Small birds in flight. (1 Viewer)

With only a limited number of birds in the garden for me to photograph, I have to find ways of challenging myself to produce different types of images. At the moment I am working on flight shots of small birds. I find this branch of bird photography to be the most difficult.
I have tried anticipating when a bird takes flight and pressing the shutter button at the right moment, but my reaction time, when added to shutter lag, means I miss practically every time.
I have now invested in a passive infrared sensor that is connected to the camera shutter. It is still extremely challenging to work out all the technicalities, but it promises well for the future.
Today was the first day I have actually used it in the garden, after spending some time photographing my hand and various other objects.
I only achieved three photos today, but I am pleased with them, especially this one:-

 

[StephenL]

Hi Denny, smashing photo and you have every right to be pleased with it.

Stephen

 

[Denny Woodthorpe]

Hi Denny, smashing photo and you have every right to be pleased with it.

Stephen

Thank you.

 

[omaksimenko]

Denny, this photo looks amazing! Did you use a Camtraptions device? BTW there’sa few cameras currently on the market that have a “pre-shooting buffer”. It allows you to capture frames before you actually press the shutter button. It still requires some luck, because even if you capture everything - the AF system may not be able to catch a taking off bird.

 

[Denny Woodthorpe]

Denny, this photo looks amazing! Did you use a Camtraptions device? BTW there’sa few cameras currently on the market that have a “pre-shooting buffer”. It allows you to capture frames before you actually press the shutter button. It still requires some luck, because even if you capture everything - the AF system may not be able to catch a taking off bird.

Hi, I was using a Versatrigger PIR sensor. As I was using flash, I didn’t think that a “pre-shooting buffer” would not work