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Took a few shots of the Birds Of Prey show at Healsville Sanctuary yesterday.

I found it hard to capture these birds flying around. At times they're so close they actually hit you with their wings!

I shot in AV mode, which looking back was a mistake. I bumped the ISO up until i had around 1000th of a second or more shutter speed, but with the varying light conditions i noticed after the shoot that most were about 640th. So pretty much all the in flight shots were worthless ... I guess i should've shot on TV mode.

Any tips on capturing this type of shot is greatly appreciated!

I recognise the Buzzard and the Eagle, but is that an Osprey?

With no EXIF data on your shots it's hard to give specifics (e.g. what camera/lens were you using?).
You're right, M (or Tv) mode is what I would use for flight shots. If you're in Tv mode and the aperture's going to vary, make sure you've got your ISO high enough that you're not going to underexpose any of the shots.

In that arena there's limited scope to track the birds as they fly in, but that's what you need to try to get/keep them in focus before they fly past you. I've found being up on the back row or at the side of the seating works OK. A zoom is useful as the subject distance will vary so quickly.

Thanks Dave!

I'm not sure how to add the EXIF stuff. (I use Lightroom.)
I was using a 7D with 24-105L.

That is an Osprey. It had just dived into the water to grab a fish.

I sat in the front row to get closer. Once the first bird came out i realised i'd made the wrong decision.

Wink wrote:I'm not sure how to add the EXIF stuff. (I use Lightroom.)

When exporting the JPEG, don't tick the "Minimize Embedded Metadata" box.