How I Photograph Birds in Flight
One day in late June I noticed numerous Red-Winged Blackbirds flying and alighting in a field on an isolated gravel road near Winona, Minnesota. They were quite active so I believe they must have been involved in their mating ritual. I was angry with myself for not bringing my camera with me that day. But I figured I could come back the next morning for more of the show.
When I returned, I noticed that the population had decreased quite a bit. But luckily there were several birds still in the act. The next day at the same time there were very few of these birds around. So I must have caught them right at the end of their mating season. It is a hard lesson to learn to always bring your camera. The next day–or even the next minute–things may not be the same.
It is interesting that it is only the males that have the slash of red on their wings. The females are pretty but not nearly as dramatic looking. There are a couple of photos of a female in flight along with her male supposed suitor.
In taking these shots, I had a lot of fun using the Pro Capture mode on my Olympus EM1 Mark III. For those unfamiliar, Pro Capture allows you to set the number of photos stored in the camera’s memory before you press the shutter button. It also allows you to set how many shots it takes after the shutter is activated.
This sounds easy but it takes quite a bit of practice to use this mode to its best advantage. I typically set the camera for 15 shots before and 10 shots after and I am usually happy with those results. Still, I haven’t perfected my method enough so I get more keepers than rejects. But I am pretty happy with the good ones.
These were all taken with my Olympus 75-300mm zoom lens; it is relatively inexpensive with a list price of $500.00, but gives excellent results in good light. The lens weighs less than a pound and only measures about 6.5 inches. Yet, with the crop factor, the total reach is equivalent to 600mm. That is one of the reasons I chose micro four-thirds. The lenses are light and of excellent quality.
I hope you enjoy these photos.
