Not sure how quick your reflexes may be, but mine are just a hair off when observing birds taking off. Without this technology I’d still be lamenting my ability to catch bird behavior as well as I am able now.
Observing behavior
The best way to capture wildlife is to learn their behavior. Best way to do that? Watch and learn. I suggest folks who are new to avian photography to spend time observing before trying to get images. Leave the camera down and get to know your subject. After a while you will begin to get cues as to when a subject will take flight. Often larger birds will defecate just before they get ready to launch. You will see sandhill cranes lower their heads when getting ready for the dash to gain speed and begin their path to the skies.
Which way does the bird usually take leave of their perch? Many small birds will dive to gain speed for flight. Learning to predict whether a bird will go up, down left or right increases your chances of having enough space to capture spread wings and behavioral images.
Photographing into the past
That’s not the technical term for this tech, just my way of thinking about it. I first became aware of this possibility when I was a Lumix Luminary for Panasonic. You can record video with a half press of the shutter. Rather than save the file to the card, it would keep a buffer running and only holding one to two seconds on a rotating basis. Once the shutter was fully depressed, the buffered clip was saved to the card. Voila, the last two seconds were saved from the past. Once in post production, individual frames could be saved. In the beginning, you could pull an 8 MB still frame which could print a nice sized image. As video resolution increased, 18 MB files which allowed for even larger prints and the ability to crop and still have enough data for a print.
Next generation
Olympus worked on a similar idea but were able to capture individual still frames but they were only jpegs. That left you with the ability to shoot into the past but you were were working without RAW files. Good for the behavior capture but not the best for editing. Olympus, now OM System, changed the game entirely with the ability to use this idea while getting RAW data to the card. With OM System you can choose how many frames you want in the buffer to hold. Making your decision based on the frame rate you have chosen to determine the amount of time you are recapturing. This keeps you from getting too many images to sort through and dispose of with the bird sitting still before take off. You’ll want different settings for various birds. Smaller birds may need a higher frame rate to get more wing positions. Even tech needs to be programmed properly to get the most from it.
Combine observation with technology
You still will need to understand how birds move from their landed position. Having a solid idea of which way a bird will move, or the cues for their take-off will make this an even stronger tool for your work I have solid knowledge of micro four thirds cameras and capabilities, especially OM System cause that’s the gear I use. Panasonic may have moved up from the video capture, I’m not certain. I have heard that other camera stems are beginning to employ the RAW capture as well. If you enjoy capturing wildlife photos poke around and play with this tech. Your number of keepers, less the bird butts, will increase exponentially.
My gear
OM 1 camera is my main capture device. OM System OM 1 (used link) are now into OM 1 mark II. Lenses I use for working with wildlife are the 150-600mm f/5.0 – f/6.3 M.Zuiko Digital ED lens. Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 100-400mm f/5-6.3 IS Lens. OM SYSTEM M.Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO Lens. I’ll also add a 1.4 teleconverter for even more reach at the loss of some light getting to the sensor.
Here are some links to avian capture techniques:
- Stay sharp for bird photography with practice
- Bird photography tips: Timing and separation
- How to overcome challenges of winter bird photography
- 10 tips for better bird photography
Yours in Creative Photography,
Bob
