Photographing Birds in Flight
Photographing Birds in Flight is my favourite type of photography. I find it incredibly rewarding to capture a fast moving bird.
However, be warned, trying to get pin sharp images in a variety of conditions can be extremely frustrating.
Just like any type of wildlife photography, success comes down to your application of light vs shutter speed vs aperture vs ISO; oh and a sprinkling of luck!
If you are a resident of the UK, it is fairly rare that you have perfect conditions. Get used to the trade-offs – but don’t give up.
I am lucky to be using the 7dMkii, which has fantastic high ISO performance. I have coupled this with the awesome Canon 100-400mm Mkii. This combination results in outstanding images, in sometimes quite poor conditions. But even when the conditions are not ideal an average camera and lens combination can return some great results is you work the available conditions to your advantage.
This image was taken at 1/400 sec @200mm f5.6 ISO 100. I got away with the relatively slow shutter speed due to the pedestrian wing beat, and the Owl flying head on to my position.
Panning
One of the skills you will need to practice is panning. Panning is simply tracking the bird in flight. The quicker the bird the harder to achieve AF lock and therefore pin sharp images. It is always worthwhile spending some time watching your subject to see if they use any repetitive flight patterns. Knowing these give you a definite advantage.
I tried experimenting with different shutter speeds when photographing this Vulture. Out of 30 shots this was one of many fairly poor efforts. The background is blurred, but unfortunately, so is the bird! In my defence I was shooting hand-held.
The trick with panning is to move with the subject, using a slow shutter speed so that the background is blurred while the subject remains sharp. To be honest I am not its best exponent because I have not given it enough practice.
Eventually, I managed to get a half decent shot. However, I had upped the shutter speed to 1/100 which allowed me to get the head sharp but did not blur the background enough for my liking.
Anticipation
As I mentioned previously, spending some time observing your subject prior to shooting can give you an advantage.
For example, whilst photographing Gannets on Bempton Cliffs I noticed that the birds exhibited a certain posture before leaving the cliff face. Having spotted this behaviour, my job of catching them as they took off became far easier.
This is true of most birds. A Kingfisher almost telegraphs its intention to dive by the way it postures and focuses.
Trying to track a bird with an erratic flight pattern is a fools game, (I know I have tried it a few times), it very rarely results in a good photo.
A perfect example is the Lapwing. But, if you watch one flying for a while you will start to notice a pattern in the apparent chaos. You will see that every so often it flies up into a stall where it is almost static for a second or so. This is your opportunity to shoot, or at least get a decent AF lock.
Your Hand-Held Stance
Regardless of the lens, try to keep things smooth and steady, this will increase your chances of success. If I know a bird is going to fly from left to right I set my stance so that it is facing forward at the center point of my imagined image. I then ‘wind’ my body to the left. When the bird enters the viewfinder I start to pan and track its flight across my body, which unwinds to the center and then winds to the right as the bird leaves the frame.
Why do I do this? Well if I set my stance facing the position at which I think the subject is going to enter the frame, by the time it has reached the center I am already winding to the right. Eventually I run out of ‘wind’ and this always results in one of several outcomes; I miss the shot because I cannot pan far enough right; I end up having to quickly shuffle my feet in order to keep up, which results in a very uneven pan; and last but certainly not least, I trip and fall on my arse!
Using a gimbal head and tripod, will without doubt make this a lot easier. But, like me, if you are handholding, make sure you improve your chances of success by using the proper technique. Keep your elbows tucked in at your sides to help brace the lens, and when you turn to follow the subject do so by twisting at the waist.
If you do not already keep both eyes open and use back button focusing, I urge you to begin. It takes a bit of practice, but shooting with both eyes open lets you track the subject before it enters the viewfinder. Using BBF allows you to get focus lock and then compose on the fly. If you are not sure what I mean I have written a full article on using back button focus method, which you can find here.
Composition
Being able to anticipate the birds flight path is one way of helping to get a decent composition. With a moving subject you should try and leave some empty space for the subject to ‘move into’.
This image of a Red Kite flying low over a lake in Wales, is a perfect example. In this image I had time to work out where he was going to be flying. Then using BBF I got a lock and then recomposed so that the bird was in the rear third of the image.
Whereas in the second image I snapped the shot off without any prep as the bird took me slightly by surprise.
You can tell I was not ready because the bird is in the wrong place composition wise. Plus, it was too close resulting in both wing tips being missed. I still like it as an image though.
Even with a static subject the rule of thirds and leaving space still applies. If the subject is looking straight at me I am happy for it to be central in the image, as with this image of a Red Kite on the ground.
However if the subject is looking to the side I will leave space for them to look into. This image of a Water Rail is a good example of this.
How to Photograph Birds in Flight – Settings
If you did a search for the ‘best settings for photographing birds in flight‘ I guarantee that you will be inundated with a plethora of different ideas. I actually did this as research for this article, and even as an exact match search Google returned 2500+ results.
Everyone has their ‘preferred’ set of parameters that result in great flight images. Your best bet is to try some out and then tweak them to suit your style, and camera kit. Even then they are going to change as the conditions change.
Did I warn you this is not easy, no, ooops sorry!
If I had perfect conditions, i.e. great light, great access etc. My perfect settings for a bird in flight image might look like these: ISO 100, for maximum detail, f5.6, for bokeh, 1/400 – 1/2000 sec, for freezing motion. Even then, these settings are dependent on the bird and its flight pattern.
Unfortunately, in the majority of scenarios these settings are not going to give me what I want. Shooting in AV, I am unable to open my lens up any further. If I use my 1.4 converter I am further hampered by its inability to go below f8!
What to do?
As I mentioned before my camera body is great with high ISO so the first thing I do is pop it into auto-ISO. However, this does not make a great deal of difference, because in good light, the camera usually chooses ISO 100 because the lens is wide open and there is lots of light hitting the sensor. This means that I might get 1/320 sec, which is far too slow for freezing motion, especially for fast moving subjects.
That is one of the problems with using auto settings, the camera does not know what you are trying to achieve. It simply gives you the best settings for the optimal exposure.
I could go to manual, (M), but I will not have time to set everything to where I need it on the fly. My solution is to use time value, (TV.) Why, I hear you gasp?
In this situation the most critical setting to achieve the image I want, is speed, which I need to be fast enough to freeze or partially freeze any motion.
This image of a Red Kite was taken at 1/2000 sec, Auto-ISO, f5.6 @400mm. Despite the rapid wing movement I was able to freeze the motion and get a sharp image.
Another advantage of using TV, is that it allows me to choose how much motion I want in any given image. I can use my creativity rather than relying on the camera to decide the look of the end product.
For this image of the Canada Goose taking off from the surface of a Venus Pools in Shropshire, I used almost identical settings. I just increased my speed to 1/2500 sec.
From a composition point of view, this image was always going to be a compromise for me. I wanted to give the bird room to run into but at the same time I wanted to catch at least two of the splashes behind it. In the end I think it works. I like it so that is all that matters.
Using AI Servo & Auto Focus
Another setting which I always use is ‘AI Servo’. Combined with my cameras AF configuration tool, AI Servo does a great job of tracking my subject.
You can find AI Servo in the information panel on the rear of the camera.
I nearly always shoot single point AF unless the subject is not distinct from the background. In this case I choose to use 5 point AF, which gives the camera a better chance of locking onto the subject.
However, to choose the right auto-focus setting you need to enter the menus. My Canon 7d Mkii comes with a wide choice of options.
The AF Configuration Tool
With the 7D Mark II, Canon has introduced a new configuration tool. It is designed to allow the photographer to choose from six different ‘cases’, which individually help the camera handle certain auto-focus conditions.
Please note, that these cases only apply to AF when the camera is using AI Servo. The 6 cases are designed for action shooting only.
Below I have listed the 6 Cases, with a representative image. If you want more details on how they operate and affect your images please read the full article ‘The AF Config. Tool‘
Case 1: Versatile multi purpose setting

Case 2: Continue to track subjects, ignoring possible obstacles

Case 3: Instantly focus on subjects suddenly entering AF points
This is almost the opposite of case 2. In this case, we want the AF to jump to the subject as it enters the view finder.

Case 4: For subjects that accelerate or decelerate quickly
This case might become useful in scenarios where you are tracking raptors as they can change direction quickly.

Case 5: For erratic subjects moving quickly in any direction

Case 6: For subjects that change speed and move erratically

Once you have chosen your AF case you can use the sliders to the right to fine tune them. Personally I use case #1 or #3, simply because after a lot of testing these seem to give me the most reliable results.
Depth of field
In general unless the eye of your subject sharp, the image does not really work. Unless that is you are intentionally going for something different.
The same is true of birds in flight, you just have a lot more to think about.
Missing the AF point can result in an image that looks good on the rear screen of your camera but when viewed at 1:1 is either very soft or out of focus altogether. Once again I cannot stress enough how useful back button focus is for ensuring pin sharp images and great composition.
In order to make my subject ‘pop’ I nearly always use the widest aperture available, which on my 100-400mm is f5.6. If I was extremely close to my subject I might go up to f8 or f11. This would prevent only part of the head being in focus.
A perfect example is this portrait of a Caracara. My intention was to show off the feather detail, which I have succeeded in doing. However, I would have preferred if the rest of the head, especially its eye had been in focus. Moving from f5.6 to f11 would have achieved this. Alternatively I could have stepped back a few feet.
The secret to taking decent photographs of birds in flight is practice. Believe me if you can catch one of those little buggers which flit around at high speed in your back garden, a bird of prey shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Personally I do not like shooting at larger apertures such as f4 and f2.8. I nearly always use f/5.6, maybe f/8 depending on the distance between lens and subject.
Remember that if you are photographing a bird that is flying straight towards you, you can drop the speed quite a bit and still get a pin sharp image.
Shutter Speeds – Getting Creative
The shutter speed you choose all depends on the result you want. You can opt for high shutter speeds to freeze the action, or you can slow things down and show movement.
As with most things, finding the perfect shutter speed will require a little trial and error depending on several factors, such as the speed of flight and wing beat.
Slowing Things Down
In this image of a Puffin launching itself from a cliff face, I dropped the speed to 1/125 sec. This gave me nice wing blur with a sharp body.
Freezing the Action
If you prefer you can freeze the action. In this image of a Gannet diving towards his nest with a beak full of nesting material, I upped the speed to 1/800 sec in order to ensure the bird was frozen. In this instance I let the bird fly into the shot as opposed to panning, hence the static background.
Smaller birds can be very tricky, and in some cases nigh on impossible, to photograph in flight. I spent a good while trying to capture a tiny Goldcrest whilst he flitted non-stop in a tree. I did not manage to get one sharp image!
Setting up a feeding station can help your cause, making things a little easier (notice I didn’t say easy!)
It will allow you to more accurately predict the flight path as they fly in and out to grab seeds. I recommend a shutter speed of at least 1/2000 sec in order to freeze the action of these amazingly agile birds.
I caught this Chaffinch as it waited to return to the feeder.
How to photograph birds in flight – a conclusion
There is no substitute for practice, more practice, and yet more practice. Start off with larger, slower subjects, and work your way up to smaller faster birds. For a real challenge try a swallow or a swift! Good panning technique will often be the key factor in increasing your success rate, so the more time you spend improving your ability to track birds in the viewfinder, the more your in flight photographs will improve.
Every Day is a Learning Day!
I am definitely not perfect and continue to improve as this next image demonstrates.
I was out on a shoot with a friend when he challenged me to capture one of the lightening quick Swifts that were flying in the field we were hiding out in waiting for Hares. This should give you hope!
Once I stopped being lazy, got of my bum and took the challenge seriously, I managed to grab a decent image.
Anyway, I hoped you enjoy reading this article as much as I have writing it.
Happy shooting.
Roger
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