WillieM Loc: Long Island, NY

Is there a filter that will give my overhead bird photo more detail. My photo's of birds against the sky usually result in very nice silhouettes with little to no detail.

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speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

That is because you expose for the sky if you shoot in any of the auto modes, a filter will not make any difference, only a manual set exposure will give you the desired results, although, likely with a blown out sky.

WillieM Loc: Long Island, NY

Thanks...for the most part I focus manually due to the fact that the auto focus does not like to operate against a sky background.

Shellback Loc: North of Cheyenne Bottoms Wetlands - Kansas

A trick I was taught was Shutter priority (1250 or higher for bif) - and set your exp comp over by 2 - that will capture the colors of the bird - probably will have kick up the iso too. Play with it by shooting things above you - street lights, satellite dishes, chimneys, etc... until you are comfortable with the settings and getting the exposure you want...

Hope this helps.

WillieM Loc: Long Island, NY

helps a lot....thank you very much!

dugole Loc: Matawan, New Jersey

When shooting BIFs I use spot metering, and I generally use a cluster of 9 focal points for auto focus. This has worked well for me.

WillieM Loc: Long Island, NY

Thanks...will also give this a try!

Swamp Gator Loc: Coastal South Carolina

Ok, well focus and exposure are two separate issues.

What camera are you using that will not AF on an open sky bird shot?

WillieM Loc: Long Island, NY

Canon 50d. It is very finicky when auto focusing anything in which I am shooting directly up at sky or the sky is larger amount of area to be shot. I have attached photo taken last week in which auto focus was on again off again. Not having done this before I hope you can download attached photo

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mborn Loc: Massachusetts

:thumbup:

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I agree.... no filter should be necessary.



Cannot see the photo, but it's probably not the fault of the camera. It usually isn't.

I never had any focusing problems shooting bird-in-flight photos with my 50D's.



50D has 9 cross type AF points. The center one is an enhanced type, but only when used with f2.8 or faster lenses. With slower than f2.8 lens, all 9 of the AF points are pretty equally capable of tracking fast moving subjects....



If you are having trouble tracking fast moving subjects with 50D, it's more likely the lens you are using, which you didn't mention. Canon's USM lenses (or Sigma HSM, Tamron USD) are typically the fastest focusing....



And/or it could be your setup and technique. Hopefully you are using AI Servo. That's the correct focus mode for moving subjects. Personally I prefer to use a single AF point and control exactly where the camera and lens are focusing. But if shooting against a sky with no significant detail, such as bids-in-flight, it's possible to use all points and let the camera automatically select the point. You also might want to use Back Button Focusing (http://www.learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2011/backbutton_af_article.shtml). That's a popular technique with sports shooters.

The biggest problem shooting birds (or anything else) against a sky is that the sky is quite bright and you are shooting the shadow side of the subject, so letting the camera set the exposure with any of the AE modes (Tv, Av, P), the subject is very likely to be underexposed. It will help to use +1.0 or even +2.0 Exposure Compensation. Or set up fully manual exposure. Or use a flash to fill the shadowed side of the subject.

If shooting without flash, it may be that when you expose correctly for the subject (bird), the sky will be too over-exposed. That can be dealt with by selecting only the sky in post-processing and reducing the exposure a bit.

Hope this helps!

WillieM Loc: Long Island, NY

Thank you for the info....very helpful. My birding lens is a
Canon 70-300mm F/4-5.6L
The issue with focusing happens when shooting overhead. The auto focus keeps trying to adjust. I don't think it is a mechanical issue. I will definitely make sure that I am using the AI Servo
The attached photo was taken using manual focus with my
EF 70 - 300
Again, thanks for the info