Signs of Improvement?

I made several refinements to my Bird in Flight technique today.  I used a shorter lens - 135mm, moved back for a larger target area and stopped down more to get more depth of focus. I placed the camera outdoors in the freezing temperatures of late December.  I moved the feeder in an attempt to make the flight path more predictable. 

Increased depth of focus increased the number of sharp images, but the news wasn't entirely good.  The 135mm lens increased the background area.  Stopping the lens down made the background sharper.  As a result, the bokeh on today's images isn't as good as the results from the 400mm lens. The image below is a good example, the backgrould is mottled and distrating. 

I used a remote to fire the camera today.  I was able to trigger the camera remotely.  As a result, I wasn't able to chimp and make adjustments to my camera position and focus as easily.  The flight path is still too short and random for consistent focus.

I awarded this image 6 points

10 Point Bird Photo Scoring Checklist	Point	Comment
Is there adequate detail.  Noise? Focus? Is the body sharp?	1/2	Noise Reduction destroyed some detail
Is the exposure good? Has motion been arrested?  Are the wings sharp	1
Does lighting enhance the image?	1	Backlighted
Is the bird in an interesting pose? Are the wings spread?	1
Did I make good use of the frame? Is the frame free of distractions?	1/2	It's head is too high in the frame
Does color enhance the image?
Does the background contribute to the image?  Color?  Depth?
Is this bird a good subject?  Young and beautiful?  Ugly, ragged and missing feathers?  In mating plumage - sexy?	1
Does the bird look alive and engaged?  Eye sharp? Catchlight?	1/2	Cannot see eyes
Is the bird doing something interesting?  Is it interacting with a mate, offspring, friends, enemies or the environment?	1	Looks active

I awarded this image 6 1/2 points.

 

10 Point Bird Photo Scoring Checklist	Point	Comment
Is there adequate detail.  Noise? Focus? Is the body sharp?	1
Is the exposure good? Has motion been arrested?  Are the wings sharp	1
Does lighting enhance the image?	1	Backlighted
Is the bird in an interesting pose? Are the wings spread?	1
Did I make good use of the frame? Is the frame free of distractions?
Does color enhance the image?
Does the background contribute to the image?  Color?  Depth?		I like the blue
Is this bird a good subject?  Young and beautiful?  Ugly, ragged and missing feathers?  In mating plumage - sexy?	1
Does the bird look alive and engaged?  Eye sharp? Catchlight?	1/2	No catchlight
Is the bird doing something interesting?  Is it interacting with a mate, offspring, friends, enemies or the environment?	1	Looks active

 I definitely need to help the birds maintain a consistent flight path to the feeder.  I also need to fire the camera before the bird enters the target area to compensate for the birds speed and my slow reactions.

In a future session, I plan to put up a branch that is higher than the feeder.   If I can convice the birds to start there flight to the feeder from this perch, I should be able to increase the number of images that are in focus.

If At First You Don't Suceed

I'm determined to improve my backyard bird photography.  Today, I added a speedlight.  The flash was outside in the snow, pointed in the general direction of the bird feeder.  I shot through my kitchen window, using a Pocket Wizard to trigger the flash.  This photo was taken during my setup.

I'm sure that I lost some contrast and resolution by photographing through window, but the image below is adequately sharp.  The fill light from the flash improved the overall image.

House Sparrow  400mm lens at f4  1/1600 ISO 400 

Score 5 1/2

10 Point Bird Photo Scoring Checklist	Point	Comment
Is there adequate detail.  Noise? Focus? Is the body sharp?	1
Is the exposure good? Has motion been arrested?  Are the wings sharp	1
Does lighting enhance the image?	1/2
Is the bird in an interesting pose? Are the wings spread?
Did I make good use of the frame? Is the frame free of distractions?	1
Does color enhance the image?
Does the background contribute to the image?  Color?  Depth?
Is this bird a good subject?  Young and beautiful?  Ugly, ragged and missing feathers?  In mating plumage - sexy?	1/2
Does the bird look alive and engaged?  Eye sharp? Catchlight?	1
Is the bird doing something interesting?  Is it interacting with a mate, offspring, friends, enemies or the environment?	1/2	eating

The image below illustrates how much I need to improve.  Improved lighting doesn't improve a photos that is out of focus.  The 400mm lens has virtually no depth of focus at f4.   I had a lot of bird activity around the feeder today.  I pre-focused on a specific plane and attempted to push the shutter when a bird passed through.  If this picture were sharp, it would easily outscore the image above. 

 House Sparrow  400mm lens at f4  1/1600 ISO 400 

Score 2 1/2

10 Point Bird Photo Scoring Checklist	Point	Comment
Is there adequate detail.  Noise? Focus? Is the body sharp?
Is the exposure good? Has motion been arrested?  Are the wings sharp	1/2	Exposure is good - Some motion arrested
Does lighting enhance the image?
Is the bird in an interesting pose? Are the wings spread?	1
Did I make good use of the frame? Is the frame free of distractions?		Part of bird is cut off
Does color enhance the image?
Does the background contribute to the image?  Color?  Depth?
Is this bird a good subject?  Young and beautiful?  Ugly, ragged and missing feathers?  In mating plumage - sexy?
Does the bird look alive and engaged?  Eye sharp? Catchlight?
Is the bird doing something interesting?  Is it interacting with a mate, offspring, friends, enemies or the environment?	1	In Flight

I didn't need a scoring checklist for this image.  It's out of focus and should be discarded.  My viewers don't care that I was trying real hard or that the bird didn't cooperate.   

How can I improve my focus?

1.  I could stop down the lens.  My depth of focus would improve.  I would have increased noise

2.  I could use a lens with a shorter focal length.  This would increase the zone that is in focus around  the feeder.  I could crop out the empty area in Lightroom.

3.  I could trigger the camera when the bird is in the correct area.  I tried this - the birds are too fast and my reactions are too slow.  Perhaps an electronic sensor could trigger the camera automatically.

4. I could train the birds to fly in the correct area.  The feeder has many perches.  I could get a feeder with a single perch. 

5.  I could purchase birds that are stuffed and pre-posed in a pleasing manner.  I could hang them up with fishing line and achieve perfect focus.  The fishing line could be photoshopped out.

I should point out that my goal is to improve my Bird in Flight photography.  As bad as my resulting image was today, it did provide practice with supplemental lighting.  When I have a prize-winning bird in flight photo, I'm sure that it will have excellent focus and superb lighting in addition to interesting behavior and pose.   When I succeed, I'll hear the highest praise - "You must have a really good camera."