The Decisive Moment,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Missed!
I had been watching this Barn Owl for some time as it quartered the marsh but it was too far away for a shot. My attention was taken by 3 swans in the river who I sensed may be about to take off, which would have made a good action shot; when I suddenly saw the owl flying straight toward me about 12 feet away, I missed the focus and kept missing, I just wasn't composed, and the bird passed 3 feet over my head. I had been waiting for the wrong decisive moment. Have I learnt anything from this? Yes I think so, My concealment amongst the reeds must have been good for the bird not to have seen me, and secondly that the opportunity of possibly capturing the image of the owl should have taken priority over the swans. The image I have posted is 100% of the frame so should have been a cracker if it were in focus. Any help on field craft would be very welcome as I am a raw recruit to bird photography.
Looking back at your earlier post I see you have the 7D. Were you in One Shot focus? If you were anticipating any action, such as the swans taking off, going to AI Servo would have given you continuous autofocus which should have kept the owl in focus. Of course there are choices in how you set the focus points, which can be optimal for flight or not. But there aren't very many choices on the original 7D, compared to the new version.
Or the issue here may have just been how fast the camera and lens combination could focus with the way you had the focus sensors configured. The new 7D II is an amazing improvement.
I just plain missed the focus, the focus point was above the head of the bird. The camera was set up correctly AI servo, single point AF and high speed continuous. I just wasn't ready but I can learn from that. Unfortunatly the 7D 11 is out of my financial reach but I am not blaming the camera,
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David, I feel your pain and have been there. I try to be patient watching something, terns,etc for a flight shot.....loose patience and start watching nearby ducks or something! All the more reward when we keep focused on the one thing we really want.
I think most people will have a similar tail to tell. From what you have said I don't think you did much wrong apart taking you eye off the subject. The more you practice with your gear and get to know if it will become second nature and you will have more chance of getting a good image. You have certainly got good field craft to get close enough to your subject. I would just say practice and patience and eventually you'll get lucky.
Thanks for the kind words of comfort. much appreciated. I will close this off with something I saw elsewhere on the web. One photo out of focus is a mistake, ten photos out of focus is an experiment, one hundred photos out of focus is a style.
Great saying!! The big secret with this kind of shooting is concentration. Knowing the subject's likely behavior is important, but simply waiting for it is the key. I've learned that if I want a subject to do something, such as turn a head or take flight, all I have to do is glance away or even start thinking about something irrelevant. Works 99% of the time.
would have been nice indeed. did you use AF expansion points? I use that all the time with my 1DIII and it helps keep the lens in focus even if my center point is not on the subject.
Ah man, I feel for you...been there, done that! Your fieldcraft seems to be quite good so just keep at it. You can also set your distance limiter switch to far, this way the focus will pick up the subject quicker.
The Decisive Moment,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Missed!
