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Sand Martin
Mark Etheridge

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)

Trying a new BIF technique - lens on manual focus, pre-focussed on a nearby reed and try to guess when a bird whizzing past might be at the focus point. Lens at about 200mm zoom, unable to use the viewfinder so just aim in the vague direction and hope for the best. My success rate turned out to be about 1 in 250 shots!
Couldn't have done it with a film camera...
Click to expand...
Habitat
Shallow pond
Location
Clot de Galvany, Alicante, Spain
Date taken
21/04/2017
Scientific name
Riparia riparia
Equipment used
Nikon D500 and Sigma 150-600 Sport
KC Foggin
Supporter
Beautiful wing detail and the perfect aerial image of this Martin and it certainly seems to have its eye on you ;)
 
jbpixels
Great preset focus capture. Top quality picture.
Ever thought about using manual focus?
 
delia todd
Staff member
Opus Editor
Supporter
WOW Mark!!! That's a cracking picture to get.

You must have great reactions though, it didn't work for me when I tried it LOL

Very well done lad.
 
Mark Etheridge
I couldn't possibly have succeeded with manual focus, as it is impossible to sight the bird through the viewfinder, let alone focus on it. The D500/Sigma combo is too heavy for anything other than "shooting from the hip" under these circumstances. You just aim and guess!

The whole area was teeming with a variety of hirundines and swifts, maybe I'll have another go to get one of the Red-rumped Swallows which are prolific this year.
 

Media information

Category
Britain & Europe
Added by
Mark Etheridge
Date added
View count
242
Comment count
7

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