Photographing fast-flying small birds with a telephoto lens from a small boat is indeed a challenge. It requires patience, persistence, and the knowledge that a lot of pictures get thrown away due primarily to lack of critical sharpness. I photographed this collared kingfisher today with a 100-400mm Canon lens set to 400mm, and my settings were 1/2000, f/5.6, and 800 ISO. My Canon 1Dx Mark II has a frame rate of 14 fps. I had slowed the shutter down from my normal 1/3200 for birds in flight because I was shooting another bird perched on a branch. Notice the tips of the wings are not tack sharp. That’s why I usually use a faster shutter. The overcast light was perfect. I like this time of year in the Pantanal largely because of ideal light. During high season, which is in the summer, there are few clouds in the sky and the light is too harsh.
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