BIF - first attempt

Well, last Saturday I went to the local hospital where they have a few ponds that are usually packed with ducks, swans, and geese. I thought I would try out the new 400 2.8ii with the 1.4ii converter.

All I can say is that birds in flight are very difficult to track, and take a picture. Planes are on a glide slope that is very predictable but these ducks / birds can change their minds at a moment notice. Must be some trick in getting good / crisp shots. I put the camera in shutter priority mode and set the ISO to auto.

The below pictures were directly out of the camera 1/1600, F4.0, 560mm, ISO800

Try to not use the full 61 points. Perhaps just single point expansion.
Also if you can shoot with both eyes open it will help you find the bird to get it in your
viewfinder.

Nice job.

very nice job with those two BIF shots

Woodzy,

All I can say is, it takes practice, and then some... heheh

I have the same lens, and I use a 1.4 Kenko converter on it, and it just stays on my lens now, I like it that much. What you have here is not bad at all, but of course you need to get closer, and all of that will come in time.
I'm not sure what camera you are using, but the camera 'can' make the difference.
One thing I would do, take off the converter until you are used to doing BiF, that will help you 'frame' the shot better. These you have here are long range shots, so that doesn't come into effect, yet, anyway.
After you get better, (you'll know) you can put on the converter and start learning how to use that.
Taking BiF shots is a really hard thing to learn, some days I feel as though I have it down pat, then other days, I suck bad! heheh

Personally, I shoot hand-held, with or without the converter, I usually shoot my speed around 400 ISO, (or less if I can) and 1/1200, at the lowest aperture I can, which is usually f/4, but I sometimes go up to more if it's a white bird, like an egret, sometimes up to f/9.
It can also be where you shoot too, I shoot a lot in dark areas, so that effects how it'll look, so I adjust to that. Sometimes it works, and sometimes not...

I bought a Wimberly style head for my sturdy tripod last year, but to be honest, I can't stand tripods, but this heavy lens is about to kill me, so maybe someday I'll use one, probably after my wrist operations. heheh
Personally, what you have here is really pretty good for a start, I know mine didn't look that good at first, and probably not now. heheh

Randy

I really like the isolation from the background in the first two images.

Practice, practice, practice! I've been out a couple of time this winter shooting Harriers, which like to turn on a dime, and the more I shoot the more I keep.

recrisp wrote in post #15496923
Woodzy,

All I can say is, it takes practice, and then some... heheh

I have the same lens, and I use a 1.4 Kenko converter on it, and it just stays on my lens now, I like it that much. What you have here is not bad at all, but of course you need to get closer, and all of that will come in time.
I'm not sure what camera you are using, but the camera 'can' make the difference.
One thing I would do, take off the converter until you are used to doing BiF, that will help you 'frame' the shot better. These you have here are long range shots, so that doesn't come into effect, yet, anyway.
After you get better, (you'll know) you can put on the converter and start learning how to use that.
Taking BiF shots is a really hard thing to learn, some days I feel as though I have it down pat, then other days, I suck bad! heheh

Personally, I shoot hand-held, with or without the converter, I usually shoot my speed around 400 ISO, (or less if I can) and 1/1200, at the lowest aperture I can, which is usually f/4, but I sometimes go up to more if it's a white bird, like an egret, sometimes up to f/9.
It can also be where you shoot too, I shoot a lot in dark areas, so that effects how it'll look, so I adjust to that. Sometimes it works, and sometimes not...

I bought a Wimberly style head for my sturdy tripod last year, but to be honest, I can't stand tripods, but this heavy lens is about to kill me, so maybe someday I'll use one, probably after my wrist operations. heheh
Personally, what you have here is really pretty good for a start, I know mine didn't look that good at first, and probably not now. heheh

Randy

Randy,

Thanks for the tips - I thought this would be real easy. I used a 5DIII for these but maybe the next time I will try the 7D. I will do as you suggest - set the shutter speed at 1/1200 and probably F2.8. I realized that I needed to set the focus limiter to 7 meter and up that would make the focus faster. You almost need a check list before you go shooting.

I like the gimbal head on the tripod since while I was waiting for that perfect moment it could just hang out until I spotted something incoming.

I only took a few dozen shots and had a few decent ones but I've seen some amazing shots here and thought I could nail it. It reminds me about the first time I took fireworks shots - I was amazed how great they were until a co-worker that has been taking pictures for the past 5 years showed me what he had. All of a sudden mine looked like they came from a P&S. So off to the next fireworks display the following weekend and nailed it. You really need to take people advice and practice.

We have about 6 people at work that now have decent cameras and before winter set in we set a project for the week and compared on Monday at lunch. I can't wait for spring when the weather is better for picture taking.

I don't know if I would shoot at f/2.8, that might be too little, so at least f/4 would be good. I shoot smaller birds at 2.8, not at the same distance, of course, but I like the really, REALLY shallow depth of field, not every one does though. With the converter though, it'll be f/4, so that is enough to do what you need, although, if in the air with no backgrounds, I'd go slightly more, the shallow depth of field won't show anyway.

I envy you at work, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun showing each others shots!

Yeah, I know what you mean, I look at some of my shots and think I do O.K., then I see what others can do, it can make you sick. heheh It sounds as though you are on the right track though. We can talk our heads off telling you, but the main thing is to do is to get out there and do it, make mistakes, and try and figure out what happened.

After getting better with my 1.4 converter, today I went out and put my 2.0 Kenko cheap-o converter on... (800mm) I was really, REALLY surprised at how good it did on most birds, the bad news is, I only got results on stationary ones, hawks, cormorants, and ducks... I tried a few Buffleheads BiF, but I didn't have any luck. To be honest though, I only had a little time, AND, every time I needed to pay attention, someone would stop and try to talk to me. (This was at a park) That happened to me 3 separate times, I plan on trying again tomorrow, and not talking to anyone.
I did get some really sharp shots of larger birds at a great distance, so that is a really good thing. (My 2.0 has been sitting in my bag for a LONG time!)

Anyway, enough about me, I know that you will get it, it is HARD, to say the least, but after you 'get it', it doesn't seem so hard. That is, until you lay off for a while, then you have a slight learning curve all over again.

Randy