Eagle photographic adventure

[buzzsaw]

Okay, somebody started talking about taking people to where you shoot and showing them the ropes for lack of a better term. After looking at the calender, I would have the days of December 15th, 16th, 22nd or 29th open. I want to keep any outing to say five people including myself as a large group will not help anybody get the shots we want to get. If there are more than five people that have interest in the initial outing, I will just plan another outing... easy enough. This would go down in the Minnesota River Valley in the cities and here are some of the shots you may get (hopefully not with the horrible lighting I had today).

Go ahead and e-mail me directly through my link or just post here what date you'd have interest in and we'll get it all dialed in.

P.S. for most of these shots I took the 1.4 TC OFF of my 300mm lens as I can get them in that close. You'll also have other photo ops like Seagulls dropping fish all over the ice that they can't quite carry away and plenty of ducks such as Goldeneye, Hooded and Common Mergansers and Tundra Swans to name a few.

[Steve Foss]

That's a great offer, Mike. Close-in eagles with someone who knows the terrain. Excellent.

Unfortunately, I'm busy every one of those weekends as Christmas approaches, and the Sax-Zim Bog HSO/FM photo gathering is scheduled for the weekend of Dec. 29/30.

[buzzsaw]

We can get you to the cities hopefully some weekend after the holidays.

[finnbay]

Those are some pretty good shots with horrible lighting! I'm in the same boat as Steve. Heck of an offer and I'd be interested but won't have any time until after the new year. Steve, maybe you'd like to take a field trip later on?

[Steve Foss]

Ken, I'd have fun at the actual shooting, but I've already been stuck with one trip to the Cites this year (Thanksgiving, yuck), and have another obligatory trip coming (Christmas, big yuck).

Since I really don't like it there, I really don't want to go there again for as long as possible.

[finnbay]

Can't say that I blame you. I got a reprieve when the kids decided to come home instead of having us going down there.

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, I've got my kids traveling to see me the weekend before Christmas, and on Christmas it's a trip to see Mrs. Catfish's family down there.

But I don't mean to cloud over and rain on this thread. It's an exciting opportunity for a lot of folks to get in on action with big birds fairly close in, and that means a person doesn't need supertele lens lengths to get great shots.

It's also an excellent alternative for those in or near the Cities who don't want to come up for the Sax/Zim Bog excursion.

Thanks to Buzz for extending that invitation.

[Dbl]

Sweeeet work there Mike, lousy lighting or not. Great captures.

[WifeKidsandDog]

The pics are fantastic, Buzz. I'd definitely be interested in an outing that was going to be after the holidays - especially as it looks like my 280 mm (200 x 1.4 TC) will be long enough for some decent shots.

Cheryl

[jonny_redhorse]

Mike,... Absolutely amazing captures!....I see eagles occasionally up here in the "Nort" country but not as accomodating as yours for sure...usually an eagle sitting in a tree or by a deer kill is what happens up here ...that weekend is also filled for me but certainly appreciate a wonderful offer and opportunity...

[buzzsaw]

Thanks for the nice comments guys and Cheryl. I feel pretty confident that at 280mm we could get you some shots that you'll like. I'll just have you in the closest to where they're coming into. If they are not in an active mode, it's a lot tougher to get those in close action shots... but it seems they're always active.

Jonny, feel free to let me know if you have any future plans on heading down to the cities and I'll see whats on the calender and maybe we can make something work out.

Steve, when your down here for X-mas you should see if you can sneak away for a couple of hours, heck your already down here and I'm sure some shots like these would look good in your portfolio... heck, you'd probably just want to delete all the other Eagle shots you already have right?

[Steve Foss]

Again, thanks for the fine offer, Buzz. I think I've got, oh, at least one or two keeper eagle shots , and probably won't delete them no matter how many more I get.

We should also post some bird-in-flight photography tips. Avian photography is its own fairly specialized niche within nature photography, and BIF offers some of the biggest challenges within that niche.

Buzz, since this is your thread, do you want to start off with some tips, either here or starting another thread?

[MN Shutterbug]

It certainly looks a bit more exciting than chickadees. I'd be up for it on the 16th or 22nd. It would be a great learning experience.

[mmeyer]

Buzz,

That's a heck of an offer. I think I could make it the 16th, 22nd, or 29th. It sounds like a great time!

I'll keep watch on here or you can email me direct. [email protected]

Thanks

Mike

[dukhnt]

That is an awesome offer buzz. I think I could make the 22 or 29 work. I would more than likely be out by Hutch on the fridays nights, so I could carpool with my buddy mmeyer if that would work for him. Thanks.

[Paul]

I will actually be in Hasintgs on the day of the 29th and would maybe be up for some shooting.

[buzzsaw]

Okay, I've thought it over a bit and it seems like doing it after X-mas will be best. Lets shoot (no pun intended) for Saturday, December 29th. We can all meet that morning in Bloomington down on Black Dog Road... I'll post directions later for those not familiar with the area. It looks like our first organized (if you will) shoot will include: Mike Cary, Cheryl, paul, Mike Meyer & Dukhnt. I'll plan on doing another in early to mid January as well for others such as Jonny, Finn, X and Dan may have interest.

Steve had mentioned writing up some thoughts/tips on taking BIF (bird in flight) shots. I'll give a quick rundown on the basics.

Here is my setup when shooting...

I use a Gitzo tripod (any brand will be just fine) with a RRS BH55 ballhead for easy movement of my equipment.. it has a Wimberly sidekick attached and swivels around like a gunmount. Now, if you have IS or VR on your lens and would prefer to handhold your setup, by all means feel free.

I have a general rule of thumb for stopping BIF and that is to get atleast 1/1250 sec shutter speed, but usually I'm around 1/1600 or so to be safe and certain I'm stopping that action. Having a fast camera is also a critical component as the wings are always moving and some of those wing shots look good and some not so good... so its good to have a few to choose from. Its always a good idea to think about the shots you want to capture as well, I usually go out with an image in mind that I want and I get myself into position to get that done. I'll get you guys in position for some terrific opportunities! Another good thing to practice is your panning technique if your a birder, it's not that easy with heavy equipment until you get those muscles trained in, much like shooting a compound bow.

So how does this sound guys? The date that is?

[finnbay]

Thanks buzz for the info and the possibility of a second shoot. Sounds great!

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Buzz.

Here are some added thoughts on BIF, some special to Canon shooters, others just general.

Those shooting lighter Canon L lenses like the 70-200/1.4 TC and 100-400L IS (both come in around 3 lbs), probably will be better off handholding. Heavier lenses such as the 300 f2.8L and up benefit most from the type of tripod/head setup Buzz mentioned.

For Canon shooters, bare minimum bodies for BIF (really that means effective Al servo focus performance) are the XT/XTi. The 20D/30D/40D are noticeably better, and of course the "1" series are the best/fastest/most precise of the bunch.

For Al servo focus, unless using the "1" series bodies, it's almost always best to select the center focus point rather than letting the camera decide which focus point to select on the fly. With pro-sumer and entry level cameras, the less you give the camera to think about the better, and choosing the center focus point and keeping it on the bird's head/face is a nice little challenge all by itself. For "1" shooters, Canon's "ring of fire" focus point array, in which the full circle of points is enabled, is quite good for BIF. Anything that touches the ring of fire or flies within it gets locked on.

If you're good at wingshooting with a shotgun, you'll be good at BIF, because it's basically the same smooth motion you're looking for.

I also recommend shooting in manual exposure mode if the light is consistent. Consistent light usually includes either bright sun or overcast. Partly cloudy light would be a bad time to select manual mode. Manual mode is best for BIF in particular because it's totally a matter of dialing in the proper exposure for the light and the bird. Why is this a big deal for BIF? Because the birds fly in front of a ton of different backgrounds with different ambient lighting conditions, and manual mode will ignore those backgrounds' tendancies to throw automatic metering modes off stride.

To find the right manual exposure, an easy way is to meter the bird in Av mode, take a few shots and check the histogram. If the whites in the eagle's head are not blown out, keep pushing the histogram slightly to the right by stopping down aperture a bit. When you get to the point that the eagle's head/tail start blinking, back it off a notch or two and you're ready to shoot. Those setting will ensure you've got the highlights all in hand but that you're exposing far enough "to the right" so the dark portions of the bird won't be full of noise.

Again, if it's partly cloudy and the light is waxing and waning, best to use Av mode and compensation exposure and change EC at will as you think you need.

I completely agree with Buzz on target shutter speeds. Those who are adept with their technique and well practiced on BIF can certainly go slower and hope for good results, but it's better to bump iso and get that fast ss than worry about noise and keep your iso low and get blurred images.

Unless the light is quite good, I generally achieve those ss values by setting iso to 400 and aperture to about f8.

[Dbl]

Hey Mike great tips! You know you can always reach me if you're going out and see if fits the schedule.

[buzzsaw]

Great additional info, Steve. Dan, you have mail.

[MN Shutterbug]

Thanks Mike, for the tips and Steve, for the turorial. Steve, utilizing your method for setting manual exposure, you're assuming a lot of opportunities.

Hopefully, I can get in on the bif action, next month.

[dukhnt]

Buzz - Got the 29th penciled in. Looking forward to it!!

[mmeyer]

Buzz,

Sounds like a deal. I'll be there and I'm sure Dukhnt will be chiming in here as well.

I'll be bringing my 170-500mm and maybe Santa will bring me a new lens possibly a 80-200mm 2.8 if I'm good.

Looking forward to it! Thanks again for the offer.

Mike

[Steve Foss]

XT, as I'm sure you know, you make your OWN opportunities.

No doubt there'll be plenty of opps on sunny or steady overcast days for you to practice dialing in manual mode before tackle BIF. And while they're on a smaller scale, chickadees offer much the same manual exposure challenges as eagles.