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Message: <blockquote data-quote="karlmac" data-source="post: 1486876" data-attributes="member: 76507">Not sure whether I should have started a new thread for this message as it is slightly off the topic being spoken about but I guess in time I will get a better feel for how this group works.In any case it is still relevent to the original thread title of needing help.I walk my dogs at the same time evey evening and almost always get a sighting of a lovely buzzard  either flying or on one of his favourite perches. I have seen him so many times I feel I know him. I have taken my camera with me several times but of course when I do he is never about. Well tonight he was and luckily as a last minute decission I decided to take my camera.Now my plea is. How do I get good images of birds in flight. Are you ready to laugh as this is how I handled it.When I realised he was there and I had my camera I immediately went into panic mode.I stopped the car and pointed the camera out of the window without checking any of the settings. I realised I couldn't get a shot so got out of the car and tried again. He then started to get mobbed by an irate crow which sent me into a spin. "I've gotta shoot this" I actually said out loud. Any way the auto focus hunted in and out and in and out again. Realising I was getting nowhere I tried to calm down and think it through. By this time the crow had gone and the buzzard had climbed a fair bit higher.No matter I can still do this. I manually focussed to get the bird in view and then managed to fire off a dozen or so shots before he climed too high and begun to circle directly above me. I have no doubt he was mocking me. It was only now I decided to check my camera settings. They were ( thanks to dan) Exp Comp +2. 1/1000th  f6.3 at iso 500. focus A1 Servo. But I guess it didn't matter because had I thought about it I wouldn't have known what to do. I know every situation is different but what is a good starting point for shooting circling birds directly above in a well lit clear blue sky? Do you guys shoot manual focus? If not is A1 servo best? Is a fast shutter speed important at 500mm non IS hand held but braced on a support or is it better to increase the f number?thanks for being patient to my ramblings . Advice appreciated. Here is a link to what I actually came up with.  <a href="http://www.pbase.com/kingsacre/image/112805020" target="_blank">http://www.pbase.com/kingsacre/image/112805020</a>  +2Not great but I'm going to keep them purely because they are my first bird in flight shots</blockquote>

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