- Occasionally I post an older image that most current blog followers have never seen. This one was published on March 2, 2013. The text is new and I’ve reprocessed the photo.
Most bird photographers who try to photograph swallows in flight give up in frustration and I tried for several years before doing exactly that. They’re just too darned fast and erratic in the air. But in the spring and early summer we have so many of them around here and they always seemed to be taunting me as they flew by, often very close, as if to say “na na na na na na – can’t get me in flight, can you.”
That wore on me so eventually I took up the challenge again but this time I tried to analyze what I was doing wrong and come up with a more effective strategy. In the past my two main problems were keeping them in frame long enough to lock focus on them and getting light on their undersides. My new plan had two components that I hoped would (at least partially) address those issues:
- Photographing them soon after sunrise. With the sun very low in the sky it should be much easier to get light on their ventral surfaces in flight.
- Shooting them as they hovered near the nests they were building. As they hovered, mostly in place, it should be a little easier to keep them in frame long enough to lock focus and take a shot or two.
As always my primary concern was to avoid disturbing them near their nests so I chose birds nesting next to a parking lot where they were acclimated to vehicles and people and I shot from inside my pickup. The swallows carried on as if I wasn’t there and to a very satisfactory degree my strategy for getting better photos worked.
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
I was able to get several keepers of Cliff Swallows in flight and this one was my favorite of the bunch. I like the light on the underside, wing position, catch light in the eye, head turn with open beak, the toes peeking out from the lower belly feathers and the nest-building mud on the bill. The head, body and tail are sharp and there’s even reasonably good light on that dark, photon-sucking face.
It felt so very good to lay out a plan, follow it precisely, and have it actually work in a difficult situation. I’m not saying it was easy, it wasn’t – but it was now within the realm of reasonable possibility. I took about 600 shots that morning to get 3 or 4 that I thought were good enough to keep but they were my first decent swallow flight shots after several years of trying.
The feeling of accomplishment was satisfying back then and it still is today. But I sure used to waste a lot of time, effort and pixels flailing at the wind before I changed strategies…
Ron
Note: I strongly encourage any readers who may try this strategy with nest-building swallows to:
- Use long focal lengths so you don’t have to be close to the birds and the nests.
- Shoot from your vehicle if possible (birds tend to be more fearful of people on foot than they are of vehicles).
- Watch carefully for any change in behavior indicating that your presence is disturbing the birds. If it is, move further away or leave the area altogether.
I went back through my old emails and did indeed find the original of this post. I’d forgotten all about it, so it is nice to see one of the photos again. I watch Barn Swallows, Cliff Swallows and Swifts flying around after insects all the time when I’m out at the park, and it has never occurred to me to try to aim my camera at them – I know there’s no hope of capturing anything but the empty sky… I’m glad you were able to find a way to photograph them.
Susan, I know what you mean about “capturing empty sky” when trying to photograph swallows in flight. It comes with the territory!
I envy you your swifts. I never see them around here.
Beautiful photograph! Thanks so much for the tips!
Thank you, Joanne.
Great shot! I’m 2 years into photographing birds. The learning curve is STEEP! What do you mean by “lock focus”? Thanks for your always informative blog. I look forward to it daily. 🙂
……Jacquie
Jacqie, it’s just a phrase photographers use to describe acquiring focus on the subject and keeping it for long enough to get off a shot or two. Thank you.
And yet again your determination/stubborness paid dividends. For you, and for us.
Thank you.
I guess there are advantages to being stubborn, EC. Thanks.
Quintessential flight photo! It shows what the eye just isn’t fast enough to see. Human eye, of course. Birds’ eyes are something else.
Years ago, I visited a quarry where cliff swallows were nesting, and watched two fledgling peregrines diving at the circling swallows. Over and over they’d stoop – and miss. But they didn’t give up. Great practice, I guess. I didn’t even pick up my camera. Way out of my league. Two years ago, at Pt Reyes National Seashore, I watched another two peregrine youngsters doing the same thing. Not as dramatic, because the cliffs at Pt Reyes aren’t as narrow as the sides of the quarry, so the dives and pop-ups were not as thrilling. But thrilling enough.
Both of those experiences would have been highly memorable. I’m jealous, Sallie (although I did have the distinct honor of watching a Peregrine diving on a plastic owl for 10 minutes).
Beautiful — and well-earned — shot! They are speedy little dickens! When I was younger, we’d go down to San Juan Capistrano to see the swallows at the mission.
Hope you get to test your equipment fix soon!
Marty, I visited Capistrano once when I was a kid. Can’t remember if we saw any swallows.
What makes them so fast? Is it the pointy wings? Is it just their relative small size that makes them seem really fast?
Brad, their need to capture insect prey in flight was the “motivating factor” for that selection pressure. Their resulting pointy wings and small size help in both the needed speed and maneuverability.
My strategy includes go early in the morning for the light. I then settle in a spot next to the water that the barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) frequent for the first food of the day, and I find the zone that has the most use. Now comes the problem. Low light, ISO way up, best I got this morning is 1/1600th second at 300 mm – still not fast enough for these birds. Still, I like the zone strategy because the birds don’t have nearby nests.
Whatever works.
SS can be a problem that early in the morning, that’s for sure. A fast lens really helps.
I just adore watching these acrobatic flyers. T
Yup, me too.
Boy are they’fast, it’s like a tennis match❗️ So that’s what they look like. We have so many around the lake. As I was watching them building their nest along the bluffs to my surprise I saw 2 beautiful yellow little eyes looking back at me. There were 3 great horned baby owls nesting in a hole.😍 Much easier watching them.
Have a good day
Nesting owls and swallows from the same vantage point! Boy, you must be living right, Diana… 🙂
Hi Ron, I don’t think I have ever seen a swallow shot this good. I get it, re the frustration and the Na, Na, Ne, Na Na! Great thinking and now you can say Na, Na, Ne, Na Na. I bet that swallow was saying, “shoot, he got me”.
“I bet that swallow was saying, “shoot, he got me”.”
Ha, I hope you’re right, Frank. A little justifiable revenge can be a good thing… 🙂
“flailing at the wind ” Yep that’s me!
Beautiful capture, posture, light and eye contact. Wow.
That was me for WAY too long, April. I was disappointed in myself that it took me so long to come up with a more effective strategy.
Thanks for sharing your tips on taking in-flight photos of these very difficult birds. I have taken many photos here of the Barn, Violet-green, and Northern Rough-winged, but always resting on trees. Outstanding photo.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Everett, Around here I don’t see them in trees very often – most often they’re on wires or signs or sometimes phragmites.
Great tips, Ron! Sometimes you can find a place where they are concentrated around a mud hole gathering mud for their nests. I imagine you could use your strategy there as well. Wonderful shot!
David, I actually photographed Barn Swallows gathering mud at a puddle a few days ago. I’ll probably post some of those images soon.
BEAUTIFUL! 🙂 🙂 🙂 The swallows are near impossible to capture for sure – glad you were able to analyze the situation and find a solution of sorts! At least around here the birds are acclimated to traffic on the road. MIGHT get away with stopping but that’s as far as it goes for the most part even with eagles/hawks/magpies feeding on road kill…… Did cleaning the contacts “work”?
Thanks, Judy. I don’t know yet if cleaning my contacts solved the problem. There’s been too many clouds to go out shooting and get any decent images. And the problem is intermittent so a quick “test run” in the back yard likely wouldn’t give me an answer.
Great tips!! I have tried and encountered the same problems you mentioned…and eventually moved onto something easier. Will give this a try sometime this summer. Thanks Ron 🙂
Good luck, Zaph. Luck will always be a component even when using this strategy. But it sure narrows the odds!
Like that photo! 600 photos…thank goodness for digital! 🙂 Coming back from out west a few years past, I stopped at a rest stop along the way and spotted a few nests…the swallows were busy feeding their young and seemed oblivious to people coming and going. I sat quite some distance away, zoomed in and shot a few hundred photos. I tend to sit in my car most of the time and wait. I always wonder the logic of birds—creeping car…not much of a problem; person out of car…fly away no matter how far away you are. Hmmm, logic of birds…wonder it there is such a thing? 🙂
I can tell that you “get it” from actual experience, Kathy. The difference between the fearfulness birds exhibit toward vehicles as compared to people on foot is nearly always dramatic. Crack your door and they’re gone! That’s why I prefer shooting from my “mobile blind”.
I try to tell people this strategy and they look at me with that all knowing look and say “You don’t experience nature sitting in your car and you can’t get eye level shots of birds on the ground” I usually say welcome to Utah, enjoy your butt shots.
Exactly, April. And how many photo ops (and “nature experiences”) did they miss because they scared off the birds while on foot? Besides the fact that they’re flushing birds which wastes their energy, especially during breeding season when energy resources are even more critical.
To say that you can’t enjoy nature while sitting in your car is preposterous anyway…
Great pointers Ron, thank you.
Thanks, Rich.