"My Pictures Don't Look Like That." On learning to be a better nature photographer.

[Arthur Morris]

"My Pictures Don't Look Like That."

The first time that I heard those words was in the Galapagos this year. Betty Wisse was looking some of my trip images on my laptop when she said, “My pictures don’t look like that. I have great equipment and I am standing right next to you, but my pictures don’t look like that.” Since then I have been thinking long and hard about what she said, and when I heard the same thing come out of the mouth of Sam Hogue on a recent Photo-Safari I gave it some more thought and decided to write a short piece addressing the possible solutions to the problem…

#1: And I say this often on IPTs, there is one big secret to becoming a successful nature photographer. The secret is that there is no big secret, just lots of little secrets, lots of paying attention to small details. Each small secret/technique/trick that you learn and assimilate into the way you do things will make your images a little bit better, and the more little things that you learn to do better the better your overall body of work will become over time.

#2: Though digital has made things 1,000 times easier, getting better does require some effort. Countless times on IPTs I suggest that someone do something a bit different and have had the participant respond, “I know that.” I hold my tongue and resist saying what is on my mind,” OK, you know that but are choosing not to do it because you do not care to improve the quality of your images; is that correct?”

#3: In the same vein, it seems that many folks are too lazy to do the work, to study, to learn to become better nature photographers. They spend thousands, often times tens of thousands of dollars on equipment and travel, but do not put in the time to look at great images, to study, to practice. Sometimes it baffles me. Some of the folks who join us regularly on IPTs attend for social reasons, to hang out, to meet other photographers, and to be part of the scene. I can understand their not working hard to improve. But many of the folks who profess to want to get better simply do not put in the time, the effort, and the work that is required to become a more proficient photographer.

#4: OK, what are the specific areas where folks need to improve? The quick answer is all areas. You have to do many things correctly to create a good image. As with flying an airplane if you do 19 of 20 things right and one thing wrong you crash… If you find a great subject, put yourself in the right place, choose the right focal length, design a gorgeous image, and get the exposure right but do not create the sharp image that you wanted, you get to hit the delete key. If you do everything right but do not recognize that you are trying to create a good image in an impossible situation, then you will fail. If you recognize a great situation and do nearly everything perfectly but blow the highlights, the image will not be successful. Nature photography pretty much demands perfection; that is why folks need to do the work, put in the effort, and practice.

#5: Here, in no particular order, are some of the things that you need to (learn to) do:

a-Study the natural history of your subjects. Learn their habits and preferences. Become a good field naturalist, a better birder, and a decent biologist.
b-Find a pleasing subject and learn to recognize a good situation. One way to do that is to look at as many good and great images as you possibly can.
c- Figure out exactly where to be before you press the shutter button. This involves developing your creative vision while understanding perspective, light angle, head angle, and subject-to-film plane or imaging sensor orientation.
d-Be able to design a pleasing composition quickly and know how to use your AF system to create the composition that you want.
e-Get the exposure right or very nearly so on your first attempt.
f-Make your images sharp when you want them to be sharp and learn to create pleasingly blurs that imply motion or create exciting patterns when that is your intent.
g-Understand the qualities of natural light.
h-Use your camera’s AF system to create sharp images of birds and animals in action or in flight.
i-Use your flash effectively as fill and as main light. For the latter, learn to work in both ETTL (automatic) and Manual flash modes.
j-Make your images look better in Photoshop (not worse as most folks do… The big sins here include sharpening your optimized master files before they are sized for a given use, over sharpening JPEGs for web presentation, and over-saturating your images.

As you can see, it will require quite a bit of effort and quite a bit of work on your part to improve. Lots of folks think that if they buy the best equipment they will become better photographers by osmosis. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you put an off-brand 300mm lens and a cheapo digital camera into the hands of John Shaw, Darrell Gulin, or Tim Fitzharris, I can guarantee that they will go out and create some striking images. It ain’t the camera and it ain’t the lens boys and girls…

If you want your images to look as good as those of the top professionals, you’ve got to do the work.

When I started more than 24 years ago, there was not a lot of great information around. There was nothing good on exposure and not much on how to use a long lens. Heck, for the first seven years that I photographed I had no idea that lenses longer than 400mm existed. Today, you can go to various locations and see ten, twenty, even fifty 500 and 600 mm lenses in action (can you say Bosque in November?).

Some folks can learn a ton from on-line forums (BPN being the best by far). Others learn from books. Others benefit greatly from attending an IPT or another photographic tour or workshop. Still others learn best in a seminar or classroom setting. And lots of folks mix and match from all of the above. In any case, folks today who truly wish to get better have tons more resources available than I did nearly two and a half decades ago. And I am proud of my contributions as a photographic educator, probably more proud than I am of my accomplishments as a photographer…

Literally speaking, “The Art of Bird Photography; The Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques” served as the how-to bible for most of today’s successful bird photographers. Though currently out of print and unavailable, it is currently beiing reprinted in China. We should have 500 copies sometime in late April if not before. Next on tap was Digital Basics which has helped more than 2,000 folks learn to optimize their digital images quickly and efficiently with pleasing results. Digital Basics was followed up by the ground-breaking “The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II on CD only). At 916 pages with more than 875 color photographs (each with our legendary educational captions) the CD book details everything that I learned about bird photography from 1998 until the time of its publication in late 2006. In a short time, we have sold more than 2,200 copies of the CD book. Lastly we published Robert O’Toole’s APTATS PDF that teaches folks (including me) to use Quick Masks for a variety of Photoshop chores. Learning to use Quick Masks has totally changed the way that I optimize my images and it is rare that I do not use a Quick Mask on an image; it is an amazingly versatile tool.

Add in more than a dozen “The Art of Nature Photography; It Ain’t Just Birds” seminars, more than a dozen BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours, Photo Safaris, and Photo Cruises each year for the past twelve years, thousands and thousands of e-mails answered, 255 (as of the date of this post) BIRDS AS ART Bulletins, our seven Photographic Site Guides, and lastly, the Mark III User’s Guide, and it is easy to see why I am so proud of my contributions as a photographic educator, instructor, author, and tour leader. If you want to learn to be a better bird or nature photographer, BIRDS AS ART is here to help, but you will still need to do the work.

BAA resources:

The BAA Bulletin Archives: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html (mhtml:{12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8}mid://00000479/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html)
The Art of Bird Photography; The Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques (temporarily out of print)
Digital Basics: http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm (mhtml:{12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8}mid://00000479/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm)
ABPII: http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm (mhtml:{12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8}mid://00000479/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm)
Robert O’Toole’s APTATS: http://www.birdsasart.com/aptats.htm (mhtml:{12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8}mid://00000479/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/aptats.htm)
BAA Site Guides: http://www.birdsasart.com/siteguides.htm (mhtml:{12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8}mid://00000479/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/siteguides.htm)
Mark III User’s Guide: http://www.birdsasart.com/MARK%20III%20USER%20GUIDE.htm (mhtml:{12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8}mid://00000479/!x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/MARK%20III%20USER%20GUIDE.htm)

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Thanks for sharing your views and for helping others improving their photography Arthur. I really appreciate it and am glad I joined BPN for things like this.

Cheers

[Arthur Morris]

YAW Vincent. Did you ever post your avatar image? I would love to see it large; it looks spectacular.

later and love, artie

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Yes I did Arthur.

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5190

Would like to know what you think of it. Cheers.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Vincent. Sorry that I missed it. It is a wonderful image and a very interesting thread to which I have just added. Folks should check it out not only for it's beauty but for the informative and educational discussion.

later and love, artie

[Dave Phillips]

Arthur, very very much appreciate the words of insight.....and observations from your many years in the field.
This is only my second day here and I have already learned quite a bit

[Arthur Morris]

Arthur, very very much appreciate the words of insight.....and observations from your many years in the field.
This is only my second day here and I have already learned quite a bit
Glad for that!

Later and love and see you out there, artie

[Ramon M. Casares]

Hi Arthur, I am new here, I've just registered myself here today, I am from Argentina and I have for a long time now, admiring you work as well as Fabs. Thanks for the advice, I always feel like I don't know enought so every detail and info is always welcome! Again, Thanks!

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Ramón. It is all in the details...

later and love, artie

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Thank you Arthur for taking time to explain and at the same time teach us a lot of what you know. Next time I go to the forest I will try to be a better birder, naturalist and photographer. cheers.

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you Arthur for taking time to explain and at the same time teach us a lot of what you know. Next time I go to the forest I will try to be a better birder, naturalist and photographer. cheers.

:) That's what we are here for. And if we sell a few books and CDs along the way that help folks improve, so much the better. ;)

later and love and thanks for your kind words, artie

[Julie Kenward]

You really hit the nail on the head here, Artie. Growing up with a father who was a professional photojournalist gave me some knowledge of how to use a camera but it's taken a real concentrated effort to learn my camera, understand exposure, and try to balance all the other factors you mentioned above. I have been shooting almost every day now for the past year and am finally starting to see some tangible results. It's all about the practice and being unafraid to try new things in new ways.

[Arthur Morris]

Glad that you agree Juile. When do we get to see who is behind the camera?

[Cindy Cone]

Artie, I missed this thread earlier, so I'm just responding to it now. Thanks for your very thoughtful , helpful comments here and for this entire forum. It has already been extremely helpful to me. I appreciate that the critiques are critiques - comments to help us learn and grow, not just feel good, pats on the back like so many other forums.

[Franko]

Artie, since I stumbled upon you and your website and your bulletins, my photo life has changed dramatically. Everything you said above is right on the money, and as in all things, the harder I work the luckier I get.

I will say to anyone who will listen, the O'Toole APTATS information is the single best piece of photo knowledge I have purchased so far. Quick masks will change your life. (I also have your CD and Digital Basics, but I am at a point in my life where I must read in the morning or I fall asleep at the computer, so it is taking a little longer). To me, Photoshop manipulation is no different from all the dodging and burning I used to do in the darkroom, and it is also most rewarding when I can make a good photo look great. Soon I will have something worth uploading for critique.

Thanks for all you do, Artie.

Frank

[Arthur Morris]

Franko, Thanks a ton for your kind words. You are a perceptive man <smile>

[Bob Allen]

Artie,

This essay should be required reading for all who view and/or join BPN. I'm a member but just stumbled on it today. I printed a copy and will read highlights to the nature photography class that I'll teach today. I too get asked the same question, but not as often as you do ;7)

In my classes, I add the following:

“Photograph something as if you have never seen it before, as if you will never see it again”
-Rachel Carson, paraphrased & modified a bit (she said "Consider", I say "Photograph")

"Truly great photos reveal your love & respect for the subject."

"Visualize the image first"

-BugBob

[Arthur Morris]

Artie,

This essay should be required reading for all who view and/or join BPN. I'm a member but just stumbled on it today. I printed a copy and will read highlights to the nature photography class that I'll teach today. I too get asked the same question, but not as often as you do ;7)

In my classes, I add the following:

“Photograph something as if you have never seen it before, as if you will never see it again”
-Rachel Carson, paraphrased & modified a bit (she said "Consider", I say "Photograph")

"Truly great photos reveal your love & respect for the subject."

"Visualize the image first"

-BugBob

Hey Bob, Great to see you hear. Have you been posting any bugs in Macro?

I agree about the required reading. And that goes for most of the stuff in Educational Resources. Love the quotes.

[Bob Allen]

Hi Artie,

Nice to hear from you too. You're right, I don't post often enough. I'm swamped with the teaching thing, although with California's budget woes, I may not have a job at all this fall - really.

I just posted a recent shot in Macro. Check it out.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Bob,

re

Nice to hear from you too. You're right, I don't post often enough.

:)

I'm swamped with the teaching thing, although with California's budget woes, I may not have a job at all this fall - really.

You gotta love it; more time for photography!

I just posted a recent shot in Macro. Check it out.

Am headed there now.

[Mikko Viljamaa]

"Nature photography pretty much demands perfection; that is why folks need to do the work, put in the effort, and practice."

I doubt if things have always been like this but because of you and your efforts, the bar has been raised and you have shown the rest of us what nature photography can be at its best.

I feel like so far I have done 2 things right out of 20; I have found the bird and I have taken a photo from it. Now I'm here to learn the rest of the missing 18 points. :D


Thanks Arthur,

Mikko

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for your kind words Mikko. Do know that there are lots of folks making great images today with digital. You can do it too!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Arthur,

Well said! My book shelves are over-flowing with nature guides and how-to-books. There is always something new to learn and we need to be open to learning new things. Purchasing book 1 & 2 of APTATS was one of the best investments I have made in photography. I am able to optimize images now and feel somewhat like a photoshop whiz-kid.:D I have only posted 3 times thus far (chickadee blur, iguana and my daughter - have you seen that one yet) and have found the critiques to be excellent and consider them to be another type of learning tool.

See you in the forums,
Andrew

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Andrew, Thanks for your kind words and it is great to see you participating so actively on BPN :)

[Steve Uffman]

found this in my ongoing search. I am a grinder...will outstudy, outpractice, and outwork most folks I know...that is how I was able to retire at 55. Key for me is whether the endeavor is meaningful and challenging. My wife once asked me if this was going to be another hobby that I get pretty good at, then get bored and move on to the next one. I have many of those.

I don't think that is the case with photography. its interesting in my first year back, i take out to the Breton Island rookery, Carol Guzy and Gerald Herbert, pulitzer winning photojournalists covering the bp oil spill... their stories are very inspiring..and then I stumble upon you-a master photographer whose greatest satisfaction is from educating....I AM a lucky man! you and BPN set the bar very high.

Someone asked that if I get a great photo of a blue heron, will I be done with Blue Herons....my answer is unequivocally no for there always is a better shot, a new behavior, different lighting, technique and yada yada...and is someone said respect for the species.


I know you have inspired many. count this grandpa among that group!

thanks again
grasshopper


"My Pictures Don't Look Like That."

The first time that I heard those words was in the Galapagos this year. Betty Wisse was looking some of my trip images on my laptop when she said, “My pictures don’t look like that. I have great equipment and I am standing right next to you, but my pictures don’t look like that.” Since then I have been thinking long and hard about what she said, and when I heard the same thing come out of the mouth of Sam Hogue on a recent Photo-Safari I gave it some more thought and decided to write a short piece addressing the possible solutions to the problem…

#1: And I say this often on IPTs, there is one big secret to becoming a successful nature photographer. The secret is that there is no big secret, just lots of little secrets, lots of paying attention to small details. Each small secret/technique/trick that you learn and assimilate into the way you do things will make your images a little bit better, and the more little things that you learn to do better the better your overall body of work will become over time.

#2: Though digital has made things 1,000 times easier, getting better does require some effort. Countless times on IPTs I suggest that someone do something a bit different and have had the participant respond, “I know that.” I hold my tongue and resist saying what is on my mind,” OK, you know that but are choosing not to do it because you do not care to improve the quality of your images; is that correct?”

#3: In the same vein, it seems that many folks are too lazy to do the work, to study, to learn to become better nature photographers. They spend thousands, often times tens of thousands of dollars on equipment and travel, but do not put in the time to look at great images, to study, to practice. Sometimes it baffles me. Some of the folks who join us regularly on IPTs attend for social reasons, to hang out, to meet other photographers, and to be part of the scene. I can understand their not working hard to improve. But many of the folks who profess to want to get better simply do not put in the time, the effort, and the work that is required to become a more proficient photographer.

#4: OK, what are the specific areas where folks need to improve? The quick answer is all areas. You have to do many things correctly to create a good image. As with flying an airplane if you do 19 of 20 things right and one thing wrong you crash… If you find a great subject, put yourself in the right place, choose the right focal length, design a gorgeous image, and get the exposure right but do not create the sharp image that you wanted, you get to hit the delete key. If you do everything right but do not recognize that you are trying to create a good image in an impossible situation, then you will fail. If you recognize a great situation and do nearly everything perfectly but blow the highlights, the image will not be successful. Nature photography pretty much demands perfection; that is why folks need to do the work, put in the effort, and practice.

#5: Here, in no particular order, are some of the things that you need to (learn to) do:

a-Study the natural history of your subjects. Learn their habits and preferences. Become a good field naturalist, a better birder, and a decent biologist.
b-Find a pleasing subject and learn to recognize a good situation. One way to do that is to look at as many good and great images as you possibly can.
c- Figure out exactly where to be before you press the shutter button. This involves developing your creative vision while understanding perspective, light angle, head angle, and subject-to-film plane or imaging sensor orientation.
d-Be able to design a pleasing composition quickly and know how to use your AF system to create the composition that you want.
e-Get the exposure right or very nearly so on your first attempt.
f-Make your images sharp when you want them to be sharp and learn to create pleasingly blurs that imply motion or create exciting patterns when that is your intent.
g-Understand the qualities of natural light.
h-Use your camera’s AF system to create sharp images of birds and animals in action or in flight.
i-Use your flash effectively as fill and as main light. For the latter, learn to work in both ETTL (automatic) and Manual flash modes.
j-Make your images look better in Photoshop (not worse as most folks do… The big sins here include sharpening your optimized master files before they are sized for a given use, over sharpening JPEGs for web presentation, and over-saturating your images.

As you can see, it will require quite a bit of effort and quite a bit of work on your part to improve. Lots of folks think that if they buy the best equipment they will become better photographers by osmosis. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you put an off-brand 300mm lens and a cheapo digital camera into the hands of John Shaw, Darrell Gulin, or Tim Fitzharris, I can guarantee that they will go out and create some striking images. It ain’t the camera and it ain’t the lens boys and girls…

If you want your images to look as good as those of the top professionals, you’ve got to do the work.

When I started more than 24 years ago, there was not a lot of great information around. There was nothing good on exposure and not much on how to use a long lens. Heck, for the first seven years that I photographed I had no idea that lenses longer than 400mm existed. Today, you can go to various locations and see ten, twenty, even fifty 500 and 600 mm lenses in action (can you say Bosque in November?).

Some folks can learn a ton from on-line forums (BPN being the best by far). Others learn from books. Others benefit greatly from attending an IPT or another photographic tour or workshop. Still others learn best in a seminar or classroom setting. And lots of folks mix and match from all of the above. In any case, folks today who truly wish to get better have tons more resources available than I did nearly two and a half decades ago. And I am proud of my contributions as a photographic educator, probably more proud than I am of my accomplishments as a photographer…

Literally speaking, “The Art of Bird Photography; The Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques” served as the how-to bible for most of today’s successful bird photographers. Though currently out of print and unavailable, it is currently beiing reprinted in China. We should have 500 copies sometime in late April if not before. Next on tap was Digital Basics which has helped more than 2,000 folks learn to optimize their digital images quickly and efficiently with pleasing results. Digital Basics was followed up by the ground-breaking “The Art of Bird Photography II (ABP II on CD only). At 916 pages with more than 875 color photographs (each with our legendary educational captions) the CD book details everything that I learned about bird photography from 1998 until the time of its publication in late 2006. In a short time, we have sold more than 2,200 copies of the CD book. Lastly we published Robert O’Toole’s APTATS PDF that teaches folks (including me) to use Quick Masks for a variety of Photoshop chores. Learning to use Quick Masks has totally changed the way that I optimize my images and it is rare that I do not use a Quick Mask on an image; it is an amazingly versatile tool.

Add in more than a dozen “The Art of Nature Photography; It Ain’t Just Birds” seminars, more than a dozen BIRDS AS ART Instructional Photo-Tours, Photo Safaris, and Photo Cruises each year for the past twelve years, thousands and thousands of e-mails answered, 255 (as of the date of this post) BIRDS AS ART Bulletins, our seven Photographic Site Guides, and lastly, the Mark III User’s Guide, and it is easy to see why I am so proud of my contributions as a photographic educator, instructor, author, and tour leader. If you want to learn to be a better bird or nature photographer, BIRDS AS ART is here to help, but you will still need to do the work.

BAA resources:

The BAA Bulletin Archives: http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html (mhtml:%7B12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8%7Dmid://00000479/%21x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/bn.html)
The Art of Bird Photography; The Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques (temporarily out of print)
Digital Basics: http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm (mhtml:%7B12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8%7Dmid://00000479/%21x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/digitalbasics.htm)
ABPII: http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm (mhtml:%7B12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8%7Dmid://00000479/%21x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/ABPII.htm)
Robert O’Toole’s APTATS: http://www.birdsasart.com/aptats.htm (mhtml:%7B12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8%7Dmid://00000479/%21x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/aptats.htm)
BAA Site Guides: http://www.birdsasart.com/siteguides.htm (mhtml:%7B12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8%7Dmid://00000479/%21x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/siteguides.htm)
Mark III User’s Guide: http://www.birdsasart.com/MARK%20III%20USER%20GUIDE.htm (mhtml:%7B12BC1FF1-1BB8-4F99-BFBF-80DC9C3132E8%7Dmid://00000479/%21x-usc:http://www.birdsasart.com/MARK%20III%20USER%20GUIDE.htm)

[Chris Korman]

c- Figure out exactly where to be before you press the shutter button. This involves developing your creative vision while understanding perspective, light angle, head angle, and subject-to-film plane or imaging sensor orientation.
d-Be able to design a pleasing composition quickly and know how to use your AF system to create the composition that you want.




This list is indeed thought provoking, thank you for sharing it with us.

I think these two related points are something I'm perhaps at a little bit of an impasse with.

Is there a time when you reach a state of practice that you no longer need to use the central AF sensor always on the point that you want to be in critical focus when you release the shutter, that is, the &quot;as-shot&quot; composition does not require major/minor cropping to obtain the desired framing? I guess I am referring to a situation where a bird/animal is moving such that if you keep the central AF sensor trained on the desired point you obtain critical focus, but the &quot;as-shot&quot; composition sucks. Can one realistically tackle this and fill the frame with the composition that is in your mind's eye? Is this state of practice using the AF system in a different manner? Or is it that you are recomposing on the fly?

[Steve Uffman]

I think I understand Art's point here. something I am really working on. Even if I am out and don't have the best subjects or situations, I am repetitively trying to build the skill to instinctively and 'at the speed of light" very quickly make the adjustments on the focusing system whether it be point or method and compose on the fly and exposure compensation. that is why in my practice situations, I am sometimes sacrificing 'c' above at the expense of getting the execution down on 'd'.


'c'-location, location, location work though is starting end of the month. Galapagos is at month end, then I am attending two workshops with the posse in the next six months.. and have some great venues lined up. Hopefully I will have 'd' down better so I can make 'c' progress...in other words, taking lots of ground balls to the left, right, long, short, fielding bunts and etc in practice will hopefully make me a better game player

[Arthur Morris]

This list is indeed thought provoking, thank you for sharing it with us.

I think these two related points are something I'm perhaps at a little bit of an impasse with.

Is there a time when you reach a state of practice that you no longer need to use the central AF sensor always on the point that you want to be in critical focus when you release the shutter, that is, the &quot;as-shot&quot; composition does not require major/minor cropping to obtain the desired framing? I guess I am referring to a situation where a bird/animal is moving such that if you keep the central AF sensor trained on the desired point you obtain critical focus, but the &quot;as-shot&quot; composition sucks. Can one realistically tackle this and fill the frame with the composition that is in your mind's eye? Is this state of practice using the AF system in a different manner? Or is it that you are recomposing on the fly?

There are too many factors involved here to generalize.... First off, in some situations, for example, the 800 with the 1.4X III TC, I have only the central sensor available. Sometimes I create centered images in such cases knowing that I will need to crop from below and from behind. With the bird larger in the frame, I will try to get the sensor on a spot on the bird that is on the same plane as the eye....

At other times it may be easier to attain AF with the central sensor than with the "compositionally correct" sensor activated.... Then the choice is yours...

Let me know if I have actually answered you :)

[Arthur Morris]

Steve, Good luck with fielding practice.

[Chris Korman]

Let me know if I have actually answered you :)

Thank you for discussing some scenarios. It sounds like there is not a hard and fast rule on this, one has to improvise and tailor to how the bird is positioned with respect to the AF points. I personally don't have much a comfort level with using off center AF points simple because they *seem* to have a higher miss fraction.

Kind of a related point, you had indicated that you need stop down when the bird is flying away from you. I am assuming you are still aiming your AF point on the bird's eye?

Final point, some of these compositions happen so fast that there *seems* to be so little time to acquire focus AND have a decent composition. I can reference a photo of mine that shows this if you would like, but I won't post it if that is not the intent of this particular thread.

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you for discussing some scenarios. It sounds like there is not a hard and fast rule on this, one has to improvise and tailor to how the bird is positioned with respect to the AF points. I personally don't have much a comfort level with using off center AF points simple because they *seem* to have a higher miss fraction.

Kind of a related point, you had indicated that you need stop down when the bird is flying away from you. I am assuming you are still aiming your AF point on the bird's eye?

Final point, some of these compositions happen so fast that there *seems* to be so little time to acquire focus AND have a decent composition. I can reference a photo of mine that shows this if you would like, but I won't post it if that is not the intent of this particular thread.

YAW, and yes, no hard and fast rules. And lots of improvising. I have had lots of success using other AF points. In many instances, 45-point with the pro bodies has a big slip factor where it is in focus and then it is not. But there are lots of cases where I rely on it....

I do think that I said to stop down when a bird is facing (not flying) away from you....

Yeah, sometimes bird photography can be difficult and challenging :)

Feel free to post the image.

[Chris Korman]

Alright, here is the image I am referring to, despite the front focus problem which I think I am closer to addressing, the central AF sensor is right on the bird's back, however the "closest" point to the bird's head is unfortunately not covering it. It is not covering it since the composition I saw came into being while tracking the heron alone, however when I saw the the snowy egret in the background I wanted to include both. This composition occurred in a matter seconds, and so if I had recomposed to place the central sensor over the head, the egret would not have been visible. If I had the dexterity to switch to the Upper AF sensor, I am not sure it would have locked in time. Since as it has been discussed that each event is unique, I am not sure how I should have best handled it.

http://webs.lanset.com/hypoploi/jpeg/eg-IMG2610-focuspoints.jpg

Re: Flying away vs. Towards, whoops, I misremembered. Though in the case of this photo he is flying away, perhaps stop down even more? :)

[Arthur Morris]

In a case like this, there are few folks who could switch the AF sensors and I am not among them. You get what you can get. A crop from the right and the top would tighten up the COMP here. Note however, just because the sensor is on the bird is not assurance that the image is accurately focused.... There was not much contrast for the AF to work with.....

As for more d-o-f, f/8 should have been more than enough with the bird relatively far away. When I talk about more d-o-f for over-the-shoulder poses I am talking about birds are close range. BTW, the bill looks as sharp as the back (unfortunately not very sharp). Lastly, I am not a big fan of the lighting conditions.

Hope that you are not sorry that you asked :)

[Arthur Morris]

ps: You could actually for a crop from the back and the left..... So as to include the wake.

[Chris Korman]

In a case like this, there are few folks who could switch the AF sensors and I am not among them. You get what you can get. A crop from the right and the top would tighten up the COMP here. Note however, just because the sensor is on the bird is not assurance that the image is accurately focused.... There was not much contrast for the AF to work with.....

Okay, well it sounds like it would have been difficult, but possible, to use the upper AF sensor.
As for more d-o-f, f/8 should have been more than enough with the bird relatively far away. When I talk about more d-o-f for over-the-shoulder poses I am talking about birds are close range. BTW, the bill looks as sharp as the back (unfortunately not very sharp).

I think that there was front focus going on here, as the bird's feet are sharper than the bird's bill, it is hard to see in the web size version.
Lastly, I am not a big fan of the lighting conditions.

Hope that you are not sorry that you asked :) Nope, but since you mention it, where would you have preferred the light to be coming from?

[Stuart Dennis]

Hi Chris,
I don't quite follow what you mean by "...I think that there was front focus going on here, as the bird's feet are sharper than the bird's bill, it is hard to see in the web size version." Which focussing method did you use? e.g. AI servo, AI focus ?

To say front focus implies an error in focus acquisition. I think what you are seeing here, highlighted by a subject moving away from you, is simply a function of the time-lag between focus acquisition (on the back) and shutter release. The longer the time between focus and release, the more the subject will have moved out of the focal plane and the effect will appear more exagerated . The same phenomena (but reversed) would apply to subjects moving toward the camera - they would appear back focused.

[Arthur Morris]

I believe the both Chris and Stuart are incorrect here. The bird's feet are hanging down, thus the feet, which are sharp, are pretty much on the same plane as the lower back.... It seems to me that the system not only focused accurately right where the sensor was, but that it tracked the bird perfectly as well....

Chris, have you ever made a sharp image of any image with the gear used to make this image?

As for the light, it is from the front left here. I like working either with the sun coming right over the top of my head, or with strong backlight.

[Chris Korman]

I have two images I'll link to that I've posted before:

The first is a static subject, though it was shot with AI-Servo, locked, and then recomposed:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/80684-The-case-of-the-periwinkle-pompadour

The second one was AI-Servo on but the central sensor was actually on the bird's tail by the time the shutter clicked here:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/79781-Sunkissed-Snowy-Egret?highlight=sunkissed

I am unclear what you mean about sharp, do you mean detailed, or focused well? By detail I mean resolving ability, and focused well I mean did the camera operator acquire sufficient focus.

If the above photos are insufficient I can provide another one.

[Arthur Morris]

Both of the images that you link to appear to be fairly sharp. By that I mean accurately focused. What is your point? I asked only if you have ever made a sharp image with the gear that you used to make the original image here.....

[Chris Korman]

More likely when the subject is static I acquire focus than when it is moving. I also seem to be bumper bowling as my "in focus" ratio is better stopped down to f/7.1 to f/8, as apposed to at f/5.6.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. My original point in asking is that if you are making some sharp images with a given camera/lens combination, and it seems that you are, then the unsharp images are due to operator error not to any front focus issues.

[Chris Korman]

Thanks. My original point in asking is that if you are making some sharp images with a given camera/lens combination, and it seems that you are, then the unsharp images are due to operator error not to any front focus issues.

Thank you for the followup. Is there a thread on operator error, its causes and how to diagnose and iterate to improve?

[Arthur Morris]

No thread that I know of. Most operator errors are a result of:

1: poor knowledge of AF modes, ie, One Shot vs AI Servo in Canon or Single Servo or Continuous in Nikon.

2: poor sharpness techniques.

3: failure to use a tripod especially when manually focusing or using One Shot or Single Servo AF.

There are too many more to count....

Best advice: get a copy of ABP II (or better yet, the 2 book combo) and start studying. Here (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/category.aspx?catid=32).

[Nancy Phillips]

Add another to the list of things beginning bird photographers need to learn:
How to stay calm and remember all those tips when that great bird arrives!
That's one reason why you hear "but I know that..." (or "d'oh!") from people who didn't make the most of a photo opportunity. I do this, and the only cure I know is to pause and think and make appropriate starting settings in camera before starting the day, and then practice, practice, practice. My percentage of really stupid mistakes is getting lower, but I am still a beginner.
Thanks.

[Arthur Morris]

Add another to the list of things beginning bird photographers need to learn:
How to stay calm and remember all those tips when that great bird arrives!
That's one reason why you hear "but I know that..." (or "d'oh!") from people who didn't make the most of a photo opportunity. I do this, and the only cure I know is to pause and think and make appropriate starting settings in camera before starting the day, and then practice, practice, practice. My percentage of really stupid mistakes is getting lower, but I am still a beginner.
Thanks.

To succeed in any type of photography folks must get in the habit of taking care of basic business as they set uo. Before the great bird gets there :). I guess my biggestpeeve is with folks whose rigs are not balanced front to back... "I know that...."

[Nancy Phillips]

A lot of the oops moments I have had were when doing spur of the moment roadside stops. I have taken to storing the camera in "birding default", attached to the birding lens (400mm f/5.6L) with appropriate birding settings. I shoot off-tripod most of the time, and can pop out of the car to catch a BIF or a restless looking perched bird. Yep, I need to be using the tripod more often, and I need to get my brain re-wired to back button focusing. ;)
"Not balanced front to back" - meaning the gimbal, I suppose. That would seem to be a no-brainer if one uses the same setup all the time.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Nancy, We all screw up at times in the heat of battle. But yes to a no-brainer with the lens balanced on a gimbal head..... When they say "I know that!" I always feel like asking,"And you are doing it wrong because you want to make lousy images?"

[Chris Houston]

Hi Artie,

Not sure if you're still following this thread or not, but I was curious if you'd be willing to recommend some bird photographers to check out. It seems that despite the popularity of bird photography in general, there are very few books of bird photography out there that aren't either instructional guides to bird photography or field guides or identification-based books. I have a handful of books by folks like Art Wolfe and Frans Lanting that have wonderful bird photographs in them but none are focused solely on birds. It seems like if you're not looking for a book on penguins you're out of luck. I am definitely going to get the new book on birds of paradise by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes which looks incredible but if you have any suggestions they'd be most welcome.

My list of bird photographers I follow online is much larger but those suggestions would be most welcome too. I think one of the things that helps me the most (and probably would help most people here who need some help) is to look at great bird photography every day.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie,

Not sure if you're still following this thread or not, but I was curious if you'd be willing to recommend some bird photographers to check out. It seems that despite the popularity of bird photography in general, there are very few books of bird photography out there that aren't either instructional guides to bird photography or field guides or identification-based books. I have a handful of books by folks like Art Wolfe and Frans Lanting that have wonderful bird photographs in them but none are focused solely on birds. It seems like if you're not looking for a book on penguins you're out of luck. I am definitely going to get the new book on birds of paradise by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes which looks incredible but if you have any suggestions they'd be most welcome.

My list of bird photographers I follow online is much larger but those suggestions would be most welcome too. I think one of the things that helps me the most (and probably would help most people here who need some help) is to look at great bird photography every day.

Hi Chris, I subscribe to Reply Notifications so that I can easily follow even very old threads :). It seems that you have found both BPN and my blog so you are off to a great start. Today it is much easier and cheaper to look at great bird photography online than it is to find and purchase books specializing in bird photography... I have long stated that the best way to improve your bird photography is to look at as many great bird images as possible.... In the older blog posts I often have links to pretty good bird photographers.

best, artie