All of the Heron shots were close to the same data.
All were at 300mm length, 1/1500th second s-speed, ISO 200 and aperture between f/5.6 and f/6.7
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Mike D90's "Birds in Flight" Learning Thread
- Thread starter Mike D90
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All of the Heron shots were close to the same data.
All were at 300mm length, 1/1500th second s-speed, ISO 200 and aperture between f/5.6 and f/6.7
Now that I have actually reviewed the EXIF on these all looks good. I guess I am just trying to crop too much and am getting a lower quality in the end.
Bah, if that is the case I gotta get either a longer faster lens or get closer. I can't afford the lens and I don't know how to grow wings :ambivalence:
Bah, if that is the case I gotta get either a longer faster lens or get closer. I can't afford the lens and I don't know how to grow wings :ambivalence:
dramtastic
Senior Member
Why does your shutter speed have to slow down, because you stop down the aperture? I shoot at F8 and 1/4000th for fast moving birds and have no problem with exposure unless the sun has neither risen or has set. That is if we are talking about low light as opposed to to much light. I don't shoot when it's dark. F8 is nothing, well unless your birds are found in dark alley ways. Sometimes I think you take the technical side to literally 
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
Upload an un-cropped one and a cropped one in the same post so we can see how much you are cropping.
dramtastic
Senior Member
Take a breath mate your doing fine. Plenty of birders here shoot successfully with a 300mm top end. They've also shot thousands and thousands of bird shots already and have figured out what works for them.
While I might read reviews of lenses and check out bird shots online, I pay never no mind to their EXIF data any more. I just went out and started shooting hundreds of shots a week in different setting and learnt my hand holding technique through practice and experience. I think I've kept my first egret shot and I will try and post it up here. Average at best.
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These are some great shots Mike! Over cropping our D90's really brings on the grain and noise. I feel your pain.
if you like photographing birds of prey start keeping a journal of where you are seeing them. If you are seeing hawks and such try and find where they perch out at. Most hawks will frequent the same perch on the same days. You can pattern their pattern. (I have a red tail hawk that likes a certain wire overlooking a field. He is always there on Thursdays.)
as for settings on camera it is just a ton of trial and error. I still get it wrong more times than I can get it right. Way more. While it can get frustrating at times....when it all comes together, it's like magic.
Keep clicking man. These shots are looking good.
if you like photographing birds of prey start keeping a journal of where you are seeing them. If you are seeing hawks and such try and find where they perch out at. Most hawks will frequent the same perch on the same days. You can pattern their pattern. (I have a red tail hawk that likes a certain wire overlooking a field. He is always there on Thursdays.)
as for settings on camera it is just a ton of trial and error. I still get it wrong more times than I can get it right. Way more. While it can get frustrating at times....when it all comes together, it's like magic.
Keep clicking man. These shots are looking good.
BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Mike, there's not a lot about these shots that needs to be fixed on the shooting end. Most of my bird in flight stuff is right around f8 and while it's nice to be able to shoot at over 1/1000 it's not always necessary, especially with hawks since there's not a lot of wing flapping. And as you learn to follow the bird having the movement behind them is nice.
Your biggest issue, as has been pointed out, is your inability to make the most out of what you're shooting in post. You're going to get a lot of backlight with stuff in the sky, so you need to be able to lighten up the underside to bring out the bird without overexposing everything around it.
The other thing that you'll learn is that birds always look better coming at you than flying away, so you need to be looking and anticipating the shot. Unfortunately, they're easy to catch once they've gotten to you, you've reacted and started shooting, so you get a lot of bird backsides. It's a part of the deal. Just hang with it. I've spent days shooting where I've thought I nailed some things only to be thoroughly disappointed when I looked at the shots. Keep shooting and keep asking questions and you'll keep getting better.
Your biggest issue, as has been pointed out, is your inability to make the most out of what you're shooting in post. You're going to get a lot of backlight with stuff in the sky, so you need to be able to lighten up the underside to bring out the bird without overexposing everything around it.
The other thing that you'll learn is that birds always look better coming at you than flying away, so you need to be looking and anticipating the shot. Unfortunately, they're easy to catch once they've gotten to you, you've reacted and started shooting, so you get a lot of bird backsides. It's a part of the deal. Just hang with it. I've spent days shooting where I've thought I nailed some things only to be thoroughly disappointed when I looked at the shots. Keep shooting and keep asking questions and you'll keep getting better.
Scott Murray
Senior Member
That's not bad at all and as others have said we have worse BIF photos that we could share ;-)
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
dramtastic
Senior Member
A couple of my first attempts and BIF and these were the cream!
A couple of my first attempts and BIF and these were the cream!
I still get shots like these!!
dramtastic
Senior Member
Me Too! But where these were once the best, now they are the 'Post Your Almost Shots'. Mikes first attempts are better than mine.
Mikes first attempts are better than mine.
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BackdoorArts
Senior Member
Mike, I noticed you have Lightzone, which is the open source version of Lightroom. I have not used it much, but I do have it installed and while I'm not familiar with how everything works I believe that many of the same tools I would use to edit my bird shots in Lightroom are in there. There's a "Relight" function in the edit panel which allows you to adjust shadows. If that runs on your current computer it may offer you the best postprocessing alternative.
Me Too! But where these were once the best, now they are the 'Post Your Almost Shots'.
I have had some great inspiration from all of you guys here so I also had a great head start. :very_drunk:
I do have LightZone and have used it some. Its not as fast for me as ViewNX 2 but it may have more tools. The Relight function is the one tool I use most in LightZone. It even has a grain removal tool I think. I will use it some more and see what I get.
Another beauty of a day with lots of good sunshine. However, I believe I did not do as well today as I did yesterday.
I changed to Single Point AF and used AF-C continuous focus. That helped a lot.
I set aperture priority at f/8 and f/11 on these shots with only one of my shots today at f/6.7. I tossed that one.
I set ISO Auto at 200 and maximum ISO to 1600. That was a mistake. The grain ruined most of my photos.
I also set ISO auto to keep shutter speed above 1/1250th second.
So what happened? I improved depth of field and kept motion blur away. However, the high shutter speed and f/8 and above pushed ISO into the 1000's and higher on most shots. I tossed 90 percent of them again. The few I did get that were ok the ISO stayed within 800.
If you ask why I set ISO to max of 1600 is because when I didn't it sometimes forced shutter speed below what I set as minimum. I saw shutter speeds as low as 1/750th and I had to set ISO higher.
What buggers me most is that I was a lot closer to the birds today. Shoulda been better quality shots.
Here are some of today's keepers. Still not happy at all.
The Egret shots:
I changed to Single Point AF and used AF-C continuous focus. That helped a lot.
I set aperture priority at f/8 and f/11 on these shots with only one of my shots today at f/6.7. I tossed that one.
I set ISO Auto at 200 and maximum ISO to 1600. That was a mistake. The grain ruined most of my photos.
I also set ISO auto to keep shutter speed above 1/1250th second.
So what happened? I improved depth of field and kept motion blur away. However, the high shutter speed and f/8 and above pushed ISO into the 1000's and higher on most shots. I tossed 90 percent of them again. The few I did get that were ok the ISO stayed within 800.
If you ask why I set ISO to max of 1600 is because when I didn't it sometimes forced shutter speed below what I set as minimum. I saw shutter speeds as low as 1/750th and I had to set ISO higher.
What buggers me most is that I was a lot closer to the birds today. Shoulda been better quality shots.
Here are some of today's keepers. Still not happy at all.
The Egret shots:
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dramtastic
Senior Member
And what exactly is wrong with these that a little PP with a different program wouldn't smarten up? Because apart from that, these are nice shots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!