Getting the shot is not always easy in low light (sun was setting) and fast action.  Setting the camera on continuous focus is a must. First of all, it is nearly impossible to manually focus on a fast moving object like a bird in flight. You must pan the camera with the flight pattern of the bird. To add to the complication is the fact the the camera is zoomed out to 200mm. I shot these at 160 second at f/5.6.  This was fast enough to stop the action to an extent with enough depth of field to keep most of the large birds in focus.

Technorati Tags: low light, lighting, action, photo, photography, depth of field, sunset, wildlife, birds

Getting mobile with heavy studio lighting gear is no easy task. Studio strobes, heavy duty light stands, along with cords and other related equipment can be an unwieldy amount of gear to take on location.

However, going the “strobist” route, all of your lighting gear can fit into a single bag. You are mobile with your lighting.

The Strobist setup is the way to go. Here is what you’ll need for a one light setup:

• Hot shoe flash
• Lightweight light stand
• Umbrella swivel
• White umbrella
• Miniphone to miniphone cord
• Hot shoe universal translator
• 2- Pocket Wizard II transceivers (optional if you go “wired” and use a long miniphone to miniphone cord - your flash will have to have a female jack on it)

Here is a two light setup:

Here is the sort of photo you can get from this setup:

In addition to the strobist setup, you can obviously use the hot shoe flash with an off camera bracket for other lighting situations. The two light setup only take minutes to setup and minutes to take down. It all fits in a baseball bat, or large tripod  bag.  For more details on strobist lighting, check out the Strobist Blog.

You can purchase the whole kit and caboodle at Midwest Photo Exchange  if you are starting from scratch.

Technorati Tags: strobist, studio lighting, lighting, lights, photography, photos, location, portable