01 June 2022

Birds in Flight in Variable Light Woodbridge Island

Birds in Flight in Mostly Poor Light Woodbridge Island

African darter landing in the Diep River Woodbridge Island
African Darter landing in the Diep River (Auto-ISO 400) 

Birds in Flight in Inclement Weather Conditions
Windy and slightly overcast conditions greeted me along the Diep River., Woodbridge Island this morning.

The conditions became progressively worse, but decided to stay put and see what I can get out of the morning. I ended up with about 500 images (at 10 fps) over a two hour period.

Birds in flight (from the top)
  • African darter
  • Speckled pigeon
  • Rock pigeon
  • Grey heron
  • Yellow-billed duck
  • Black-winged stilt
  • African ibis

Lightroom Post-Processing

All images processed in Adobe Lightroom 8. Converted from RAW to JPG. Lens profile correction. Minor colour correction. Sharpness and noise reduction applied. Due to the low light / higher ISO images I spent more time with post-processing that I would in good light.

Using Auto-ISO for Fast Birds in Flight Photography >>

Auto-ISO Range
Today's light was the low light conditions up to ISO 1250 light versus the more acceptable and maximum Auto-ISO  800 / 640 conditions. All images here are between the Auto-ISO 250-1250 range. Individual ISO's listed underneath each individual image.

I encourage all my birds in flight photography students to try out the Auto-ISO option and most of them keep on using the settings in good or poor light conditions. I have personally used Auto-ISO predominantly in all my birds in flight photography conditions with all my cameras for the past six years.

Setup and Tips For Birds in Flight Photography View

Cape Town Location
Milnerton Lagoon Woodbridge Island, Cape Town. Over the Diep River flowing past the Milnerton Golf Course

Equipment (Birds In Flight / Action Photography)
  • Canon EOS 7D Mark II DSLR camera body
  • Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L USM Lens
  • SanDisk Extreme 64GB 120MB/s CF Card

Manual Mode Settings
  • Shutter speed: 1/4000s
  • Aperture: f/5.6
  • Focal length 400mm
  • Auto-ISO (ISO 250 - 1250)
  • Continuous shooting mode (10 fps) / AI Servo
  • AI Servo / AF Mode Option (Large / Wide Zone AF / Case 1)
  • Lens AF On / No IS / Handheld

(Click to enlarge)

Speckled pigeon in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island
Speckled pigeon in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island (Auto-ISO 250)

Rock pigeon in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island
Rock pigeon in flight over the Diep River, Woodbridge Island (Auto-ISO 500)

Low flying grey heron Woodbridge Island
Low flying grey heron Woodbridge Island (Auto-ISO 640)

Yellow-billed duck in flight at Woodbridge Island, Cape Town
Yellow-billed duck in flight at Woodbridge Island (Aut0-ISO 1250)

Black-winged stilt in flight over the Diep River,  Woodbridge Island
Black-winged stilt in flight over the Diep River,  Woodbridge Island (Auto-ISO 400)

African ibis in flight over the Diep River,  Woodbridge Island
African ibis in flight over the Diep River,  Woodbridge Island (Auto-ISO 400)

Canon EOS 7D Mark II Birds in Flight Photography Gallery View

Birds in Flight Photography Training Cape Town View

Birds in Flight Photography Training Gift Vouchers View

Vernon Chalmers Photography Popular Posts