Bird Watching: An Update and some Camera Setting Questions, 1 by linthicum

linthicum wrote:
Nice photos, pelle. I tend to agree with pretty much what everyone has said. I wish it were easy but it isn't (for me). Recently, I have been using aperture priority most of the time. Otherwise, I use the Manual mode. I try to overcome my shortcomings by experimenting a lot with different settings. One thing for sure, birds-in-flight require a higher shutter speed.

For example, with the attached photo shot earlier this week, my settings at 500mm were: Aperture priority, f-stop of F/8, ISO at 800. As a result, the shutter speed automatically adjusted to 1/5000 of a second. As you already know, different combinations will achieve similar results. I would like to shoot raw format but the size of the files are so huge. But being able to post-process your photos is the answer to many of the complications created by lighting. For now, I will continue to shoot JPEG. I don't know for sure how much white balance may come into play. Sometimes, I take it off of Auto-white balance and set it manually for the current lighting conditions.

Take one of your photos and do a little post-processing on it, i.e. sharpening, darken a little, etc. See if it improves to your eyes and liking. I will seldom get better photos than you have against a bright white sky. It almost becomes like shooting black and white.