brianmen Loc: Sydney Australia

Two days ago I used to kayak in a lagoon to capture the local birdlife. I quickly learned that a kayak is a moving object where a number of the birds I was photographing were stationary. Can anyone give me worthwhile tips on how to achieve sharp focus in this situation. I use back button focus with the shutter button just releasing the shutter. I use either my 5D Mark three or 7D Mark two. For stationary birds I set a single centre focus point. There is a small difference in time between activating the focus and pressing the shutter. For BIF I use the central zone cluster of focal points.

I found the kayak was terrific from the viewpoint that the birds allowed me to come much closer than if I'd been on land. It was also good to capture BIF because I was down at their level when they launched into flight.

I would also welcome tips on ideas I can use to prompt me to change my shutter speed from what I have it set for BIF to a slower shutter speed when I change to photograph a stationary bird. In the excitement of the moment I can forget to do this so I end up with a high ISO resulting in noisy photos. I was really happy with some of the compositions I captured but because of the high ISO I could not process to achieve the clean and sharp image that I could have if the ISO was lower.

Any help greatly appreciated. Cheers Brian

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

I routinely shoot stationary birds from a small bass boat in a river system. Keep the shutter speed as high as you can.

Bright sunny days, a fast lens and shutter speeds in excess of 1/1000 are best. Even on the best days my keeper rate is much lower than when shooting on land.

DOOK Loc: Maclean, Australia

Brian, I use BBF on my D7100. Naturally, the focus mode is 'Continuous'. When I'm shooting birds, I don't release the back button at all until after the shutter release. This pretty well ensures that the bird will be in focus when the shot is taken. It makes no difference whether you or the bird is moving. Many people believe that the back button must be released just before pressing the shutter, other wise damage could be caused. This is crap. I keep my thumb on the back button until after I press the shutter all the time. Logic tells me that it must be more accurate than releasing the button before pressing the shutter, especially on fast moving targets. JMO anyhow. Earl.

brianmen Loc: Sydney Australia

Thanks Joer. I mainly shoot early morning around sunrise and evening into twilight and the challenge of light is normally with me. Mornings are good because the light is gradually increasing. The birds are most active in this time, it's frequently so hot during the day. What aperture and shutter speed are you normally using please? Do you have a preference, aperture, shutter or manual priority? Thanks.

brianmen Loc: Sydney Australia

Thanks Dook. I follow the same principles as you with back button focus. At some stage i'm going to have another crack at this lagoon early morning so I don't struggle with the dying light of the evening. I shoot cannon 5D Mark three or 7D mark two. For stationary Birds I swap to single point AF which I target on the eye and with A I servo mode I don't get an alert when it locks focus, so I'm not sure whether it's locked on or not. With the kayak moving it does make sense to persist with A I server mode. I'll just have to lock in my brain where I set the focus point.

joer Loc: Colorado/Illinois

I've used various outfits over the years. I prefer to shoot at ISO 100, light permitting and never go beyond 400.

Mid-morning to noon is my usual time even though lighting is not ideal but it fits my schedule.

I prefer aperture priority one stop from wide open depending on the lens and conditions.

I recently switched to a D800E and Nikon 300mm f/2.8 II with TC14E II. Just about all my images are cropped because birds are easily spooked and getting close is difficult. That is why I switched to 36MP.

Brian in Whitby Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada

Try stopping the kayak before taking the photo.

brianmen Loc: Sydney Australia

Thanks for the thought Brian. I have done that but wind and current keep you moving the Kayak. DOOKS earlier comment probably solves the issue for me, shoot A I servo mode, that will track the bird and me regardless of if I am moving or the bird is. Thanks again for responding. Cheers
Brian

jcboy3

The problem is that any delay between focus and shutter release can cause loss of focus due to motion.

If you are set on BBF, then use continuous focus and hold the button down.

Or you could just use the shutter button for focus, with the setting to only shoot when focus is achieved, and then just jam the shutter button.

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

you never said what lens you are using. in a case like yours I would go with whatever iso you need to get 2 to3 times your focal length. i.e. a 400mm lens then 1/800-1/1200 sec.