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Discussion
Cheers guys.
OK, small confession, it's not a wild owl, chances of seeing one flying in broad daylight in the wild are v v small.
I went on a day organised by these chaps [http]www.wildarena.com[/http] and had a whole day photographing various birds of prey. Another PH'er (srider) has done the same day a couple of years ago.
I'd really recommend it as I thought it was very well organised and the level of access was great. We had our own falconer for the entire day and saw a lot of different species. OK it's not "real" in that you don't have to
a) find where your owl lives
b) wait patiently until it flies near you
c) pray it's close enough to actually photograph
d) curse no AF as the light is too low etc etc
So a small cheat from me but it really can improve your technique for when you do see a wild one
Late on in the afternoon we had the chance to photograph several species flying with the falconer standing very close to us and the birds flying from their perch to him and then back. Just a few flights with each bird as they were getting quite hot. Most folks decided to try for a head on shot but I was not having a lot of luck with that so went to try and get a more panning type effort and get a 3/4 ish side on view.
My technique was to watch the owl drop off his perch and then pan with him as he was flying along and take a few images during the late stage of the flight as he's using less effort and starting to glide before braking hard to land on the falconers' wrist.
Reading the metadata and camera info;
1. Nikon D2X on continuous AF, area selct rather than individual framing brackets
2. Motor drive on High
3. -2/3 stop exposure compensation (and I've still burnt out the front of his face)
4. 1/2500th sec shutter speed
5. f4
6. ISO 200
7. Focal length 200mm, I took a mix at 200mm and 300mm.
I'll start a seperate thread as I think I've got some other nice images from the day
Cheers
Chris
OK, small confession, it's not a wild owl, chances of seeing one flying in broad daylight in the wild are v v small.
I went on a day organised by these chaps [http]www.wildarena.com[/http] and had a whole day photographing various birds of prey. Another PH'er (srider) has done the same day a couple of years ago.
I'd really recommend it as I thought it was very well organised and the level of access was great. We had our own falconer for the entire day and saw a lot of different species. OK it's not "real" in that you don't have to
a) find where your owl lives
b) wait patiently until it flies near you
c) pray it's close enough to actually photograph
d) curse no AF as the light is too low etc etc
So a small cheat from me but it really can improve your technique for when you do see a wild one
Late on in the afternoon we had the chance to photograph several species flying with the falconer standing very close to us and the birds flying from their perch to him and then back. Just a few flights with each bird as they were getting quite hot. Most folks decided to try for a head on shot but I was not having a lot of luck with that so went to try and get a more panning type effort and get a 3/4 ish side on view.
My technique was to watch the owl drop off his perch and then pan with him as he was flying along and take a few images during the late stage of the flight as he's using less effort and starting to glide before braking hard to land on the falconers' wrist.
Reading the metadata and camera info;
1. Nikon D2X on continuous AF, area selct rather than individual framing brackets
2. Motor drive on High
3. -2/3 stop exposure compensation (and I've still burnt out the front of his face)
4. 1/2500th sec shutter speed
5. f4
6. ISO 200
7. Focal length 200mm, I took a mix at 200mm and 300mm.
I'll start a seperate thread as I think I've got some other nice images from the day
Cheers
Chris
NOTE to everyone, that the deadline will be wednesday 30th August at 12pm lunchtime - and NOT the 31st! 
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