countrycameraman.com Loc: South Georgia

Please tell me what you do to capture sharp images when presented with only a 2-3 second window with moving animals. I shoot wildlife, mostly deer and wild turkey. Pictures of them with head down eating have far less value than shots of them standing erect and alert, or even facing the camera. Problem is - they most often merely raise their head for a second or two before resuming feeding, begging for me to yank the shutter and blur the shot. I know about faster shutter speed, higher ISO, etc, but 90% of the time I'm shooting in poor light late evening. Any suggestions will be seriously appreciated. Buck

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Shoot at least 10 frames per second and have a good sized memory card .....and on tripod or monopod is possible

fredpnm Loc: Corrales, NM

For a man who has been shooting for over 40 years, this strikes me as a question from one just starting out.

Having said that you did not tell us what camera/lens you are using. Since you are shooting in low light, if you don't already have a camera that excels in low light, time you get one. Sony, for example,

countrycameraman.com Loc: South Georgia

Thanks for the tip, Fred. Family budget rules out purchase of new and better gear. Am shooting Nikon D7100 with Nikon 200-500 on very sturdy Induro tri-pod. When ISO climbs above 1600, I get way too much noise. Using my Lightroom 5, I can eliminate some of it, but not enough to be proud of the results.

fredpnm Loc: Corrales, NM

The Adobe Photo Plan is $10/month - worth every penny. The current Lightroom has a wonderful DeNoise feature (for RAW files only) that I would bet can solve your noise issues. I haven't checked of late, but perhaps Adobe has a trial period for the LR/PS package.

rcorne001 Loc: Cary, NC

Use of the tripod is good to help reduce movement, so you got a solid first step. Perhaps add a camera cable release as well. Get the subject framed up, then stand back, relax and have the release in hand ready to press during that one or two second window. That should remove the "yank" effect.

For post processing help with noise, download a trial copy of Topaz Denoise. Last I knew you got 30 days. You could also try Topaz Photo AI, which sort of combines processing or their DeNoise and Sharpen products. That would allow you to see which (if either) fit your processing approach.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

I am assuming you have a full frame camera. I would suggest either getting an EM-1 mkIII, EM-5 mkIII, OM-1, or OM-5 4/3rds camera with Pro Capture. Or getting a full frame camera with a similar function in it (many do not have it yet). This way it is capturing images just before you press the shutter button that may capture the actual action that you desire. It is worthwhile giving it consideration. As far as the low light consideration, the OM-1 is the best for low light conditions and closest to matching many full frame's low light abilities. Well worth the consideration and testing it out.

User ID

Good advice. And in that vein, if your camera happens to be about due for an upgrade look into those models which feature a "preburst" drive mode (aka "pro capture").

User ID

INSANE !!!

Olympus Pro Capture is *insanely* effective.

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Some technology does stuff that humans are either too unskilled or too lazy to do on their own. But Pro Capture (aka Preburst) actually does something that humans just cannot ever do on their own. Thaz *real* progress.

Capn_Dave

10 Frames per second leaves his camera out. It will do 6 FPS. The suggestion of the Adobe Photographer Plan at 10 bucks a month is a good one. Lightroom has a very good noise reduction. Far better than the old version of Lightroom you are using

rmcgarry331

Try to position yourself where the sun is at your back. Keep the animal in clear light, not shadows. Anticipate the action, by watching. Start shooting early, when you think it's about to pick-up its head, and keep shooting. Remember, you will need cull a lot of bad images, to find the one or two gems. Under-exposure causes more noise, than high ISO. Use AP or manual with auto ISO. Only allow the camera to control only one setting, if any. Your D7100 lens and tripod are more than capable of producing great wildlife images. Remember, many great wildlife images were taken on ISO 400 film with 2fps manual focus cameras. Just expect to only get a couple of good shots, from a session. As far as PP, try to crop-out or clone out shadows, to reduce noise. Also reduce sharpening and add blur to those areas. If you do get the budget to upgrade, the $120/year Adobe Photography Plan is a good start, probably more important than a new camera body. Just remember you may need to upgrade your computer hardware to use it.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

To the specifics of your question, shoot from a tripod. Now, you're not jerking the camera. Rather, you have the subject framed and an AF point selectively pre-positioned to where they will (should) raise their eyes, all you have to do is release the shutter at the right time. Good wildlife shots are about preparation and patience.

The ideas in this link are more general. To your wildlife needs, use AF-C and a selectively placed single AF point, at the slowest shutter speed needed for the subject. If you're shooting a feeding animal, that's in the 1/500 sec or slower range, depending on the available light and aperture selected. A 1- or 2-second burst of 3 to 10 total images is good enough for each time the framing and pose is good, then repeated as long as possible (patience) until the animal moves on.

How to obtain sharp images in digital photography

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Shot at a minimum of 1/1000 sec. or faster. Up your ISO or go to auto ISO to get that minimum speed.
Also shot a burst if you can, say at least 5 fames per second.
Make sure you have a appropriate focusing system set up, Group, single, what ever your camera has that has been good for you in the past.
Also, if you can, keep your camera focused on them while they do not have their head up, then as it comes up, start blasting away.
Ideally your f stop should be 2 or 3 down from wide open. Say your lens is a F4, then your ideal f stop should be f8. But, if you have a fast lens, usually wide open is good for them.
Good luck and keep on shooting until the end.
And, when you look for a new camera, look for one that has PRE CAPTURE, this feature could be helpful to you. When you press the shutter button half way down to focus, the camera starts recording images, you can set the camera for how many, then, when you press the button all the way down, your camera will already have 10-20 images recorded, and by the way, most camera's will only record a 1 second or more burst that you have set up. Say you set up your camera to record 10 images for one second, so, as your holding the shutter button down half way, it is recording 10 images the first second, then the camera will dump those and record 10 more the next second, the camera will continue to do this until you fully depress the shutter.
This PRE CAPTURE is important because most photographers will hesitate a fraction of a second when pushing the shutter button down, so this way you will not miss that moment when you would be pressing down on the shutter and missing that important moment. Anyway, something to consider.
Good luck and keep on shooting until the end.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Pro capture for Olympus, Nikon calls it Pre Capture, same thing, really ground breaking technology. Love that stuff.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

We worship sharpness too much these days. Where does ‘art’ fit in?????