Birds in flight… I stink at photographing them. There, I’ve made a public proclamation. I’ve made this statement to friends when we have been out shooting. I’ve said that I need to practice I just never made the effort until recently. Yesterday I shot 400 frames of flying birds. About 200 frames were deleted in the field and another 150 frames while viewing the days results on the computer. 

The photo’s in this post are ok but I want spectacular. Now since I have shared my dirty little secret with the inter-web I will be compelled to put effort into nailing this part of wildlife photography, where I can come home at the end of a shoot and be wowed by my own stuff having captured sharp eyes, good exposures and fine details in well composed frames.

I have decent equipment, Nikon bodies with good sensors and Nikon glass, no kit lenses. My Manfratto CF tripod is ok but the ball head just doesn’t feel right when I’m using the 80-400. Panning drags and is jerky and no matter how tight I lock the head it drops so I’m fighting the equipment rather than flowing with the process. A gimble head will rectify those issues. I’ve researched and I know what I want it’s just the investment that has held me back. Which is silly because I am weary of being frustrated and fatigued from fighting with equipment that just isn’t designed to get the job done. Don’t get me wrong that ball head head is fine for smaller lighter lenses that I use for landscape and macro work it’s just the wrong tool for the job I’m trying to do.

Will a Wimberley Gimbal tripod head solve all my issues with bif’s? No, but surely it will assist me in achieving my personal goal of shooting spectacular bifs, then I can focus on other aspects of bird photography like my timing and camera settings.

Thanks for listening now GO TAKE MORE PHOTO’S!!

Do You See What I See…

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