Sheri, you aren't doing anything 'wrong'. There are many ways to skin the cat but you are still coming up with the best exposure combination you can. Minimum f stop and maximum desired ISO will just result in a shutter speed you have to live with. If you tried using speed priority, if you tried setting anything faster, the camera will go to the max f stop and you will be underexposed anyway.
I have limited equipment like you and I just take it as a challenge to do my best. Practice your shooting skills... take a breath, hold it and squeeze that shutter as smoothly as you can. Try a monopod if you have one or find something to help support you or your camera. I will often have the camera pushed up against a tree trunk or use something like that to stabilize myself.
Anyway, just saying that Yvan's advice is good BUT in an example like this where you shutter speed was very slow, 1/60, you would be way underexposed if you tried shutter priority with a shutter speed anywhere approaching 1/400.
I keep forgetting about that rule of thumb. I just set my f-stop as low as it will go, ISO at 800...about as high as I can stand it, and hope the speed will be enough (I'm on aperture priority...I should probably leap out and try some completely manual shots though, and set the speed). Thank you Yvan!
Hi Sheri,
with birds photography , i found that i have to allways favor high speed setting to overcome movement and by the way out of focus cause by movement.
with a 400mm, rule of thumb, the speed should allways match the focal,
example: 400mm lens, 1/400 sec minimum.
so i set my camera to 1/400 shutter priority, and a high ISO 800 to have a good deep of field.
Your bird is perfectly in focus !!!!!
High zoom 600mm with low aperture, are to much expensive. , try to loan one for a week-end.
Nicely done !!!!
I agree that we need to take many shots to end up with one good one! But, can you imagine how much work it was for Mr. Adams to get his crop of 12 significant photographs? He shot large format negatives (an 8"x10" negative would be small for him!) which means he lugged a HUGE camera and tripod into remote areas to get the chance at, possibly, one shot per day. Then, when he got back to civilization, he would spend time in his dark room creating beautiful pictures. Now-a-days I can shoot a couple hundred images on an outing, spend an hour at the computer post processing and then minutes printing or posting the good ones - which may be 10 or 20.... Times hace certainly changed!
I found it.... 'Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop' Ansel Adams. I'm about to throw a few thousand away and keep a few. Always hoping for that one really good one.
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Sheri, you aren't doing anything 'wrong'. There are many ways to skin the cat but you are still coming up with the best exposure combination you can. Minimum f stop and maximum desired ISO will just result in a shutter speed you have to live with. If you tried using speed priority, if you tried setting anything faster, the camera will go to the max f stop and you will be underexposed anyway.
I have limited equipment like you and I just take it as a challenge to do my best. Practice your shooting skills... take a breath, hold it and squeeze that shutter as smoothly as you can. Try a monopod if you have one or find something to help support you or your camera. I will often have the camera pushed up against a tree trunk or use something like that to stabilize myself.
Anyway, just saying that Yvan's advice is good BUT in an example like this where you shutter speed was very slow, 1/60, you would be way underexposed if you tried shutter priority with a shutter speed anywhere approaching 1/400.
I keep forgetting about that rule of thumb. I just set my f-stop as low as it will go, ISO at 800...about as high as I can stand it, and hope the speed will be enough (I'm on aperture priority...I should probably leap out and try some completely manual shots though, and set the speed). Thank you Yvan!
Fantastic shot, very nice light
Thanks so much for the nice comments, this Sandhill was a youngster, light grey without any brown..
Hi Sheri,
with birds photography , i found that i have to allways favor high speed setting to overcome movement and by the way out of focus cause by movement.
with a 400mm, rule of thumb, the speed should allways match the focal,
example: 400mm lens, 1/400 sec minimum.
so i set my camera to 1/400 shutter priority, and a high ISO 800 to have a good deep of field.
Your bird is perfectly in focus !!!!!
High zoom 600mm with low aperture, are to much expensive. , try to loan one for a week-end.
Nicely done !!!!
In my point of view, your composition is simply P E R F E C T !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, that is a great looking portrait.
Very nice portrait! A white Sandhill Crane! I've never seen one that colour. All the ones I've seen vary between grey and brown...
I agree that we need to take many shots to end up with one good one! But, can you imagine how much work it was for Mr. Adams to get his crop of 12 significant photographs? He shot large format negatives (an 8"x10" negative would be small for him!) which means he lugged a HUGE camera and tripod into remote areas to get the chance at, possibly, one shot per day. Then, when he got back to civilization, he would spend time in his dark room creating beautiful pictures. Now-a-days I can shoot a couple hundred images on an outing, spend an hour at the computer post processing and then minutes printing or posting the good ones - which may be 10 or 20.... Times hace certainly changed!
I found it.... 'Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop' Ansel Adams. I'm about to throw a few thousand away and keep a few. Always hoping for that one really good one.