Hello from Rocky Mountain National Park! *Many Pix*

Names Tony, I have been a NYer (NO! not the city, from Syracuse in the middle of the state). Last July I moved to Estes Park, CO the gateway to RMNP, and haven't looked back! I absolutely love it here and have always loved photography and made the step to a DSLR, beginner of course.

I have chosen the Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm AF-S & just got my 55-300mm AF-S lens. I will use the longer lens for wildlife of course and the shorter one with UV filter for the amazing geography. I was able to get some superb photos out of my point and shoot CoolPiX S8100 such as:




They are alright, but in dire need of a UV filter, better contrast, longer exposures for some and less for others. Also I needed the wildlife to be sharper at a range.

I have read and read from multiple forums including this one on how to basically set up my Nikon D3100 for wildlife, but can't seem to get that sharp DSLR image everyone wants. It almost seems that I achieved sharper images from the point and shoot... Now I also know that the D3100 isn't a Golden Egg nor is the 55-300mm AF-S lens for wildlife photography, but I have seen more than a few amazingly clear, sharp wildlife images with that combination.

My settings:
Shutter Priority
Spot Focus
AF-Single S
Shutter Speed around 1/2000 -- But I have found out that you lose alot of the image when you take too fast of an image without proper ISO/Aperture operation.

Here are a few of the photos I took today with the D3100 and 55-300mm AF-S mainly around 300mm (First day):

Shutter Priority
1/3195sec
0EV
F 5.3
ISO 3200
220mm
Spot Focus


1/250sec
0EV
F 5.6
ISO 3200
300mm
Center Weighted


1/2506sec
0EV
F 5.6
ISO 3200
300mm
Spot Focus


1/1400sec
0EV
F 5.6
ISO 3200
300mm
Spot Focus


--So, what have I done wrong here? I read over and over to set aperture then let the camera set shutter speed, but I had worse results... What do I need to change, after shooting for a bit, I realized I needed to slow down the Shutter Speed to achieve better shots when getting darker, along with increasing ISO, but other than that I can't get them clear. All taken free hand.

That was a looong introduction, but I could use help fast I see great birds/animals every day and want to start capturing them now! Thanks for looking.

Hi Tony, and Welcome.
I'm not an expert by any means, but the common point I see on all the photos is a wide open aperture and an extreemly high shutter. I'd probably try going to Aperture Priority, and setting to F8 or F11 and letting the camera bring down the shutter speed. That will increase your depth of field and bring more of your shot into focus

Hi Tony! I'm still stuck in Syracuse (liverpool) .

It takes a bit of practice and experimenting with the various settings. The autofocus sometimes struggles with low contrast stuff like dark animal fur. Try f5.6 or higher, ISO shouldn't need to be over 800 (unless it's a dark day), shutter speed over 1/125 should be fine for wildlife not on the run. If they are still enough, try some manual focus. Keep shooting and reading, you'll get it!

Yup...wrong setting to start with. Instead of shutter mode, use aperture mode for static or fairly static shots. Shutter mode should be used if something is moving quickly. And the ISO was certainly way too high for daylight shots. Most likely due to your use of shutter mode. And if you're using a tripod to take these shots, hopefully you shut off the VR on the lens. VR is for hand held shots.

Thank you for the prompt and knowledgeable replies everyone. This was shot with hand held and VR, they all have been edited with FastStoneIV (still learning that) and it was one of the few darkish completely overcast days, where I figured I needed more iso, but not that much and apparently my aperture was the issue. So, next shoot I will make myself use A mode and set the minimum shutter to.. 1/200? 400? under Auto iso and see what I get. No problem with the dual copy-write, not quite a sell-able item, and haha yea the drain, that was taken pretty much in my yard, quite the lovely place to live!

Also, talking about aperture... 1.0(low) tries to focus everything in the lens regardless of spot focus <----> 11 (hi) pinpoints the focus ability to whatever your centered on?

Welcome to the board! I agree with everything people have mentioned is that more often than not when people have issues with soft focus it usually is a combination of mechanical issues (aperture) and camera shake. It's easy to fix the mechanical aspect but camera shake requires practice and patience. The more photos you take the better you'll get.

One last thing for my next shoot. Do I want to continue to shoot in RAW vs JPeg Fine? What is the difference and benefit of RAW, I see that it needs much more PS to get it sharp and to the contrast of liking, then to upload it for regular use I ave to convert it to Jpeg most of the time, which I feel loses quality yet again, even if the file becomes larger in KB's... What is gained by RAW?

And, should I get a 58mm UV filter for the 55-300mm when mainly used for wildlife? It came with a 52mm by accident and is already leeched onto the 18-55mm for Landscape.

One of my favorite places on earth. Unfortunately, last time we were there back in 2008 I was still shooting with a pair of Canon PowerShots. But if you know your equipment and software it's not hard to capture the beauty all around you. We need to get back there.

Shouldn't you be buried in snow by now?

Here are a couple from our last weekend there.

topgunwghs said:

Also, talking about aperture... 1.0(low) tries to focus everything in the lens regardless of spot focus <----> 11 (hi) pinpoints the focus ability to whatever your centered on?

Click to expand...

Other way around. An aperture low in number (3 for example) opens the lens really large and the only thing in focus is your point of focus, everything behind it is blurry (shallow depth of field). A higher number (11 for example) brings more of the whole into focus - everything the camera sees.

Try shooting these pictures from a tripod with the VR off. If a tripod is too cumbersome use a monopod. My personal observation... the longer the lens the greater the need to be rock steady for those really sharp images.

The lower the ISO the better, assuming you have enough light.

Recent Shoot, much better but still not SPECTACULAR!.. The best shots i got were on M mode with F/8 1/320-1/400 ISO 100or200 I just cannot get the Fast Shutter speed that i want, it was overcast but kept taking way under exposed pictures, even when ISO bumped to 800 and F/5.8-7... I don't get it, and most shots were handheld, VR on but leaned onto a stable surface.

The Pygmy and Chick were the closest subjects but sadly not the clearest. Overcast but bright, within dark tree branches.
Aperture Priority: Just would not give me a great shutter speed, or Hi-Def feel.
ISO 100 or 200




The Mallards/Goldeneye in water were the best shots I got after choosing M mode. These are my best shots but how do I make these better?
Manual Mode:
F/8
1160-1/400 was the best I could get
IS) 200





The next group was experimenting with Aperture to blur and really bring the resting Mallard/Magpie/Raven into focus... I still did not achieve superb quality and had to brighten the image alot in PS since it took such a dark shot with the shutter and F/stop
F/8 - /22
1/640-1/600
ISO from 200 with the Magpie - 800 with the Raven

Bird photos are one of those occasions where I consider using Shutter Priority and playing with my ISO until I can get a usable aperture. A lot of the bird bloggers I know are constantly shooting at 1200-1600 ISO to get the shutter speeds they need. With a tack sharp lens you can usually reduce the ISO noise enough that it's not noticeable, but then again they're shooting with cameras with amazing high ISO performance - the true nature of which I didn't realize until I stepped up from a D7000 to the D600. Nature photography is a lot like nature - you need to find the right balance for things to work properly, so keep shooting.

And remember, VR can help with camera movement, but I've never met a nuthatch that stood still and posed for you.

Shutter Priority: 1/1000-1/3000
Sunny Day some taken in shade of trees
ISO: 800-3200

Is there noticeable noise or problems with these pictures due to ISO, or do they look good?
I love these pics, best i have taken so far, quite crisp and accurate and fast. Exactly what I needed set for birding by hand.
I'll be playing with the focus area a bit more, I have had it on spot, and spot it does, it will either fully focus on a head or a back or tail feathers, I want the whole bird and nothing else.




Pygmy Nuthatches sure are a great practice bird though, I can call them right in close bu they still jump all over so timing is KEY.
This Dark Eyes Junco decided to come check out all the noise as well as a Pine Sisikin today.

These all look fine to me. If the bird is still on the branch I've found 1/250-1/500 is more than fine to keep their movement from effecting the picture. 1/1000 and up is what I'll use for birds in flight. The lower shutter speed would allow you a little more depth of field (would love to be able to see exif data on each of these but it's not coming through with the photo) which would improve some. For example, on the second nuthatch photo the center of the body is very sharp, but the beak is out of focus. I suspect the aperture is getting set to something close to wide open, so you're losing depth of field. Since ISO noise seems fine, throttle back on the shutter speed and try to get the camera around f8 or so and you'll get the whole bird.

As I said before, it's a balance of things, and it can be frustrating because in nature there are times when shutter priority is your friend - until it screws you on depth of field, and others when aperture priority is what you really want because getting the whole thing in focus is what will make the picture. It took me a while to learn to concentrate on those little numbers in the viewfinder while also concentrating on the subject, and spinning the appropriate dial at the same time to get what I need. And I do - about 10% of the time, as I said before.

Very nice bird photos! Good work! Living on the edge of a huge desert, I'm always a little jealous when I see the variety of birds you folks have access to.

How do I upload the data or attach it? I am shooting in JPeg L Fine now

Some nice bird shots the last few Image posts. I was taught one simple rule for animals when they are completly still that may help you here. IDK exactly what lens you are using but a good rule of thumb is to not go below your lens focal length for animals that are still. So with a 400mm lens you would stay above 1/400 shutter speed for objects not moving. That obviously goes up significantly with animals in motion. Now I know what I am about to tell you is going to get me shunned by the community but try this and it will be a great stepping stone in your wildlife photography. Set your camera to Shutter priority and turn you Auto ISO on and set so the highest ISO is a workable number. If you get acceptable shots at ISO3200 go for it. keep tabs on what your conditions are. Get used to controlling focus points etc on the go. after a while everything will just click and you wont even shoot in Shutter Priority any more... Well maybe some times lol