How to capture birds in flight - Wildlife Photography Tutorial

Flying Bird Photography Techniques. Capture amazing images of birds in flight using these simple and effective techniques. Watch the video now to see how to photograph flying birds.

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My Camera Gear

Wildlife photography is an extremely popular and photographing birds in flight is one of the most challenging and rewarding shots to capture in all of photography especially when there is often no second chance.

In this video we going have a look at:

The gear you will need
Discuss the settings that will produce the most consistent results
Go through a couple of techniques for actually shooting the shot.

Gear 

Any modern DSLR will be good enough for capturing birds in flight. Many photographers talk about the extra reach a cropped sensor camera gives but I really would not worry about this. This is not the limiting factor in capturing great shots. It is much better to choose a camera with  great auto focus system.
A good long lens is a must for wildlife photography. These lenses can get expensive but the combination of length, quality and auto focus speed are what really matter. Cheaper kit style long lenses like a Cnon 70-300 often just will not focus quickly enough to capture a bird in flight no matter what camera you put it on.

IS is not massively important because we use such a fast shutter speed that will freeze the action but a lens with lateral IS can really help tracking your subject.
You may also want a tripod or mono pod to assist if your gear starts to get heavy.

Settings

Once you have the gear we need to think about the settings we're going to use.

The first thing to set is the Focus mode.
Continuous auto focus is where you need to be. They have different names on different cameras but it want Ai servo on a Canon or afc on nikon. Where one shot focus locks in on the subject this will continue to adjust focus every time the subject moves in relation to your camera. This is what you want when tracking the bird.

You will need to keep the bird over your focus point. I use the centre focus point but this is personal taste. If your camera supports it, try using the five centre focus points or just try it on auto.

Next is our main camera mode. You can use shutter priority mode but we should start as we mean to go on so flick the camera into manual. This may sound scary but once you have practiced a bit the settings are simple and make a lot of sense.
Firstly shutter speed should be set at least 1/1000 second. This will ensure the bird is frozen and sharp. You can increase your chances of getting a sharp shot by stopping down to increase your depth of field. Use around f/7.1 or f/8 if lighting conditions are reasonable. You then need to use ISO to balance your exposure depending on your light. Many long lenses have max apertures ranging from f/4 to f/6.3 so you can expect to be using ISO settings of up to ISO 1250, especially if you stop down. To keep your image clean I would resist going beyond 1250.

Technique

I am a big fan of hand-holding and it's where I get the most positive results. It is also why I love the 400mm f5.6L because it's not too heavy and I can handhold it all day meaning I can more mobile. The technique I use is to plant my feet and then twist at the hips. See the video.

So that's the basics, and probably the easy bit. You then need to go out and start finding our feathered friends. They are not always too keen to fly nicely in front of your lens so when the opportunity comes, don't miss.

[paulost]

Straightforward instruction on the basics of bird photography. A refreshing change many thanks...from a beginner

[saitejavikram]

I love to capture the nature and animal photography much rather than any humans ..I just love it..! And thanks for your guidance ..! I will try some more in a better way .

[arianapr]

Great video. Simple and effective tips. Will now try with F/8. Thanks a ton

[sharonnahill]

Thank you for the clear explanation. I will try to follow your instructions.

[heavenandearthtaichiforhea]

Just come across your video, just starting out in the world of wildlife photography and find your video a great help.

[JohnS]

This was an excellent introduction to capturing birds in flight. I took notes and will be passing your video on to my daughter because we will be going to West Coast Falconry in the Spring and get a close up tour of birds of prey they keep there.

[nektarios]

For someone like me in my first steps in photography this video is so so useful and informative! Thank you very much for your time and for the offer in knowledge!!!

[lesliesavage]

Adam, it is great to see somebody being realist about the settings of the camera. Anything below F8 (I don't normally go below F9 photographing eagles in flight) is just asking for the bird to fly right out of your depth of field as you press the shutter. I praise you because there are other "bird photographers" that will stop down to f5.6, but most of their photos are of birds sitting on branches. There is nothing like photographing a bird in flight, since it is very dynamic to get the wildlife in action. Sitting there is just way too dull!!!

As for lenses I wouldn't bother with the cheaper lenses that go for around $200 or less. You get one, and you might think it is great until you can see what a $1000.00 lens can do. This goes for printing as well.

I use a Sony A7 with everything in manual, including the focus. I can't keep a tiny little square on a bird in flight to allow the auto focus to work properly. Sony uses what is called the "peeking mode" which works very well to keep that eagle in flight in focus, and I have sold these photos as large as 20 X 30 for people to hang up in their living rooms.

Adam, best advice so far keep it up.

[TwilightPhotonics]

Thank you so much for making this tutorial, I just started taking photos of wildlife and I hope to take tons of photos of birds in flight, this helped a lot!

[Chemtech]

Great tutorial. If you're not shure about the exposures or you're afraid for noise ruining the picture I've found that putting the camera on tv modus and adjusting your upper iso limit to 1600 works aswell. This generaly results in bigger apperture openings when the light gets lower because the camera tends to balance iso and aperture but if your focus is on point this wouldn't be to bad for the more budget friendly lenses. For me this works great when dealing with variable lighting (I tend to wander around looking for shots) as you only need to vary the shutter speed according to the situation. You can quickly slow down for bigger birds to get max sharpness or speed up for the smaller critters where speed is more importand.

[johnferry]

Yet another cracking video Adam, full of useful information in plain easy to understand jargon free English.

[cwhittenburg]

Awesome! Thank you so much for all of the wonderful information!

[denisebrucato]

I really enjoyed this video and am looking forward to getting better shots of birds in flight at our local preserve.

[davemunn]

Excellent, simple instructional info' from Adam as usual.

[sharkbait]

THANK YOU. Informative and directly to the point. (Some people just don’t need to post tutorial videos).Thanks Adam.

[kenday]

Thanks Adam ... really good tutorial - look forward to getting your ebook!!

[andyjamestf]

For a newcomer to photography this really helped me grasp shutter speed and how it's translated to the exposure, so thanks

[michaelchandler]

Enjoyed your video very much. Learned more from it than I have managed to find out for myself in a year. Will try some of your lessons the next time I'm out trying for birds.

[Pictureme]

Really enjoyed the video and great to see someone actually giving the correct settings and advice, thank you

[tammycarter]

This was so helpful. I have a Nikon D610 (full frame) and the Nikon 80-400 f5.6
lens which I just got to photograph eagles and other birds. Can't wait to try these settings.