Loon Leap-juvenile- shutter priority?

[Cindy Crawford]

Hi everyone- this is my first post on this site, so I thought I'd start here. I was out in my kayak photographing my favorite Loons today. Pulled my camera out of the case- thought I checked the settings, and started shooting. Most results were over or under-exposed, but this one and 2 others in sequence, came out better. As it happens, the setting was changed from my usual" Aperture Priority" to "Shutter Priority". This happens more than I like to admit- a result of a tight camera case that does this for me. :(

So, I never use Shutter Priority (on purpose), but I'm wondering how I could have gotten this same results with AP. Or....something even better-less noisy. Boat was moving, it was windy, bird was moving-handheld but braced on my paddle lying across boat.

Camera: Canon 30D
Lens: 70-200L f4 IS
Settings: TV 1/5000 (!) (I don't know how it got to that setting...:o)
f4
ISO 1600- been using this to GET a fast shutter speed in AP, but a bit noisy at times
Focal Length: 200mm
Crop: 20% removed
Edit: cloned out glaring rock, upper left, PS-a little shadow/highlight to get more detail in whites, Noise reduction and sharpen- Imagenomics.

Other comments most welcome-any kind.

Cindy

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Cindy !!!! Big Time Red Carpet Welcome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shutter priority is useful at times like keeping at sync speed while using flash or doing blurs. Here it would note affect the exposure just the dof by changing the aperture.

For this one I might consider more room up front ( direction of motion) and cropping into a pano to accentuate motion. Exposure looks really good and this is a difficult bird to expose. I'm sure you can have a sequence with the same exposure but some could be over. Will have to do with how the bird is reflecting light from his light side.

Image is very sharp and appealing Will repost with more room up front just adding canvas and the slight crop.

[Cindy Crawford]

Thanks Al- I like the crop and extension- you're right- it propels the little fellow forward. I guess I'll have to learn about shutter Priority, since my camera insists on setting itself! But...can I get 1/5000 using AP? Only way I know how to tweak it is upping the ISO, and even ISO 1600 doesn't produce 1/5000...ay least I've never seen it.

Thanks again for the welcome and the advice.
Cindy

[Alfred Forns]

Both will work the same Cindy. In one you lock the Aperture and the shutter speed changes On the other is the exposure that changes. Normally we want to control the dof so we set the aperture and let the shutter speed vary.

In Av we vary the ISO for the shutter speed range we need with the given aperture. Imagine in you boat I would set aperture wide open to get the highest shutter speed possible. If you need to really crank it. With the 30D you should be in good shape up to 640 Can go higher but will need to work magic with NoiseNinja ... and remember it will loose some sharpness.

The lens you are using is a great performer at max magnification with a 1.4X works out to 400 (including the camera magnification) If the boat is not rocking you should be very safe at 1/400 or slightly less ... remember you have the IS !!!

[Doug Brown]

Cindy, there is nothing magical about either aperture priority or shutter priority. If you are shooting aperture priority and set your lens for wide open, you will get the fastest shutter speed that available light will allow at a given ISO. In shutter priority you can only set your shutter speed as fast as a wide open aperture will let you. Let's look at an example.

You set up your camera on a tripod in an evironment with a controlled and fixed amount of available light. You set your camera to aperture priority and dial in a wide open aperture. You look at your camera's shutter speed and see that it's 1/2000. Next you switch to shutter priority. At a constant ISO, you can't set your shutter speed any faster without underexposing your image, so you again get 1/2000.

In both modes, you get identical exposures (the amount of light that hits the sensor) although the image may look quite different depending on your settings. If your camera settings are f/8 and 1/60, you will get a proper (and identical) exposure with these settings as well: f/5.6 and 1/125, f/4 and 1/250, and f/2.8 and 1/500. At one extreme you have more DOF and a slower shutter speed and at the other extreme you have shallower DOF and a faster shutter speed.

Hope this isn't too confusing!

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Cindy,
Big welcome from the UK!
Great explanation from Doug - and I like your picture as well! Like the crop of Al's repost.
Regards,
Nicki

[Tell Dickinson]

Hi Cindy, I think your problem with Tv was because it was set to 1/5000 and there then was probably not enough light wide open at f4 in some of your shots which would lead to under exposure. If in the Custom options you set 'EXPOSURE SAFETY SHIFT' to 'ON' then if you accidentally move from Av to Tv the 30D will act just like Av at maximum aperture (in this case f4) up to the set shutter speed and then change to proper Tv so you should get more correct exposures :)

Tell

PS I like the shot as well :)

[Lance Peters]

Hi Cindy - Welcome :) :)

You will soon get the hang of how it all works.

Keep them coming

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Big Welcome to the family.
Great capture, very detailed and love the background.
congrats,

[Harold Davis]

hi cindy!! welcome to BPN!! love your first post. got some great feedback from everyone above. keep em coming!!

[Cindy Crawford]

Thanks Tell! I wasn't aware of that function- good thing to know about. Now if only some button could be pushed to lock my memory...;)

Cindy

Hi Cindy, I think your problem with Tv was because it was set to 1/5000 and there then was probably not enough light wide open at f4 in some of your shots which would lead to under exposure. If in the Custom options you set 'EXPOSURE SAFETY SHIFT' to 'ON' then if you accidentally move from Av to Tv the 30D will act just like Av at maximum aperture (in this case f4) up to the set shutter speed and then change to proper Tv so you should get more correct exposures :)

Tell

PS I like the shot as well :)

[Cindy Crawford]

Thank you so much, everyone, for your warm welcomes and helpful replies. I am looking forward to learning a lot here, and hopefully even helping someone else out . Meanwhile, I gotta go practise...I duno why it's so hard to keep all these photography concepts into my brain- I guess I am used to doing things intuitively rather than scientifically. :D

Warm regards to all,

Cindy

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Cindy,
A big welcome to the BPN family. I only have one bone to pick with you, since all of the techs. have been well addressed by Mr. Forns and Doug...:D The first order of business is to get yourself a bigger camera bag...:eek::D Your gear should not be tight or too loose; it should be slightly snug...:D Well all that being said, I like your image and exposure. Mr. Forns pano effect takes this one over the top...looking foward to your next creation...:cool:

[Amy DeStefanis]

Hi Cindy,

I loved your post on Harold's lizard picture.... who knew????

Well, your ISO setting certainly got you your fast shutter speed! :) Stopping the action is what you want to do in a case like this, but yes, you had some room to slow it down a tad, and give yourself more Depth of Field with smaller aperture.

This is probably covered above, but whether your camera will set a 1/5000 shutter speed based on your Aperture setting all depends on the available light.

Welcome to the board.
Amy D.

[Cindy Crawford]

Thanks, Gus. I have a Think Tank holster bag- it's really nice, but yes, it's slightly snug. Can't really afford the next size up...and I think it's waaay too big anyway.., so I guess I'll just have to be more observant about the setting. :D Still looking for the perfect bag....

Cindy

Hi Cindy,
A big welcome to the BPN family. I only have one bone to pick with you, since all of the techs. have been well addressed by Mr. Forns and Doug...:D The first order of business is to get yourself a bigger camera bag...:eek::D Your gear should not be tight or too loose; it should be slightly snug...:D Well all that being said, I like your image and exposure. Mr. Forns pano effect takes this one over the top...looking foward to your next creation...:cool: