Birds head-on
Q I’ve found that it’s harder to get sharp shots of birds flying towards me than it is birds flying across my position. Why is this? Reece Henry
A There are several reasons why this is the case, Reece. For starters, a bird flying directly towards you makes a smaller target than one lengthway moving across the frame, so getting an active autofocus point locked on is going to be trickier.
Second, the actual movement of a bird coming directly towards the lens is harder for those AF points to detect, meaning you can easily miss focus. As long as you are shooting with continuous focus (AI Servo/ AF-C) and able to keep your group of AF points on the bird itself, then keep trying and with practice your success rate will improve. You also need to make sure the drive mode allows multiple frames to be fired as long as you keep pressing the shutter button and your shutter speed needs to be high. I’d recommend for a fast-moving bird you want to be at least 1/1,000 sec – but preferably faster!
One of the things I’ve noticed that some photographers do when bird flight is erratic is to try chasing the subject: this results in them continually missing the target with the AF points. It takes discipline, but you need to be smooth, steady and patient.
I like to handhold when shooting birds in flight, but a tripod with a gimbal that allows smooth movement of the lens to track the bird is also helpful to anyone who doesn’t like to hold a heavy lens for too long.