It's really not all that tough. Like anything, you just have to go out and practice every now and then. My buddy was standing next to me using a 7DII with a Tamron 150-600 II, and he has pretty much the same photo. The real secret, go to where you have a better than even money money chance for the shot. In this area, there is one Hoodie. We know he shows up every day, we know he goes to the far side on the open water, and we know how he fishes. Flying with the fish, that was a little twist on the norm, but we were both ready. In some ways the swans are tougher. Their wide wing span adds the fact that while shooting, you have to zoom out to try to not clip the wings, same when they do their wing stretch. I have a lot of shot with clipped wings. davev
I agree with Traveller. Birds in Flight (BIF) are among the most difficult to shoot. In addition to the technical shooting skill, it requires a knowledge of where to be and when, and then a lot of patience for a subject like this to show up.
This is one of your absolute best...imo...everybody can shoot a swan, maybe not as well as you...but we all can do it...this image is however different....I am not sure anyone but you could make this capture.
