Birding Proficiency Surprise
I am not a birder, as stated before, but like a lot of photographers with a big lens at hand, birding calls as the occasion arises.
On a recent school camp, I had a lot of time on the beach waiting for things to happen out on the water, so birds became my distraction. I did not set any special settings (I have a 1x4 and 5x1 config set in the EM1x, but this was the EM1 mk 2), just pointed and shot.
I started off well enough. This shot was the best framed of several in a sequence.
My first subjects were seagulls floating on the fairly strong breeze, so not too hard.
These guys were a different story, very fast and low, making the background messy enough to increase the likelihood of back focus misses, but on the whole I had few problems.
I had plenty of time to practice as the kids paddled against a strong current to a small island off shore and back again. I was pretty happy with the results and with a little confidence and luck I started to assume rather than hope.
This is slightly cropped, but only slightly and this one was going with the breeze. The 300 f4 and (any) EM1 have surprised again. Hand holding a 600mm equivalent for long periods is unrealistic with a full frame rig, but I managed this for over an hour comfortably.
One thing I really enjoy with my current job is the variety it offers and there is no doubt I am more confident trying almost any type of imaging. My day may comprise of a quick student portrait, then a group, maybe studio ID shot, class sit in, sport (any type), promo image for an event and then a ball that evening (and has). This requires not only a lot of gear and familiarity with it, but the ability to don a different creative hat and wear it confidently.
Success at a little impromptu birding is a happy side effect of becoming a generally more capable photographer who is growing into various roles.