Pretty much all I have posted to date are images that are about a year old. This image however is one I took today.
Not for the purpose of a great image but more a work product of the practice session I started today after re reading The Art of Bird Photography I and II and Art's user guide for the 7d. Those are excellent references and I found that if I was careful and did the things that Art has laid out, I can improve my results if I practice them over and over.
My goal for today was similar to a shortstop in spring training that takes 100s of ground balls, fields bunts and etc until muscle memory makes it routine. As an old coach, I know that you have to be able to do it properly in practice before you can expect to do it in a game. (Note: my next game is Galapagos in March)
We had a rainy, windy day in Baton Rouge, so the field work I planned was scrapped so I decided to work out in my back yard. I set up my tripod, camera, lens, better beamer and etc, balanced as Art suggests, set my camera config as he outlines, and then went to work. I started taking images of everything from door knobs, thermometers, neighbors chimneys, flowers and yes a few birds and squirrels.
I was not worried about composition but wanted to be able to use the sharp focusing techniques in Art's book and rapidly manipulate the camera. Early on I had more flubs than successes and missed a few shots simply because I made the wrong adjustment or did it too slowly....but as i continued through the paces, things got better and better. I made better adjustments and did them more quickly.
The image included is a squirrel that is nothing special other than I gripped the tripod, head and camera as Art says in his book for an above head shot, used the C1-C3 settings he suggested, added some exposure compensation, and rapidly changed the AF from 19 pt to Single point AF due to the cover. The image has not been edited, sharpened or anything other than creating a jpeg to download to the site. Could it be better, sure but ... I felt I made progress today and since I am eager to learn plan to keep at the practice. This site and the folks on it are a treasure trove for me. If I check my ego at the door and put in the time, maybe one day I will take images similar to some many of the glorious images I see on this site. At that time I will be proud to put a copyright on it knowing how much I owe to this Art, this forum and the folks helping me along the way
Peace
grasshopper
Tv 1/1000sec @ f/5.6 @ ISO 3200 @ Ev +1 Canon 7d 500mm+ 1.4x
Hey Steve, I second your sentiments. I am 8 months into DSLR and rely on my own discipline and BPN resources. I have a 7D and 100-400mm, CS5, LR and Art's "Art of Bird Photography I and II... I agree these forums are a treasure trove and they serve as a backbone to my learning curves. What you did today makes the most sense and I will follow the techniques and see if I make my gains.
I have a 10 day trip to Panama approaching in April and I want to hit a few home runs when I get to the plate along with less hit and misses. Well, one home run would be sweet!
Thanks Steve, see you in the "field!" Ann
Adapt, overcome and improvise. After reading your thought process I know a 7D, 500mm lens and Artie's book are in very capable hands. Keep them coming.
You were right about the cutoff of the bottom of the squirrel...problem was it was either the head or the foot....went with the foot that I could not see anyway because of the leaves...and the squirrel was a hungry ole sole...he finished these holly berries and was gone in a blink of an eye to another tree in my yard...main goal here was to focus well and to stop the furious eating motion and leaves blowing in the wind before he ran...
also trying to get to BC in August...mighty nice up there that time of year, eh?
Blurred foreground elements blocking a view of the subject hardly ever work, and this image is no exception. However the lighting and exposured was good and noise was well controlled at at ISO 3200. (iit wasn't a typo was it?)
Squirrels are very good subjects to hone your skills on. Plenty of detail, usually quite approachable, and they often stop what they are doing and remain motionless. The lesson to be learned here, and I'm sure you already know it, is that avoiding things that block a view of the subject should be a primary consideration when looking through the viewfinder. Of course sometimes is unavoidable, and in those cases it is best (IMO) to bring these into as sharp focus as the subject with DOF. A recognizable branch or leaf is much more likely to be accepted by the viewer as part of the scene than a blurry "something". regards~Bill
Last edited by WIlliam Maroldo; 02-02-2011 at 02:26 PM.
Thanks Bill, goal here was actually four things-get a sharp focus with the 500 and 1.4x , rapidly make the EV adjustment, stop the action (I am sure that strong cold front blew thru Houston yesterday with the heavy skies -3200 was not a typo as ISO was on auto) of both the squirrel and the leaves and lastly, instantly change AF modes and point selection....was not worried about composition at all as yesterday was not the day to move around in all that weather. It was almost like a video game out there yesterday as i practice rapidly turning, tracking and doing all these other things on all sorts of items so when I go back into the field I will be able to execute adding on the composition. as the day ran on, I got pretty quick in making the adjustments. Overall, the images I took ended up with sharper focus than I had been getting and the EV adjustments certainly came more quickly.
I know Steve that you were getting familiar with the equipment, but since this is a critique forum I thought I' d give one nonetheless. Auto ISO?
As is often is the case with people new to avian photography there seems alot to learn, especially about the capability of the equipment, but I would concentrate on photography basics (its really quite simple) and suggest going strictly manual to get an idea of whats really going on. Pick the ISO(depending on light available), the shutter-speed (depending on the focal length and speed the subject is moving) and the aperture (depending on what type of DOF you need). Then get proficient in reading your camera's histogram. Autofocus, on the other hand, is very useful and manually focusing can be a real problem, but again simple "spot AF" is all you need 90% of the time.
Personally, and I'm pretty sure I'm an exception, all I realy need with a digital camera is ability to quickly adjust the ISO, shutter-speed and aperture, a histogram, a relatively high MP sensor, a good dynamic range, and responsive AF system. Things like aperture priority (and EV adjustments) are useful when lighting is changing too rapidly to adjust manually, but often "guesses" your cameras software makes are worse that "guesses" you make yourself.
regards~Bill
Appreciate the input....interesting the Auto ISO came from the suggested setup on the 7D published by Art in his user guide as one option when you want to maintain a high shutter speed as in shooting from a boat. I actually set this up ahead of shooting out a boat next week as we are making a trek into the Atchafalaya Basin to get some images of Eagles.
Art talks about having his c3 set up for blurs or the option below:
"If I want to use C3 to maintain a minimum shutter speed such as when working handheld from a boat, I will raise the shutter speed as needed (usually to 1/500 sec), dial in the proper exposure compensation, and set Auto ISO. The camera will then automatically raise the ISO to ensure that I can maintain my desired shutter speed."
The extreme ISO no doubt was due to the fact I needed to freeze the action under very heavy dark skies and wind...Pretty extreme conditions but that was okay as it was good practice
Most times my basic setup is in Manual mode for BIF (which I copy to C3 which means it takes a full quick hard clockwise turn if I want a base starting point for BIF) which means I start off with the ISO at 400....other base setting are shutter 1/ 800, aperture 5.6 or 6.3, evaluative metering, hi speed, AF servo . This simply had Auto ISO for Art's boat suggestion so all I would have to do is a quickly make EV adjust(which as I remember was a carryover from previous shots since the aperture was blinking indicating under exposure) and in this case change the AF Mode. The boat suggestion Art makes is a good one as I usually am the boat operator and want to take pics so speed and simplicity is often the answer to my multitasking.... I have historically shot the spot AF per a 7d setup guide by Doug Brown I used last year...Art reports good success with BIF in the 19 point and Canon recommends it- which is why I want to re explore.... did not get to try the 19 point to shoot BIF yesterday but do plan to shortly, thoughts?
I have all 3 custom modes set for starting points of different circumstances. Since a lot of my photo ops come during other activities, configuration speed for different scenarios is critical.
By the way, if you ever want to come this direction, I have good access to pretty good birding property (one area where farmland is being converted back to waterfowl habitat, crawfish farm, coastal marsh, several NWRs in SW Louisiana and more...always interested in learning
Last edited by Steve Uffman; 02-02-2011 at 07:25 PM.
Steve, you are way more advanced than I was thinking.
My suggestion has to deal with all the facts, information, and technical jargon that confronts a newbie that tends to make photography seem much more complicated than it really is, and getting back to the basics is helpful (to me at least).
It was in the 20s last night in Houston, got up to 34 today with rolling blackouts, and there is snow in the forcast. Maybe I can can actually get pictures of birds in snow. On second thought I think I'll stay inside where its warm, at least most of the time.
Sure, I can head on over to La. Heck, I often go to Anahuac NWR or High Island that is more than half the way there. More on auto-ISO later. regards~Bill
I like the discussion that is going on here! I don't think you can go wrong with any of Artie's suggestions but I also agree that you should continue to play around with different settings and combinations of settings to see what works best for YOU and the type of photography / lighting / subject you are working with.
I think you did a pretty good job of focusing in on that squirrel with all the tree movement going on and the fact that it was in pretty heavy foliage. If I were going to critique it like a normal image on ETL I'd say it's a bit low in contrast and backing up to include the entire animal would have definitely been the way to go (or move in closer and go for more of a portrait head & shoulders look.)
I'm so glad you're finding this to be a useful site for your photography journey, Steve. I know the first six months I was here I moved ahead by light years as I honed in on what to do and what not to do. After a year or two of daily shooting I wasn't even in the same ballpark as where I once started. Giving back a little of what was given to me is such a joy for me and I get so excited to see people such as yourself move from the beginner to advanced stages of their photography. Keep up the practice - it WILL reward you when the time comes to head to the big ring.
thanks Julie....need prayers I am setting up Photoshop cs5 with the recs from "Photoshop cs5 for Nature Photographers" as we speak.... Full immersion ahead with the weather so bad that I can not get outside
Tip of the Hat to Art and the BPN reviewers
