Swooping Gannet at Bempton.

[Guest]

Last Friday was my first trip to Bempton Cliffs,and my first time getting shots of Gannets in flight.All on burst mode and using AI Servo with a block of nine focus points active.

That set-up proved to be very hit and miss,mostly miss.I got a few usable shots,this is one of them.I will be going again next year,hopefully more hits than misses next time!

Thanks to TonyT for the lift and the loan of the lens.
IMG_0419 by Roy Widdowson, on Flickr

[antoeknee]

With a relatively clear background using all the AF points is often better. You could tweak AF settings to make sure it holds focus.

[Guest]

Thanks,problem was in most of the shots there were other birds close by and the focus points tended to lock on them instead of the'target'bird,or miss completely so none were in focus,which made me think of using just 4 point expansion next time to avoid that.

I've never really got on with AI Servo,but thought I'd give it a try.Yorkshire Wildlife Park tomorrow with Tony,so no Servo needed,just One Shot.

[Bill53]

Well captured Roy and more nice Gannet shots on your flickr stream.

Bill.

[Guest]

Thanks Bill.

[TonyT]

With a relatively clear background using all the AF points is often better. You could tweak AF settings to make sure it holds focus.

It was picking up wave clutter then

[Guest]

It was picking up wave clutter then

Yes,so next time I'll go for a more concentrated AF point pattern,ie 4 point expansion and One Shot instead of AI servo.That way I can get the bird and not waves.

[antoeknee]

It was picking up wave clutter then

A bit surprising have used for lots of birds in flight, such as
Sandwich Tern by tblake2007, on Flickr

[Brian Sugden]

Yes,so next time I'll go for a more concentrated AF point pattern,ie 4 point expansion and One Shot instead of AI servo.That way I can get the bird and not waves.

As Ant says, unlikely to be the waves. There are several ways to use the AF points. Some light them all ('Ring of Fire), others use 5 or 9 points. I use 9 with expansion. I also tend to keep them in the centre and try to leave enough room around the subject for cropping to improve composition. I would advise against one shot as this is for static subjects. AI servo is for moving subjects.

You also said you borrowed the lens. From your Flickr account it was a 100-400mm mark I zoom lens. Did you micro-adjust it as this may also affect focusing? It can focus in front or behind the focus point resulting in a soft image.

Another trick is to set f8 or f11 and as long as the bird is flying parallel, as in the tern above hold focus along the birds head or neck. This should then ensure the eye is sharp.

Finally there's no substitute for practice. The great thing with digital is it costs nothing but time.