Thank you so much. After only five minutes into this video, I stopped, applied some of these settings to my camera and successfully capture my first decent photo of a swallow. Already hooked!!!
This is hands down the most comprehensive, thoughtful and coherent photography tutorials I have ever seen. Thank you! I look forward to my next opportunity to put it to use. Your results are truly spectacular!
Thank you making for this detailed tutorial. The tracking abilities of the Sony cameras seem just short of miraculous; a miracle is perhaps is what I need to photograph/film swifts. The positioning and tracking timing diagrams will help me photograph all kinds of birds in flight. Swallows are perhaps my favorite bird family--I rather enjoyed the photo of the little guy giving you the eye. Many gorgeous photos.
Thanks for the detailed information, hints and awesome images. - A humble return I can contribute, at 6:58, Mode 1 or Mode 2 (no/lesser stabilisation in horizontal/panning direction), the intended difference is mainly, it makes it easier to follow subjects in EVF in horizontal direction, you get a smother movement because stabilisation in panning direction is off. In mode 1, the image displayed in EVF may judder. Long story short, theoretically, mode 2 makes it easier to follow subjects.
How timely for me. Just shot swallows for the first time yesterday. Wish I had seen this first. Will go back with newfound knowledge. Thank you Duncan!
This is a great compilation of technical advice. I found setting the focus limiter to a realistic range (1m to 10m ) to ensure a decent subject size really helped AF acquisition - shooting little specks in the distance is too tempting!
Great Tips with a detailed explanation corroborating ones own experience while trying to photograph the bird.Wide or full area autofocus works best as shown.
Very inspiring Dean, makes me stop lusting after the A1 and get better use out of my A9. I was particularly impressed with the A9 200-600mm + 1.4 TC photos in that lovely evening light.
Thanks for this, some wonderful images. I spent some time this summer trying to capture swallows & house martin in flight at my local pond without much success. I was using a Canon R6 with Sigma 150-600mm lens with similar settings although my shutter speed was possibly a bit low. The most informative part for me was seeing your video capture of the birds and I realise that my location & positioning really wasn't giving me the ideal opportunity, I was tending to shoot birds flying horizontally across the water and too far away. I will need to remember this for next summer when they come back.
Hello Duncan! Amazing video, by far the most detailed and comprehensive tutorial on photographing swallows in flight I have seen on YT. Thank you! However, would you have some hints specifically for those of us (mere mortals :) who don't sport A1 or A9? I have seen you're gallery of swallow BIFs taken with A6400. I checked the manual and it's not that much more sophisticated than my A6100 (the only edge is it has the 'Priority Set in AF-C' - focus/realease/balanced emphasis - setting). Any advice on how to maximize the potential of the AF system? Also, would you even attempt photographing them @ 900 mm effective focal length or is it impossible (my hunch). To me it seems like by the time it's big enough in the EVF, the relative speed at which it is moving, given the 600 mm end of the FE 200-600, is so fast you only see it (if you even manage to catch it in the EVF, that is) for a nanosecond. Thank you very much in advance and keep up the great work!
Un trabajo espectacular Duncan. Con este tipo de aves tan impredecibles en los vuelos, uno tiene que armarse de paciencia y consumir gran cantidad de disparos para, al final quedarse con lo mejor. Enhorabuena por los consejos y por las imágenes. Personalmente trabajo con el A9+200-600 G, encantado. Un saludo desde España.
Incredible photo’s👍🏻, the effort put in but it surely paid off. Surely hope I will get similar results sometime. You really showed that this requires a lot more effort than I have put in so far.
Glad you found it so - and yes - no-one was more astonished than me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever take a photograph of a swallows pupil while it was flying !
@11:35 I also shoot martens, swallows and bats - but hell, this looks like a great place, and a lot easier too. And my birds are usually moving very fast and the light is often times a lot dimmer too - I need a new place!
Outstanding video! Your presentation and explanation is very educational. Thanks. Something that I focus on in a sports field close to where I live, as you say it's not that easy as they fly very close to the ground. Hopefully restrictions will lift by October so I can start moving around with the camera.
Sports field is a good place, they can't go down, one less dimension to have to worry about - just get down low so that the edge of the field and not the grass is the background - so good separation between the subject and the background and you shouldn't have trouble with af tracking. And you want the sun and wind behind you as they will tend to fly into the wind to pick up bugs. Try find a spot where they will regularly fly past you at an angle of around 20 - 30 degrees and distance of 2 - 6 meters. That way the horizontal tracking motion required to follow them is relatively slow and the af system is also less stressed as they fly past. Most importantly make sure you have a comfortable seat and a good podcast to listen to. There are often dozens around when they are cutting the grass, I guess that chases the bugs up in the air.
Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing and thank you for all the details. I’m a longtime Nikon user just recently migrating to the new Sony a7IV (along with kit lens and the 200-600mm lens). There seems to some debate whether to have a lens filter or not. As I understand, some professionals do not. Do you lens filters? Thanks in advance for your time and thanks again for this awesome video.
No I don't use a lens filter as it affects the image quality and focus performance, particularly on long lenses. Just keep the lens cap on for protection.
Nice work there Duncan and really good explanation of the capture process. I'm curious with 16K images captured, were you using silent shutter? If so, did you see any strange artefacts with the wings from rolling shutter effect? I presume that wouldn't be an issue on either the A9 or A1 in any case. I use an A7RIV and have seen it on some shots using full electronic shutter. I don't fancy adding that many actuations to my shutter count to maybe get a couple of these little fellows in flight.
Yes all shot at 30fps and no I never noticed any bent wings or distorted heads like I have seen from the R5. Unfortunately we are still in lockdown so I haven't been able to get out to test with a camera with a slower readout speed.
wonderful. thanks VERY MUCH for sharing. when TESTING autofocus, this is the test I want to see, not some BIG EAGLE gliding over the sky. That could even be made with manual focus lens if you are good.
Do you think that a mirrorless camera is necessary for capturing these shots? I use a d500 with a 200-500mm 5.6 but I am not sure the focus system is as precise as the new sonys however I would love to attempt a series like this.
If you look at the position of the bird in the sequences they start off quite small and move around to the edges of the frame a lot as they come closer. This is the part where having af points over 90%+ of the frame allows the camera to track the bird and keep it in focus. A DSLR has a smaller focus area with much fewer focus points and so it will be very difficult to keep the bird in the af area. As soon as the bird is out of the focus area the DSLR will jump to the background and then there will be no recovering from that as you will not longer see the bird to be able to follow it. Bear in mind the whole acquisition and tracking duration is usually < 3 seconds. Of course if you try long enough you can get lucky with a DSLR but in my experience with the D850/500PF it was not possible to even reliably acquire focus on the swallows let alone track them until they are big enough in the frame for a decent picture. The great thing with the mirrorless is you can see the tracking box so you know what is going on - the shots may miss focus on the eyes occasionally but as long as you can see the green tracking box you know the camera is at least trying to focus on the right subject.
DSLR will be difficult as you need af tracking across 80+ % of the frame because it is nearly impossible to keep the bird in the centre of the frame as it comes closer. You might have some random luck eventually though.
Swallows are grace notes on the sky. Extraordinary portraits of these amazing creatures. Generous of you to share your knowledge.
Many thanks Duncan. An absolutely fabulous tutorial. Can’t wait to try out your advice.
The hardest thing you can do with a camera. Very inspiring.
Thank you so much. After only five minutes into this video, I stopped, applied some of these settings to my camera and successfully capture my first decent photo of a swallow. Already hooked!!!
This is hands down the most comprehensive, thoughtful and coherent photography tutorials I have ever seen. Thank you! I look forward to my next opportunity to put it to use. Your results are truly spectacular!
Thank you making for this detailed tutorial. The tracking abilities of the Sony cameras seem just short of miraculous; a miracle is perhaps is what I need to photograph/film swifts. The positioning and tracking timing diagrams will help me photograph all kinds of birds in flight. Swallows are perhaps my favorite bird family--I rather enjoyed the photo of the little guy giving you the eye. Many gorgeous photos.
Thanks for the detailed information, hints and awesome images. - A humble return I can contribute, at 6:58, Mode 1 or Mode 2 (no/lesser stabilisation in horizontal/panning direction), the intended difference is mainly, it makes it easier to follow subjects in EVF in horizontal direction, you get a smother movement because stabilisation in panning direction is off. In mode 1, the image displayed in EVF may judder. Long story short, theoretically, mode 2 makes it easier to follow subjects.
How timely for me. Just shot swallows for the first time yesterday. Wish I had seen this first. Will go back with newfound knowledge. Thank you Duncan!
This is a great compilation of technical advice. I found setting the focus limiter to a realistic range (1m to 10m ) to ensure a decent subject size really helped AF acquisition - shooting little specks in the distance is too tempting!
Amazing some of the best shots of BIF I've seen.
Excellent Video Duncan, Very Helpful and informative. Beautiful Photographs. Many thanks for sharing. 🇬🇧
Glad it was helpful!
The concluding slideshow was spectacular. I especially liked the ones with reddish sunlight on the birds. Thank you.
Wow photos again and again. Thank you so much for such detail. You did all but take us by the hand and lead us to the spot.
Great Tips with a detailed explanation corroborating ones own experience while trying to photograph the bird.Wide or full area autofocus works best as shown.
Very inspiring Dean, makes me stop lusting after the A1 and get better use out of my A9. I was particularly impressed with the A9 200-600mm + 1.4 TC photos in that lovely evening light.
Thank you Duncan for this impressive video. A very good example of what can be achieved with dedication, the right equipment and skill!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great photos!
Thanks for this, some wonderful images. I spent some time this summer trying to capture swallows & house martin in flight at my local pond without much success. I was using a Canon R6 with Sigma 150-600mm lens with similar settings although my shutter speed was possibly a bit low. The most informative part for me was seeing your video capture of the birds and I realise that my location & positioning really wasn't giving me the ideal opportunity, I was tending to shoot birds flying horizontally across the water and too far away. I will need to remember this for next summer when they come back.
Fabulous work Edward. I love taking swallows in flight and confront similar issues. Very helpful suggestions with A1
Spectacular images. Technic well explained.
Great pics sir!
All timeairobatics love their speed and those Eyes
Thank you for the great tutorial ****** I will give this a try soon. Great
Great info on settings and shooting technique!
Thanks for sharing. I have tried to catch those lovely birds. And it isn't easy.
One word amazing fully enjoyable 😁
Thank you for this episode, I really enjoyed watching and learned so much x
Hello Duncan! Amazing video, by far the most detailed and comprehensive tutorial on photographing swallows in flight I have seen on YT. Thank you! However, would you have some hints specifically for those of us (mere mortals :) who don't sport A1 or A9? I have seen you're gallery of swallow BIFs taken with A6400. I checked the manual and it's not that much more sophisticated than my A6100 (the only edge is it has the 'Priority Set in AF-C' - focus/realease/balanced emphasis - setting). Any advice on how to maximize the potential of the AF system?
Also, would you even attempt photographing them @ 900 mm effective focal length or is it impossible (my hunch). To me it seems like by the time it's big enough in the EVF, the relative speed at which it is moving, given the 600 mm end of the FE 200-600, is so fast you only see it (if you even manage to catch it in the EVF, that is) for a nanosecond.
Thank you very much in advance and keep up the great work!
Thank you for making this video. It was very helpful.
Un trabajo espectacular Duncan. Con este tipo de aves tan impredecibles en los vuelos, uno tiene que armarse de paciencia y consumir gran cantidad de disparos para, al final quedarse con lo mejor. Enhorabuena por los consejos y por las imágenes. Personalmente trabajo con el A9+200-600 G, encantado. Un saludo desde España.
Gracias si paciencia y muchas imagenes
Impressive project. Thank you.
Incredible photo’s👍🏻, the effort put in but it surely paid off. Surely hope I will get similar results sometime. You really showed that this requires a lot more effort than I have put in so far.
The hard part is finding the right location, after that it is a lot of fun.
Amazing photos and great information too!
Spectacular images shot with skill. Can you please tell me if you used a tripod?
Amazing pictures😃 thank you for the information how to get the shots of swallovs 👍new subscriber😃
Thanks for this very informative video. It is astonishing what is possible today with the right equipment and technique. Cheers
Glad you found it so - and yes - no-one was more astonished than me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever take a photograph of a swallows pupil while it was flying !
Great video tutorial of BIF!❤️❤️
Excellent process! Thank you! The link to the photos isn't attainable though, but your shots in the presentation are awesome!
Thanks for letting me know, I just fixed that.
@11:35 I also shoot martens, swallows and bats - but hell, this looks like a great place, and a lot easier too. And my birds are usually moving very fast and the light is often times a lot dimmer too - I need a new place!
Yes, it's a bit tough without some help from the wind to slow them down and a narrow feeding lane.
Outstanding video! Your presentation and explanation is very educational. Thanks. Something that I focus on in a sports field close to where I live, as you say it's not that easy as they fly very close to the ground. Hopefully restrictions will lift by October so I can start moving around with the camera.
Sports field is a good place, they can't go down, one less dimension to have to worry about - just get down low so that the edge of the field and not the grass is the background - so good separation between the subject and the background and you shouldn't have trouble with af tracking. And you want the sun and wind behind you as they will tend to fly into the wind to pick up bugs. Try find a spot where they will regularly fly past you at an angle of around 20 - 30 degrees and distance of 2 - 6 meters. That way the horizontal tracking motion required to follow them is relatively slow and the af system is also less stressed as they fly past. Most importantly make sure you have a comfortable seat and a good podcast to listen to. There are often dozens around when they are cutting the grass, I guess that chases the bugs up in the air.
@@duncangroenewald Thank you for the tips. I will up the shutter to 1/8000 next time and give it a try.
Brilliant! Thanks
Truly excellent photos and narrative - thanks. Do you use the the Sony A1 bird AF feature ?
Cool
Awesome pictures! Thanks for sharing and thank you for all the details. I’m a longtime Nikon user just recently migrating to the new Sony a7IV (along with kit lens and the 200-600mm lens). There seems to some debate whether to have a lens filter or not. As I understand, some professionals do not. Do you lens filters?
Thanks in advance for your time and thanks again for this awesome video.
No I don't use a lens filter as it affects the image quality and focus performance, particularly on long lenses. Just keep the lens cap on for protection.
excellent!!
Stunning, - can any of these be purchased..?
Sure, send me an email with clips of the ones you are interested in.
do you notice any difference in AF ability between the 2 lens on Alpha 1 ?
Nice work there Duncan and really good explanation of the capture process. I'm curious with 16K images captured, were you using silent shutter? If so, did you see any strange artefacts with the wings from rolling shutter effect? I presume that wouldn't be an issue on either the A9 or A1 in any case. I use an A7RIV and have seen it on some shots using full electronic shutter. I don't fancy adding that many actuations to my shutter count to maybe get a couple of these little fellows in flight.
Yes all shot at 30fps and no I never noticed any bent wings or distorted heads like I have seen from the R5. Unfortunately we are still in lockdown so I haven't been able to get out to test with a camera with a slower readout speed.
Great video! Thanks
You are welcome!
Great video Duncan, thank you so much for all the information on a platter. One question: Have you used a red dot sight?
No never hear of it until now. I doubt you would be able to use it for the swallows as they move about far too quickly.
wonderful.
thanks VERY MUCH for sharing.
when TESTING autofocus, this is the test I want to see, not some BIG EAGLE gliding over the sky.
That could even be made with manual focus lens if you are good.
Do you think that a mirrorless camera is necessary for capturing these shots? I use a d500 with a 200-500mm 5.6 but I am not sure the focus system is as precise as the new sonys however I would love to attempt a series like this.
If you look at the position of the bird in the sequences they start off quite small and move around to the edges of the frame a lot as they come closer. This is the part where having af points over 90%+ of the frame allows the camera to track the bird and keep it in focus. A DSLR has a smaller focus area with much fewer focus points and so it will be very difficult to keep the bird in the af area. As soon as the bird is out of the focus area the DSLR will jump to the background and then there will be no recovering from that as you will not longer see the bird to be able to follow it. Bear in mind the whole acquisition and tracking duration is usually < 3 seconds. Of course if you try long enough you can get lucky with a DSLR but in my experience with the D850/500PF it was not possible to even reliably acquire focus on the swallows let alone track them until they are big enough in the frame for a decent picture. The great thing with the mirrorless is you can see the tracking box so you know what is going on - the shots may miss focus on the eyes occasionally but as long as you can see the green tracking box you know the camera is at least trying to focus on the right subject.
Star gazers
太厉害了！！
Night time mariners coolest 😎 speedsters
Yes very nice, but hello show us how to get these images with a every day DSLR. Not everyone has mirrorless.. not worth watching
DSLR will be difficult as you need af tracking across 80+ % of the frame because it is nearly impossible to keep the bird in the centre of the frame as it comes closer. You might have some random luck eventually though.
Absolutely annoying to capture