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05/27/2009 09:13:08 PM · #1 |
| I have a Canon 50D and love wildlife photography. Do you guys use the manual setting for your wildlife photos? Or do you use the automatic setting. HOw can you set your camera up, the birds will be gone by that time. Any hints or suggestions? |
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05/27/2009 09:33:17 PM · #2 |
Originally posted by thundercatcher2003:
I have a Canon 50D and love wildlife photography. Do you guys use the manual setting for your wildlife photos? Or do you use the automatic setting. HOw can you set your camera up, the birds will be gone by that time. Any hints or suggestions? |
I guess it all depends on the situation ,
- for flying / fast mobing birds , I normally use shutter priority , with a -0.3 for exposure compensation , with the appropriate ISO
- for very high contrast situations , I will go to manual mode and take extra care in where I meter.
Do note that my input are just that inputs for you to try. IMO there are many ways to do it and it really depends on what the subject is doing and the lighting conditions. |
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05/27/2009 09:50:16 PM · #3 |
For birds I mostly use aperture priority and set the aperture anywhere from full open to 7.1 or so depending on the size of bird and DOF I need. I then set the ISO to give me sufficient shutter speed for the focal length I'm using in the lightting conditions I'm in; normally with 400mm I use a minimum of 1/500th but preferably more and ISO of 400-800. I then use exposure compensation of + or ΓΆ€“ depending on if it is a dark bird or a white bird. I would set the focus to auto and whatever setting Canon has for moving objects.
But as Andrew says you need to play around and discover what works best for you and subject and conditions your shooting in. |
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05/27/2009 10:00:17 PM · #4 |
| what is aperture priority |
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05/27/2009 10:03:16 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by thundercatcher2003:
what is aperture priority |
similar to shutter priority which allows the user to set the shutter speed desired , aperture priority will allow you to select the aperture you desire then the camera will do the rest. |
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05/27/2009 10:33:44 PM · #6 |
White birds are so high in contrast with the usual background that I usually shoot at -1.5 or -2 EV and averaging metering to avoid blowing out the highlights in the feathers.
Likewise, black or very dark birds require + side on the EV to make them show up clearly. They are usually a small part of the image, so the camera does not give them much priority when metering.
I use manual lenses that don't meter with my camera a lot too, so I set the LCD to blink the blown out areas, shoot all manual, and adjust shutter speed or iso accordingly. It is not very common to get good bird shots "on the fly" unless you learn some of the habits of the birds, and practice shooting a lot.
I also usually use a good monopod for most of my bird shots. It allows me to get a better percentage of shots that are not blurred from camera motion when the light is not very strong. If my lens combination is longer than 300mm, I use a tripod.
Message edited by author 2009-05-27 22:35:03.
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05/27/2009 11:00:30 PM · #7 |
For shooting the bluebirds, I knew I needed 1/4000 of a second to stop their motion--they were too fast at slower shutter speeds (found this out by experimenting). It was impossible to move and focus on them, so I had to prefocus on one area and hope they flew into it--used a tripod for this. I had to adjust for the white background. With the seagulls, I use autofocus, but set only to the center focus point. I don't do any adjustments, but I make sure I'm shooting in RAW to be able to compensate a little if the settings are off. (When I'm shooting gulls, some are white, some are brown, and I'm shooting black cormorants as well, so I'm switching too much to adjust for each shot). The larger birds fly much more slowly, so it's easier to get motion shots with them. Don't use a tripod for larger birds--I want to be free to pan, adjust, etc.
Practicing at the moment on mockingbirds and grey catbirds. Having a harder time with these since they're dark and my background is currently a wooded area--not getting enough light to freeze the movement. |
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05/31/2009 04:07:35 AM · #8 |
Here's a nice read I found which can be helpful to you, thundercatcher. (I don't own the site)
Cheers!
Captain Kimo |
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