This one was faster!

[kentw]

Barn swallow in flight. Hand held, Canon 50D, 400mm@f/8, 1/2000, ISO 800.

I forgot to do any noise reduction, so you may see that. This is about a 50% crop, about the best I've been able to get so far. I also would like a better sky or some anchor point in the photo. But I took what I was given.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. I'm always strivingto improve.

Thanks,Marko, for your excellent podcasts. I visit the forums infrequently; sorry about that.

kent wilson

[nomad358]

Cool!

[AntZ]

Nice capture. I like the colour in this guy. He alomost looks gold underneath.

It's hard to get sharp, sharp images of birds in flight. I'm putting the slight softness down to it being an attached image.

[kentw]

No, it is a bit soft, I think, because of the crop and because it is not quite in focus. I set aperture at f/8 to get a little bit of dof to accommodate focusing inaccuracies. These birds are very fast and their flight is erratic (they're usually after flying insects).

Getting tack sharp focus is something I continue to work at. I should practice what I have been told: to prefocus on a place where the birds can be anticipated on coming to and then press the shutter when they get there. I haven't been doing that because their behavior is unpredictable. (The nests are not accessible.)

Your comment was overly kind. Thanks.

[MoinMoin]

Congratulation to that catch! It is really diffcult to get such a photo from a flying swallow; they are so fast. My only picture I've just taken last weekend, when one landed on the beach to gather some sand for it's nest.

[scorpio_e]

Nice capture and nice crop. Moving birds are tough !!!!!!

[Marko]

Thanks for the compliment kentw!
This is a good catch on a tough subject. I like the DOF. That swallow looks intense! I think the shot may actually be slightly underexposed. We are losing detail in the eyes and the back of the head. Hope that helps - marko

[Michaelaw]

You did very well here IMHO, not an easy bird to nail in flight as the are very fast. To have focus, tracking, exposure and comp all fall into place is a very tall order but you came very close to acing it!

[kentw]

Thanks, Marko. I'll try tweaking the exposure on abck of head and around the eye and see if I can impriove the image.

And thanks to all for your kind remarks. I continue to work on my craft and hope to become proficient.

[jlabel]

Great shot! Maybe if you tweak the white balance a bit you can get some blue out of this dull grayness.