Capturing the Mesmerizing Aerial Acrobatics of Tree Swallows on Camera

I spent several weeks photographing the nesting habits of tree swallows. These small, iridescent birds are known for their incredible aerial acrobatics and their unique nesting behavior. I'll explain how I use my Canon R5 to capture flight shots and then attempt to capture a more difficult angle.
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📷 Gear used in this video:
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[@darlagraff]

Great video, tips, and photography! 😊

[@matthewgehly]

Thanks so much! 😊

[@benoutside7593]

Thanks for the video. You got some nice photos and videos. Thanks for sharing your techniques and what worked and did not work.

[@matthewgehly]

Thanks for the kind feedback, Ben! 😁

[@jeffolson4731]

Great swallow pictures. I definitely need to try your method of setting up and waiting for them to fly into a nest. I have had very little luck catching them inflight. I don't really have any that I would share with anyone. I haven't had good enough light to have a shutter speed as fast as yours without having crazy high ISO, maxed out basically. I do have one photo of a barn swallow in flight I kind of like. It is a perfectly framed male Northern Shoveler in flight with a blur behind it. The blur is the swallow. They are crazy fast and very erratic in flight.

[@matthewgehly]

Thanks for watching Jeff! For me, this is really the only way to do it and end up with a relatively close and in focus shot. Thank goodness for noise reduction software! 😁

[@craigpiferphotography]

I don't know where any nesting boxes are locally, but I've failed miserably trying to get in shot flights of swallows. I haven't given up completely, but it does become discouraging. They are just so small and fast.

[@matthewgehly]

Their small size and speed makes a decent shot quite a challenge. Shooting at 20fps, I can easily come home with 2,000 shots from a shoot.

[@Rooster0529]

I spent 2-1/2 hours this past weekend trying to get shots of barn swallows. Didn’t get a single one 🤷. Then got rained out.

[@matthewgehly]

Tree swallows, barn swallows, purple martins...they're all so difficult to photograph. Sometimes it almost feels like a video game! Haha! You'll get that shot!

[@Rooster0529]

@@matthewgehly I picked up a 7d mark ii this week and I’m getting used to it before I try again. I’ve been shooting with a 650d for 10 years, so there is a learning curve for me. Swallows are a little faster than my grandkids.