In flight capture

I photographed this sulfur-crested cockatoo on one of my trips to Indonesia. My camera wasn’t set up for birds in flight because I was shooting landscapes. I was taken by surprise, and I quickly grabbed the shot without changing any settings. I didn’t have the luxury of time. My shutter speed was relatively slow at 1/250, and this is way too slow to freeze flying birds. The only reason I think the cockatoo is sharp is because it was breaking its forward momentum with its wings and tail feathers flared to land on a branch. I took this with the Canon 100-500mm zoom, and my other settings were f/8 and 3200 ISO.

6 Comments

Jun 19, 2025, 8:17:46 AM

Jim - Thanks very much, Gabrielle. Great to hear from you.

Jun 19, 2025, 3:05:50 AM

GABRIELLE WEISE - Beautiful picture!

Jun 18, 2025, 7:44:46 PM

Jim - Thank you very much, Joanne.

Jun 18, 2025, 7:31:50 PM

Joanne - That is a really nice shot! Congrats!

Jun 18, 2025, 4:35:05 PM

Jim - Doug, Make sure you are shooting at your fastest frame rate. My current camera is 20 fps. Some cameras are now 30 fps. That allows you to capture every nuance of the fight,

Jun 18, 2025, 1:05:53 PM

Douglas Benson - This is fantastic! The feather detail and overall sharpness only serves to make me realize that I need considerably more practice with my example of this lens.

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In flight capture

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