My first time birding out in the 'wild'

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I gained a new perspective on just how difficult it is to shoot birds in flight today. I took my cameras down to the wetlands along the coast to see what I could catch on 'film'. I must admit I've had better luck shooting race cars up at Laguna Seca, but since this was my first go at it other than in my backyard, I'm pretty happy with what I got. I didn't stay too long as there's a storm coming in and I wasn't dressed for the occasion really.
To all of you who post those amazing shots of birds in flight that are crystal clear, my hats off to you. Good thing my 'film' can be replenished very cheaply as I can see this is going to take some practice.









Helpful comments always welcome of course.
Thanks for looking.

[NorthernFocus]

As the saying goes, there's a sucker born every minute. Welcome to the addicts group

Looks like you've got a nice spot to go shooting there. The first and last are nicely composed. Looks like they're a bit soft across the board. No EXIF posted so it's hard to comment. The first looks like low ss. For large birds like this I'd recommend never letting ss drop below 1/1000s. The third one looks like focus was off. The bird is a bit soft as is the water directly beneath it. But the water behind it looks sharp. Nice outing for a first whack at it.

[Ziggy]

I think you did great for the first time out. I think #2 is my pick, has the best detail.

The only thing I can offer is don't capture the bird in the center of the frame but give him some room in front to fly out of the frame.

[Nicks Pics]

Great turn-out for a first try. Have you read up on how to shoot BIF? I found this helpful http://www.worldbirds.co.uk/photogra...in_flight.aspx, But I haven't found many birds in flight to shoot.

Agree on comments above. Looks like you were close to that first bird, I like that one for that reason.

You could brighten up the last one in an editor of course, if you wanted to.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks for the encouraging comments guys.
These were taken with either my NEX 7 w/Nikkor 300mm f3.5 or my D7000 w/18-200mm. Needless to say I need a lot more practice. Maybe when it stops raining cats 'n dogs I'll get out to shoot some more. We had a month's worth of rain here overnite so things are a tad soggy right now as it's still raining. I'm not complaining, we need the rain, just not all at once.

[Shadowman]

Nice efforts.