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08/18/2005 01:18:02 AM · #1 |
Just had to share these photos from tonight. I took both my wide angle and telephoto and switched back and forth several times through the night, but primarily shot wide angle to try to capture the whole scene, it was so bizarre.
I'm going to go out again tomorrow night and shoot them again. What is the most effective way to photograph this kind of event? I like the idea of freezing the birds in midair, but by the time they get close enough for that effect, it's quite dark out and the speedlight really kills the "mood". Any suggestions? I was up at 800ISO for a lot of the shots I got tonight anyway, and still they were on the blurry side.
When I tried the opposite- leaving the shutter open a while to get the blur of birds across the sky- the effect isn't as... effective ;)
Any thoughts would be most helpful!
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08/18/2005 01:22:11 AM · #2 |
| Wow! That has to be one of the coolest things I,ve seen. Sure would be great to own the local carwash, dry cleaner, etc. ;-) |
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08/18/2005 01:26:36 AM · #3 |
Originally posted by Ivo:
Wow! That has to be one of the coolest things I,ve seen. Sure would be great to own the local carwash, dry cleaner, etc. ;-) |
:D I hadn't thought of that!! HA!! The photos just don't do it justice. This is one of those times I wish I had a video camera, it really was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I don't believe I have ever seen so many birds at one time in my entire life.
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08/18/2005 01:31:54 AM · #4 |
Did Alfred Hitchcock step out of the shadows? Incredible shots.
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08/18/2005 09:59:38 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by faidoi:
Did Alfred Hitchcock step out of the shadows? Incredible shots. |
Thanks faidoi! Tonight when I go back I'm going to see if I can do more with the moon- though by the time the birds are low enough it will be quite dark and the moon will be pretty high. Not sure how to best shoot under those conditions, I've never had much luck properly exposing the moon. But I think thousands of bird silhouettes around and on it will be very cool.
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08/18/2005 10:04:38 AM · #6 |
great shots, pretty cool..... reminds of the scenes in movies where the birds or other animals know that something bad is about to happen and they leave and we are just standing there watching
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08/18/2005 10:10:36 AM · #7 |
| I hope you had an umbrella! |
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08/18/2005 10:17:47 AM · #8 |
Originally posted by Telehubbie:
I hope you had an umbrella! |
I'm considering taking one tonight- my camera didn't get pelted last night and I can't see having that kind of luck two nights in a row ;)
I just wonder where the hell they all go during the day, to come flocking back like that every night.
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08/18/2005 10:21:06 AM · #9 |
Cool pics, thanks for posting.
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08/18/2005 11:41:59 AM · #10 |
| Those are awesome. Would have loved to have seen it, sans the bird crap shower :-) |
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08/18/2005 12:09:42 PM · #11 |
Originally posted by rich:
Those are awesome. Would have loved to have seen it, sans the bird crap shower :-) |
Thanks! Yeah, kinda hard to avoid it with that many birds flying over. I'm going to spend some time today researching best camera settings for this kind of situation, hopefully I'll have some better ones tonight.
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08/18/2005 02:00:28 PM · #12 |
By the way, here were my settings:
Shot 1: Well before sunset. 70-300mm lens, 270mm, 400ISO, 1/500th @ f/5.6
Shot 2: 8:20pm (sunset at 8:06). 18-70mm lens, 18mm, 400ISO, 1/30th @ f/4.5
Shot 3: 8:21pm. 18-70mm lens, 70mm, 640ISO, 1/80th @ f/4.5
Shot 4: 8:21pm, 18-70 lens, 38mm, 640ISO, 1/80th @ f/4.2 with speedlight
Shot 5: 8:40pm, 70-300 lens, 210mm, 800ISO, 1/125th @ f/5 with speedlight
And here is a shot where I attempted to show the motion, but I don't think the results are that great.
18mm, 200ISO, .4sec @ f/7.1
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08/18/2005 02:50:00 PM · #13 |
| Fabulous pictures, Ahaze! A quick search on the web seems to show they move from the northern areas into South America for the winter, so it may be that the ones you've seen so far are well on their way, and a new crop will be ready for pictures tonight. |
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08/18/2005 03:34:13 PM · #14 |
Originally posted by sfalice:
Fabulous pictures, Ahaze! A quick search on the web seems to show they move from the northern areas into South America for the winter, so it may be that the ones you've seen so far are well on their way, and a new crop will be ready for pictures tonight. |
Thank you for that! I hadn't considered that tonight's birds will be a whole new group than yesterday! Hopefully I'll get some more of what I'm looking for.
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08/18/2005 03:40:52 PM · #15 |
Amazing! Great captures. They look like bats in such numbers. I thought I'd caught a lot of birds together here....
....until I saw your shots! |
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08/18/2005 03:48:58 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by bpickard:
Amazing! Great captures. They look like bats in such numbers. I thought I'd caught a lot of birds together here....
....until I saw your shots! |
Yeah it was funny, I showed up well before sunset and I could see a "lot" of birds (maybe a hundred) wheeling around, really high in the sky. They were tiny. I thought "I came all the way out here for this??" As it got a little later it started to look- and sound, and smell- really unlike anything I'd ever experienced. Glad I did it, can't wait for tonight.
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08/20/2005 11:46:33 AM · #17 |
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08/20/2005 12:07:27 PM · #18 |
Wow! Those are amazing.
Something my grandma told me when I was litte..
One day I was walking down the street, I looked up in the sky and a bird pooped in my eye. I said, "Boy, I'm sure glad cows don't fly".
ROFL..sorry just had to share. |
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08/20/2005 12:25:32 PM · #19 |
| Andi, Those are really nice, thanks for sharing. Migration is cool. Once in Astoria, Ore. I saw a flight of Sooty Shearwaters that was totally amazing, like yours. I estimated 500,000 flying along the coast there. I set a spotting scope and estimated 70 birds per second crossing the view of the scope, for two hours that I was there. The next day only a hundred or so. |
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