amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Sorry, but I disagree. And I agree with the other response... he or she nailed it.

The various AE modes can be used. In large part it's a matter of which mode you're most accustomed to using. I do a lot of action photography of various types using aperture priority AE mode.... so that I can control the depth of field and background blur effects. When doing that, it's just a matter of keeping an eye on your shutter speeds and tweaking the ISO if needed.

For me, it depends upon the situation. For BIF, I'm more inclined to use shutter priority or M + Auto ISO, to insure a fast shutter speed to freeze action or a slower one for some deliberate blur effects.

I also don't entirely agree with using multi-point AF mode (zone or area or "all points"), as was suggested in some previous responses. That's risky with BIF because the camera and lens might focus on the nearer wingtip. So it depends upon the aperture being used, distance to the subject, and the size/wingspan of the bird. With a large aperture, closer subject with a large wind, the head and body of the bird can be badly out of focus if the AF system locks onto the wingtip. In those situations, it's better to use a single point and work to keep it right on the bird's head and eye, or on its neck or body nearby. But in other situations where the bird is smaller, it's farther away and a smaller aperture is being used, multi-point AF of one type or another can work well.

One of the trickiest things about BIF is shooting against a blue sky. It will commonly cause the camera to want to under-expose.... plus you are often shooting the shadow side of the subject. If you are using a large area metering pattern (such as center weighted or evaluative/matrix), some + exposure compensation is usually needed. If you are using a spot metering mode (which is centered in the image area of many cameras, forcing you to center the subject), even more + E.C. may be needed if it's a dark colored bird and you are shooting its shaded side.

Shoot RAW to have more latitude to tweak exposure in post-processing, too! Even though the shot below is the sunlit side of the hawk, the image was under-exposed and needed close to a stop of boost in post processing (shaded side would have been even worse)....



I simply wasn't prepared when that red tail suddenly flew close by. I'd been shooting something else in the shade, had the wrong lens on the wrong camera with the wrong settings! But when opportunity swoops past and there was no time to make changes.... well, I gotta try!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Not at home right now. I will step you through it later.

scsdesphotography Loc: Southeastern Michigan

Hi guru, Happy Holidays, if anything can be learned from these posts is that their are multiple paths (multiple variations on the three basic settings) to getting a successful image of birds or anything. This is all about assigning priorities to the exposure triangle based on your subject. But it is also about achieving a balance to produce the best quality image. Here are my suggestions, guidelines if you will, for deciding what settings to start with.

I'm moving or the subject is moving - Shutter priority - use a high enough shutter speed to freeze the motion - aperture and ISO are a slave to shutter speed.

Depth of field, either shallow or deep, is more important - Aperture priority - wide open produces pleasing bokeh in the background - stopped down puts everything in focus front to back - shutter and ISO are a slave to your f stop.


Low light - ISO is your priority (Manual or Program mode) - shutter and aperture are a slave to the available light.


If your shooting in challenging situations, then going full manual mode may be the only way to get the right exposure balance.


Have fun catching those birds in flight.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Not a great lens for birding - but not the wurst either .....

I use facial stabilizers and lens holding bracket (for af and compositional accuracy), and in general 1/1250 @400mm wide open (6.3 in your case), auto ISO ( unless there is NO clouds or ALL clouds - in which case MANUAL ISO), if hand holding for BIF, otherwise for stationary birds I am on a monopod or bodypod. I avoid tripods at almost all costs. Using a camera with an EVF definitely helps with getting correct exposures !

..

neillaubenthal

Following the advice of Steve Perry at backcountrygallery.com I have shifted my BIF...and even it’s not in flight to manual with auto ISO.

Set aperture to what is needed for the shot...usually wide open on my 7500 with Nikon 18-300 or Sigma 50-500 and then rotate the command dial to get shutter speed needed while watching ISO in the viewfinder. Anything below about ISO 2500 doesn’t really degrade the image much and it lets me get a high enough shutter speed for action freeze.

These days...I shoot most all of my non. It’d shots that way too...it works very well along with back button focusing.

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Get Steve's book, he's a really good wildlife photographer and a really nice person, too! I've shot with him in Costa Rica. Back button does a good job but sometimes I've gone back to the shutter, too, it depends, for me, on the circumstances. I use auto-ISO and aperture priority at f/5.6 most often (at a wider aperture you risk not getting enough of the bird sharp unless the bird is heading directly toward you) to get a faster shutter speed. It takes some training to follow a bird in flight. I recommend that you practice by observing what the birds are doing where you are photographing, then once you've done that find a bird that looks like it might take off and keep an eye on it. Practice with larger first as they are slower and you will most likely have more success. Try to get a sequence of the bird leaving the perch and then continue all the way until the bird is gone, use continuous shutter mode and practice technique. I use a tripod with a ball head and a sidekick due to the longer, heaver lens (Nikon 200-500 for the most part) and you might also need to practice with that. It takes a person with a quick response time to get sharp shots of birds in flight. If you do a hand-held approach, which I sometimes do, too, lock your elbows into your body and learn to turn with the bird while you are in place. When you do get advice, be sure to check out the photos of the person giving advice so that you can determine if the advice is worthy. Good luck.

throughrhettseyes Loc: Rowlett, TX

Watch Mark Smith videos on you tube. He is great and will help you with camera settings (focusing birds, auto ISO, manual mode, back focus button, ect.)

DaveJ Loc: NE Missouri

For those looking how to set up 2 button BBF on Canon 7D Mk II and 5d Mk IV ref. above, I found the following website post. Unfortunately, it does not seem to work on my 6d Mk II. If anyone know how to do it on a 6d MK II , let me know. HTH

https://shuttermuse.com/how-to-set-up-double-back-button-af/

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I see someone already beat me to it. Here is the link he posted if you haven'r already seen it.

https://shuttermuse.com/how-to-set-up-double-back-button-af/

Let me know if its not clear, or if you need more specific feedback on what you want to accomplish.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Have we lost the OP?

whitehall Loc: Canada

Thanks. It worked went for three button BF. Now i just have to recall to switch buttons when appropriate lol

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

Update Steve Perry info:

https://backcountrygallery.com/secrets-to-stunning-wildlife-photography/

swartfort Loc: Evansville, IN

I too use the D7500, but with a smaller nikor 70-300 AF-S VR G ED lens.

First.... and most humbly, BIF is a learning experience and you will miss MANY more shots that you get!!! If you get a 10% keeper rate, you are WAY ahead of most of us. AND, the better you get, the more picky you become on what you keep. I'm sure Steve Perry deletes shots that I would be ecstatic to have on my card.

When I started, I was worried about catching the action in focus and with proper exposure. I used Shutter priority to keep the speed up so that I would not get "wing blur". As I got better, I found that I started to look at the not only the subject, but the overall composition of the image. Suddenly background became as important as subject. (for me, no man made objects or distracting glares or shadows in image) Then after I got better at that, it became DOF and the beautiful colors of the background. Now I am using all of this to not only get the BIF, but to make sure that I am positioned so that I know that they will fly into the area with the highest probability of giving me a chance to capture something I can work with!! I get excited if I am actually spending time PP 5% of my shots. Remember, pixels are FREE!!

I am currently shooting Manual, Auto ISO, BBF, center weighted meter, aperture as wide open as possible (unless bird has a wide wingspan and I need more DOF). Depending on the size of the bird, shutter speed 1600-3200/sec (the larger the bird, the slower the wing speed) If the bird is light ( egret, ibis, wood stork) I will set my Exposure control to -.7 to - 1.3 so that the whites are not blown out.

NOW, having shared all of that, I am still learning so much. I have yet to have success with the "group focus" setting. (It is one of the major reasons I purchased the d7500 instead of the d7200.) So I am still shooting single spot focus. But I keep trying, I have yet to play with 9,21,3d, or dynamic focus modes!!

Here are a couple of pictures that may show my learning curve!!

taken in march of 2018 I was so happy with this when I took it!!!

(Download)

taken in December 2018 *note the chick in the nest"

(Download)

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Oh yes, I AGREE !

lakeside Loc: Texas

I checked out your Flickr link. You say you're new to photography, well it sure doesn't show. Awesome work! Enjoyed the visit and will go back when I have more time to study as I am new to bird photography and have a lot to learn. Every time I shoot I learn something and also learn from UHH.