Photographing a bird in flight requires much more than fast autofocus. You need to find the subject quickly in the viewfinder, follow its movement, select an appropriate shutter speed, and pay close attention to light, background and composition.

When we see a lion, elephant, leopard or colourful bird, our first instinct is simple:

Photograph it.



We focus on the animal, on the eyes, on sharpness and exposure.

But later, when we review the image, we sometimes realise that something is missing.



Very often, the problem is not the animal.

It is everything around it.

I have come back from more than one safari convinced that I had captured a strong image, only to discover later that it was not as sharp as it had looked on the camera screen.

It is frustrating.

The moment was there. The light was good. The animal was beautiful. But when I opened the file on a larger screen, the image looked soft.