tinwhistle

Tremendous amount of advice aimed at the OP, a lot of it beyond your present capability. Linda kept it simple, directed toward helping you with the immediate problem. Focus. When shooting wildlife, especially birds (which simply do not stand still) and in this case a flying bird at distance, you have one large problem. Under the circumstances you described the images you have are pretty darn good. Just keep shooting. You will get better...

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

I disagree. Full frame with the same lens would have made the bird smaller making things worse.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Oops...........

To late to edit...... the first sentence should have read...."Spot focus is not for bif photos. "

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Just me, but I try to take as many variables out as possible. Learn to shoot manual, manual everything except focus. If I were out and about like you, assuming a clear sky with the sun at your back, take a reading of the sky. Anticipating dark birds, or subjects darker than the sky, go plus 1 to 2 on your exposure (3 to 6 clicks assuming 1/3 increments). Anticipating light colored birds, lighter than the sky, like this egret, go minus 1 or 2. After after a while, you will get the hang of exposure adjustments by the number of clicks (aperture or SS) and you will be able to react quickly to changing subjects. In manual, as long as the light remains constant on your subject, your exposure will remain correct. In an try auto mode, your camera will try to make adjustments on the background lighting which can change while the light oh your subject is the same. Some may suggest spot metering but, I don't care how good you are, trying to keep a single spot on a moving target is no easy task , RE ISO, try to keep it as low as possible while maintaining sufficient speed to freeze your image. Your image quality will improve dramatically. I like to keep my ISO around 800, but I will say, if you are really good with your exposures, keeping your histogram to the right, you can decent images depending on your equipment in the 4000 range. For large, slowing moving subjects like this egret, you could probably go below 1/1000, but to begin with, keep it around 1/1000. For fast moving subjects, like shore birds in flight, you will need shutter speeds well on excess of 1/3000 or more. I spent several days shooting Atlantic Puffins and my best results were shot in excess of a 1/4000 ss. RE aperture, what I have found is that with subjects relatively far away, wide open is fine, allowing you to keep your ISO relatively low while keeping up your shutter speed. Some lenses may not perform well wide open but I use pretty expensive stuff and have no problems wide open. Only when you get in really tight with subjects will you need the additional DOF smaller apertures will provide. Larger apertures with a shallow depth of field also keeps the background soft which I prefer. So that's my 2 cents. I am sure I forgot something, but most of all, practice, practice and practice some more. When you get that keeper, all the time be worth it.

fotoman150

I learned that they do that here. One person told me I don’t have any natural ability in photography and that I had to be born with it.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

I agree. I don't see a huge problem with either focus or blown highlights. Maybe it's just me.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

The biggest problem with the OP is his expectations - considering his equipment, subject distance and lighting !

..

srt101fan

Good point! Basically he did pretty well with what he had to work with.

User ID

`




Very likely the OP did delete various similar frames
from this fly-by. He knows it's not so great, which is
why he avoided deleting ALL frames, cuz that would
leave him no sample photo with which to ask [other
hogs than yourself] for some useful advice.

(no smiley face icon)



`

Pappi_Maize

I would use manual focusing, to avoid the subject not being the point of focus (so your camera focus on something entirely unintended).

aubreybogle Loc: Albuquerque, NM

As usual.

aubreybogle Loc: Albuquerque, NM

Concur. It could be better (probably not by me), but it is one I could happily show my friends talking about my last trip to .... My only minor negative thought, which I recognize is outside the scope of the OP's original post, is that I would have preferred the background less sharp (more boquet). However, we take our subjects when and where we find them with the lens, camera, and light we have at hand, and do the best we can.

DannyKaye Loc: Sheffield now but soon moving to Blanzay

I agree FF does not get the advantage of crop multipliers. However, if this had been taken with my d810 or even my Df the cropped version would have looked better. He also needs good focus follow which seems to be better on most FF compared to most crop sensor cameras.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Bill may not be a UHH member, but he aught to be!

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

There was nothing wrong with your photo that practice won't correct. Here's a Youtube on camera settings for BIF, try them your next time out shooting, they work.

https://digital-photography-school.com/10-must-use-bird-photography-camera-settings-beginners/