Critical Tips For Bird-In Flight Photos

Wildlife, nature, and bird photographer Steve Perry (from backcountrygallery) recently published this video looking at important tips for achieving great birds-in-flight shots focusing on shutter speed.

right shutter speed for Bird-In Flight Photos?

First we need to ask the question – is there a “right” shutter speed for shooting birds in flight? The answer is that there could be wrong shutter speeds for any given situation but the right one depends not just on the bird but also on what type of image you are trying to capture.

Let’s break this down. We shall start with some basic concepts. The shutter speed that you should consider using depends on a multitude of factors. The smaller the bird the more likely you will need to use a faster shutter speed. The faster the bird flies the faster you might need to set your shutter speed. This also applies to erratic flight patterns (and also depends on how good you are at tracking the bird through the frame).

The following is a table from Perry’s video looking at different-sized birds moving at different speeds and their suggested corresponding shutter speeds

If you need a default shutter speed and you have enough available light – Perry suggests going for 1/3200 as it fits different types of bird and flight patterns (but you might end up pushing your ISO pretty high if the light is not optical).

Perry’s logic is always – it’s better to have a sharp image with noise than a less noisy image that isn’t sharp as you can reduce noise in post but it’s much harder (if not downright impossible with current technology) to fix an image that isn’t sharp.

This is far from Perry’s first look at BIF and shutter speeds. In the past, we published here an article covering his video on “Tips for Slow Shutter Speed Wildlife Panning Shots” as well as more general videos about shooting birds such as “Bird In Flight Photography – What You Need to Know” and “8 Secrets For Sharper Bird, Animal Images“.

In this video wildlife and nature photographer Steve Perry (from backcountrygallery) takes a look at different techniques and methods that will improve your wildlife panning shots.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.