I've tried some bird photos today, and I wonder what techniques people with good setups and experience use to get sharp clean shots.
My lens setup: 560mm lens f4.0
(Details, Olympus E-620 with IS/VR and 50-200 f2.8/3.5 with 1.4 teleconverter and 2X crop factor).
Overall my better shots are OK, but not sharp enough to even compare with anything decent posted in NP/Avian. I'm missing something. I was shooting birds passing overhead or close by, as well as one repeatingly diving for fish.
Issues:
- When shooting a flying bird, if it's white it seems my AF lens will hunt down then back to infinity before locking the focus. At that point I usually have lost the bird.
- When shooting moving birds, I often have difficulty finding the bird to track it.
- When using AF for a flying bird, I can't use a single focus spot, I often miss the bird, and need to use all points.
- At 1/500s I have motion blur on the birds, what would be a good speed?
- Would a mirror lens work for birding, or would the bokkeh kill the shots?
I'm already having difficult with a 600mm lens, I can't imagine how hard it'd be to go to 1200mm.
Dan, upon review of your images there is not the sharpness to them that one might expect or you may want. They are not very far off the mark, but enough to seek out input from the really good avian shooters we have here at NPN. I think you are moving into an arena that is a true specialty of photography of it's own. I feel Preston's idea is the best overall.
Bird photography and BIF in particular, is the most difficult type of nature photography. Lot's of practice is required and really getting to know your gear in ways that most of us landscapers have never done. Hang out with the serious birders at the NPN forum mentioned, and don't forget birdphotographer.net. There are great tutorials there and very helpful experts.
Those examples of yours clearly show that your shutterspeed is way too slow for BIF. You'll get better results between 1/1200 and 1/2500. And keep in mind that even pros typically shoot a couple of thousand frames to yield maybe 5 good keepers. Use maximum burst rate and AI servo, and select your AF points. All this simultaneously while your tracking a speeding bird. Good luck!
Here's an example of a high shutterspeed capture ( I forget the speed right now, but probably near 1/2000)
I'm with Jeffrey, BIF photography is probably the most difficult type of nature photography. OOF bird in flight images usually results from one (or both) of poor focus and slow shutter speed. To resolve the poor focus you should practice a lot with focusing on birds. My lens has a min focus distance and I set that to the longer end so it has less room to hunt. Depending upon what I'm shooting I also pre-focus on a distance I expect the subject to be at so I can set that focus spot on the subject when the time comes. I also stop down a bit if possible (f9-f14) which I see in some of your images you did. To try and resolve the slow shutter I bump up my iso and shoot in conditions with lots of light (my default iso for bird photography is 400, and I adjust it from there depending upon conditions). Lastly, you can try and meter what you'd expect to be shooting prior to everything, and set all the camera settings prior using manual mode (in my experience manual mode not only allows you to create your settings for the conditions but also alleviates subtle changes in light a bird in the air has that can wreak havoc on a camera meter).
Posted by Steve Sieren on July 15, 2009 at 1:32 AM
Can't help you there Dan, Cool shot Jeffrey. Hawks don't have sox, even after that saying I still can't tell if this is an eagle. I'm guessing a red tale hawk?
I'm not a birder... It kinda looks like a hawk to me. Very pretty bird anyways. It reminds me of the costume of the night owl in the watchmen comics.
I think my selection is: hawk, kingfisher, pelican, seagull, crane, duck... and some small birds.
For the next session, looks like I'll try f8 at 1/2000s, adjust ISO200 ~ ISO1000.
-f8 max: beyond that the four-thirds cameras start loosing resolving power because of interference noise.
- ISO-1000 max: beyond that the grain becomes too pronounced to be corrected.
- 1/1200s min: freeze movements.
I wonder what kind of daylight I'll need.
Some sugestions to go manual focus too, but that'd be hard for me.
Unfortunately I don't use one of those 20lbs tele-lenses so no focus lock.
I believe I may have a semi-AF focus mode I have to investigate (focus via a button then back to manual). That might do the trick.
This is an immature Bald Eagle. They have the mottled look up to 4 or 5 years when they develop the classic white head and tail with black body and wings.
I'm not sure which bird Steve was referring to, mine, or yours. Yours definitely looks like an eagle. I couldn't tell if it's a a bald eagle or other sub-specie though...
No, hijack... you're in topic, and have a very nice example. That's kinda what I'd like to capture. Birds in trees are less of an issue for me, more of a tele-reach limitation.
Discussion
10 repliesMy lens setup: 560mm lens f4.0
(Details, Olympus E-620 with IS/VR and 50-200 f2.8/3.5 with 1.4 teleconverter and 2X crop factor).
Overall my better shots are OK, but not sharp enough to even compare with anything decent posted in NP/Avian. I'm missing something. I was shooting birds passing overhead or close by, as well as one repeatingly diving for fish.
Issues:
- When shooting a flying bird, if it's white it seems my AF lens will hunt down then back to infinity before locking the focus. At that point I usually have lost the bird.
- When shooting moving birds, I often have difficulty finding the bird to track it.
- When using AF for a flying bird, I can't use a single focus spot, I often miss the bird, and need to use all points.
- At 1/500s I have motion blur on the birds, what would be a good speed?
- Would a mirror lens work for birding, or would the bokkeh kill the shots?
I'm already having difficult with a 600mm lens, I can't imagine how hard it'd be to go to 1200mm.
I have some examples here of my experiments.
You might want to also post this in NPN's 'Birding' forum, if you have not done so already.
-P
Those examples of yours clearly show that your shutterspeed is way too slow for BIF. You'll get better results between 1/1200 and 1/2500. And keep in mind that even pros typically shoot a couple of thousand frames to yield maybe 5 good keepers. Use maximum burst rate and AI servo, and select your AF points. All this simultaneously while your tracking a speeding bird. Good luck!
Here's an example of a high shutterspeed capture ( I forget the speed right now, but probably near 1/2000)
I think my selection is: hawk, kingfisher, pelican, seagull, crane, duck... and some small birds.
For the next session, looks like I'll try f8 at 1/2000s, adjust ISO200 ~ ISO1000.
-f8 max: beyond that the four-thirds cameras start loosing resolving power because of interference noise.
- ISO-1000 max: beyond that the grain becomes too pronounced to be corrected.
- 1/1200s min: freeze movements.
I wonder what kind of daylight I'll need.
Some sugestions to go manual focus too, but that'd be hard for me.
Unfortunately I don't use one of those 20lbs tele-lenses so no focus lock.
I believe I may have a semi-AF focus mode I have to investigate (focus via a button then back to manual). That might do the trick.
This is an immature Bald Eagle. They have the mottled look up to 4 or 5 years when they develop the classic white head and tail with black body and wings.
I'm not sure which bird Steve was referring to, mine, or yours. Yours definitely looks like an eagle. I couldn't tell if it's a a bald eagle or other sub-specie though...