Bird Watching: Sharing my 1st birdie pics :), 1 by 2dCousinDave

2dCousinDave wrote:
For the first three shots you have your aperture set at f/5.6 and your ISO set at 400. That gave you a shutter speed of 1/30 sec on the first shot, 1/100 on the second and 1/160sec on the third. That combination is OK if you are inside, taking a picture of your puppy, and using a flash. But that is far too slow if you are going to hand hold your camera.

If you are going to use aperture priority, change the aperture to wide open (f/4.0), boost your ISO to about 1600 and see what kind of shutter speed you get. I like 1/1000sec or better and your camera is capable of speeds up to 1/4000sec. If your shutter speed is faster than 1/2000sec at f/4.0 and ISO 1600, drop your ISO to 1000 or even lower and/or close down the aperture a stop or so until you get a shutter speed in the range you want. Obviously, the lower the ISO, the less graininess you will see. But for on line posting, graininess is not that much of an issue anyway.

I use aperture priority because I like to control depth of field. I like smooth, blurred backgrounds so I usually shoot wide open and adjust the ISO to give me a decent shutter speed. But if blurred backgrounds is not your thing, set your camera to shutter priority and your shutter speed to 1/000 and your ISO to it's maximum (3200). and take a few shots. Check to see what aperture the camera selects. If you are getting too much light your images will show it and the f/stop will be f/22 ot thereabouts. If so, or if your images are too grainy, drop the ISO and/or raise the shutter speed to where they look better. What I am saying is you have a nice camera and the more you play with it the more options you will see you have.

I also use spot focus and always aim at the bird's eye. It is nice to have the whole subject in focus but I find it OK as long as long as the head is sharp and the rest of him is not too far OOF.

This shot was taken this afternoon in full sun. 1/2000sec, f/6.3 and ISO 320, using a 400mm lens and hand held. It may take a little practice but you have a good camera and it is capable of shots like this.

Dave

This message was edited Sep 21, 2010 6:46 AM

This message was edited Sep 21, 2010 6:55 AM