Rainbow Bee-eaters (moslty in flight)

Thanks Ednaz

If film was the only option I reckon id'e go through a few rolls too. Expensive lol.  Lucky for me I didn't get into BIF with film lol but might of thought I was a fool for trying to capture them with 210mm reach in flight.
being foolish can pay off

Ednaz wrote:

Bee eaters are insanely unique birds. Spent almost a week back in 1999 (film days) shooting in a national park in Sri Lanka to get four or five shots of them that I loved and that I could sell. Probably 20 rolls of 36 exposures film. Maybe more, I should look at my journal, but I remember going to bed every night thinking that I was the definition of a fool for trying to catch great shots of these speedy birds.

Nice work. You should be hugely proud.

Thank you agogo

I stood still or used structure like tree trunks to try conceal myself a little.
I actually don't think I got close enough. The photo's are 100% crops and no downsizing has being applied. I think at 300mm or 420mm they would show more detail.
The 40-150 pro + TC is brilliantly sharp for a zoom and its reach which helps but a sharp 300mm or more would do a better job for sure.

agogo wrote:

But tell me, how did you get that close to them?

I've tried but only managed to get images that need a fair bit of cropping.

I love the unusual shape of their wings and tails.

Well done!

Vass, you obviously have great anticipation and technique as these little creatures are not easy to capture in flight.  I've spent the past 3 months visiting various locations and having the same gear as you need to get comparatively close to get a decent shot, 4-5m.  But you can never really tell when they're going to fly off so concentration is vital.

Keep posting those pics!

Bee luvvy?

Ta luvvy

Thanks. They sure do love insects and the male loves to keep the female happy with giving her insects. I've only tried shooting the bee-eaters 4 times in the arfternoon or late afternoon so far but i'll hopefully get a whole day starting in the morning to capture them. Hopefully I get a good set with the insects or one with insect in flight or even better one capturing an insect. Of all the sessions iv'e made to capture them something has been wrong in terms of lighting, camera setting, shade, leaves in the way etc when they had insects. Here is one where he passed the dragonfly over from a full set of shots from the male just landing to the female eating the dragonfly. Unfortunately I had to play with it in PS a lot to make it atleast decent and for some reason I had auto iso on (bad idea most the time). I think i'll just shoot again as not all the set was fixable enough and then still not the best.

nice position but the grey clouds and rain spoiled the entire set

MarkDavo wrote:

Vass, you obviously have great anticipation and technique as these little creatures are not easy to capture in flight. I've spent the past 3 months visiting various locations and having the same gear as you need to get comparatively close to get a decent shot, 4-5m. But you can never really tell when they're going to fly off so concentration is vital.

Keep posting those pics!

Wow, really well done!  Those birds are super quick!  I love the little guy on photo #4.

Incredible shots!!  As if the poor struggling bees did not have enough to worry about, neonicotinotoids, bee mites....and now these efficient predators!!  Thx for posting.

Thanks

That's the gal

OrdinarilyInordinate wrote:

Wow, really well done! Those birds are super quick! I love the little guy on photo #4.

Thanks for all the kind comments to all the rest of you

vass wrote:

Thanks

That's the gal

OrdinarilyInordinate wrote:

Wow, really well done! Those birds are super quick! I love the little guy on photo #4.

Ooops...  We don't have to tell her...