In article , change username to rnclark
wrote:

Ken Lucke wrote:
In article , jmc
wrote:


I've finally purchased a longer lens for my XTi - the Canon 70-300mm DO
IS ISM. Nice lens, the shorter physical length is a lot more stable in
my small hands. I have been getting some very good pictures with this
lens, so I'm quite happy with it, despite the high cost.

I've been practicing taking pictures of birds in flight - raptors, for
the most part.

Not surprisingly, all of the ones taken with the sky as background, came
out with very dark birds. Also, for non-soaring birds, I'm finding it
very hard to follow them, and get decent pictures.

Is there a tutorial on the 'net somewheres that'll help me learn how to
take better bird action photos? How much do I compensate when the bird
is silhouetted against the sky?


Try [some combination of] this: Make sure you are in evaluative
metering, using only one (usually the center) auto-focusing point, and
over-expose by a stop or so using your exposure compensation. Or set
to continuous shooting, set to auto-bracket by a stop or so, and shoot
three-shot bursts (you have to continue to follow through with the bird
even though the shutter may be blocking your viewfinder between shots).
You may have to boost the ISO to bring your shutter speed back up if it
becomes too slow. Also, (you probably realize this, but...) try get
into a position that you can shoot the birds when the sun is at your
back, so it's highlighting the birds, rather than cross- or back-
lighting them.

I'll describe how I do things differently (this is my
strategy; yours make work best for you).

First off, Roger, don't take any of my comments below as arguing with
you - I agree with virtually everything you said (for someone of your
skill level), I just want to clarify and perhaps justify the reasons
why I said what I did.

When following moving animals (birds or 4-legged critters)
the mere fact they are moving often means the light is changing.
Thus I do not like manual.

Agree 100% here - it's too hard (at least for me) to be adjusting that
AS you're tracking and panning and trying to keep up with an animal.

I would rather use exposure compensation
to adapt to the situation. An example is an animal moving
between shade and sun, another is rising or setting sun where
light levels are changing fast.

Second, auto-bracketing, assuming 3 shots means only one is correctly
exposed. That means you have 2/3 chance of missing the peak
action.

I guess that's true - unless you've got the 1D Mark III at 10fps g.

I still do it myself, and I only have 3fps - so I get one chance per
second, which is OK for me at this point. However, this (as were most
of my suggestions) intended to help him get a feel for whaqt settings
are going to work for him - then he can stick more closely to just
those - with exceptions, of course.

Autofocus point should be set on the animals eye(s), not necessarily
the center (and in my style rarely the center) autofocus point.

I was thinking of his trying learn to track and pan, that it would be
easier to keep the bird centered with the center autofocus. Your
skills are much higher than his (or mine) at this point, so you're good
at switching autofocus points and tracking and panning all at the same
time - that's definitely a learned skill, and the tracking and panning
are probably the parts he should learn first, IMO.

(Exception: f/8 on pro bodies only focuses on the center AF point,
except maybe the new 1D Mark III--I hate this limitation.)
Center AF often means in my experience non-ideal bull's eye
composition, or poor composition requiring the center focus on the
eye and cutting off feet, wings, or tail (of course this depends
on how much the subject fills the frame).

My strategy for action wildlife photography:
AI servo mode,

Oh, yeah, I forgot to include that in my list of things.

continuous shooting, IS on (even on a tripod, mode 1 IS).
Fastest shutter speed; I usually shoot wide open, unless light
is really bright, which is rare. It is rare for me as I usually
shoot near sunrise or sunset when light levels are lower.

I usually try and get a few frames in the environment and check
the histogram so I know how the meter is responding, then I adjust
exposure compensation as needed.

Yeah, this is critical, too.

During action, I follow
the subject, constantly shifting the AF point to keep a good
composition, and adjust exposure compensation as needed
and keeping the AF point on the eye(s).

This is the hard, learned part that you've obviously got down pat, and
probably should be the secondary step for him.

I also keep monitoring the exposure time and adjust ISO
up or down as light levels rise or fall. I use the lowest
ISO that the conditions will allow. You need to know
your camera well in order to do this in a split second,
never removing your eye from the viewfinder while following
the action.

I also don't agree with the "need" to have the sun behind you.
While this is a fine strategy in many situations, lighting
can be more dramatic and show texture better when the sun is
not directly behind you. It does become more of a challenge
to keep the eyes well lit if the sun is not behind you,
but I feel many images are more interesting this way.

That was meant to address his "dark body against a light background"
problem with the underexpsuure of the bird's body - I agree it's not a
necessity, but it I thought it might help him out a little with that
problem. Didn't really mean to make it sound like an absolute.

One rule I try to maintain (and you will see a common theme
in my galleries): nice view of the eyes and the eyes must be
in focus. The pupil of the eye should be clearly visible in the
full resolution image (unless a big flock of birds that
are too distant).

Other guides: the photo usually has more impact if the animal
is moving toward you. For birds in flight, this means the
bird's near wing is behind the body center. Also, the head
should be directed more toward you than away.

Isolation of the subject is usually best. That means out-of-focus
background,

Which is easy when you go with wide-open, or nearly wide open, to get
the highest shutter speed possible for the ISO/light combination.

and few enough animals (like one or two).
As animal count goes up, the image just looks cluttered until
the animal count gets huge, like hundreds.

Even then, I love the images where the camera is zoomed in on one
animal in a packed herd of hundreds or thousands, with one animal
picked out and the rest of the bodies pressed around it. Zebras
epecially look good this way - maybe some day I'll get to go shoot one
of those images myself.


Finally, there are exceptions to all rules.

Examples:

snip of huge number of envy-inducing images

Roger, your pictures always make my efforts seem so lame. :^(

--
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a
reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating
the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for
independence.
-- Charles A. Beard