I've been living in mid-Michigan for close to 25 years. And I'm now finding out that our county park system has areas of 'wilderness' where the wild critters live. And along with the critters are the Eagles. Less than 10 miles from the house, with some luck, I'll get to see something more exciting than a sea gull.
Today would also be a great day to experiment with different auto focus modes. I had visions of using all the modes that follow a target in flight, because I'd be watching Eagles in flight. Right?
The good news is I did use more than one AF mode. But what really happened was the AF caught all the branches around me. I really didn't have a clearing to work from. Again, I learned a lot. Sometimes less technology works better. Single point would have worked much better.
And as to photographing birds in flight, well I have a long way to go.
Although I had only a few good shots, being outdoors and seeing these birds in flight, it was a no lose deal.
This image will not win any prizes, but this is a personal success story. I can't judge distance, other than to say very far away. And it is a very aggressive crop. But this goes up as a spring is here tribute.
The settings:
(Note to self, change clock time. It was really 5:30 ish.)
I was using Manual Mode with Auto ISO. Just happened to work out to ISO 100. The focal length says 300, but combined with the D500, it is effectively 450 mm.
As is recorded, the AF was dynamic. And this is the target the camera hit.
Close. Again, it was really far away.
When I'm working to convince myself I either need/don't need a bigger lens, I think for airshows I have enough with 450 mm. But If I'm going take the bird/nature thing seriously 450 mm just isn't enough.
There's a lot of blue there. Won't be printing many of these, the ink balance would not be maintained.
But it is a magnificent creature on a great looking day.
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