend months baking cupcakes to hand out to people for free in public. Imagine 10,000 people were served and only 2-3 said thanks. That kind of what it feels like.

I appreciate your feedback!

Canon_Lover wrote in post #17273905
The guides are back up. A generous guy made a donation.

I have no beef with potn members. In fact i feel obligated to give back here, as I have learned plenty from potn myself. It's the rest of the internet visitors who are downloading my stuff by the thousands.

I'm still going to put in advertising to help with costs. I'm going to also put a $1 charge for the photoshop tutorials.


It's kind if like spend months baking cupcakes to hand out to people for free in public. Imagine 10,000 people were served and only 2-3 said thanks. That kind of what it feels like.

I appreciate your feedback!

I am behind you 100% with what you are saying and doing, and it's nice that you explained about the POTN crowd. I didn't think you were saying that about them/us, but now that you mention it, it could've been taken that way, I guess.

You are doing what you can, and hopefully this will turn out to be a good experience. Kudos to the person who gave, that was very nice of him/her.

"It's kind if like spend months baking cupcakes to hand out to people for free in public. Imagine 10,000 people were served and only 2-3 said thanks. That kind of what it feels like."

I understand that completely, I have problems similar to that myself when I do something good for others, I get it.

Good luck Sir!

Randy

Loved the guide and looking at your website - some great photography too, will try the manual process next time I am out

Thanks.....

Johan

Found your manual focus techniques interesting.

Love your landscape images. Stunning!