Pymatuning Bill Loc: Jamestown, Pa.

I am a beginner and met a man named Larry at Magee Marsh, Larry directed me here to get help. This is one of my best shots so far and I am not happy that the wings are out of focus. I use a Canon EOS Rebel T7i with a Tamron 18-400mm f/3.5-6.3 lens. The setting on the camera was Tv but I am not sure how many sensors were active. The bird was about 15 yards distance. I used windows photo gallery to crop and enlarge. Any suggestions as to what my camera settings should be for shots like this? The lens was set on auto focus. I use this camera primarily for bird watching. Thanks, Bill.

Pbplayer

What was your shutter speed. In order to stop motion it need to be pretty high.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

You should also "store original" so the metadata remains intact.

Pymatuning Bill Loc: Jamestown, Pa.

I have no idea what the shutter speed was. Maybe 1/1600. I could turn it up to 1/4000, would that be okay?

Dave327 Loc: Duluth, GA. USA

I’m a canon shooter with 2 bodies. I shoot some birds. I have both set up for back button focus, single point focus, Al servo so the focus tracks a moving subject and continues shooting. I shoot manual most of the time with ISO set on auto (mostly). When shooting birds I aim focus for the birds eye. With AI servo you can recompose and still maintain focus. Metadata is the EXIF data that is encoded with every picture. If your are a windows user you can view in pictures under properties, but that is not extensive so I would recommend you get a good EXIF app. They are available for every computer, tablet, smartphone.
I should also mention that back button focus is not available if you shoot in auto mode, it reverts back to the shutter button. I only shoot in auto for the quick grab shot:)

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

Welcome. to UHH. fast shutter speeds for birds in flight(BIF'S).

Joe Blow

Bill, it is difficult to suggest what your setting should be as it depends. What is the light, how much focus do you need, do you need to stop time, etc.

For the photo you submitted I'm making an educated guess that your shutter was at 160 and the aperture was wide open ~ f4.0.

To catch a bird in flight I would boost the shutter (Tv) to 500 minimum, and preferable to 1000. Your aperture (Av) is acceptable, but I would prefer something smaller, such as f6 to f8.0. So how can you do that? Use a flash (not recommended for wildlife), wait for more sunshine, or boost your ISO. The T7i sensor should be good for an ISO here of 3000 and possibly even 6000 before the quality degrades too much.

One caveat with your shutter is it should be equal or greater than the length of your lens. A 400 mm lens should be using a shutter speed (Tv) of 500 or so. (While you may be using the 18mm part, the lens is still 400 mm long.)

So set your ISO to 800 and put the camera in Tv mode at 1000. Do a test shot in that area and see what your aperture is. If necessary boost the ISO to 3000. If your aperture is still at the minimum then drop the shutter (Tv) to 500.

Good luck. Just remember, these are rough guides.

Joe Blow

To add to my above post

Shoot in RAW and JPG. Use the Canon Digital Photo Professional (DPP) program for editing. The RAW files come out with a CR2 attachment. Editing a RAW file will allow more control, especially for things such as bringing up your brightness without losing sharpness or clarity or toning down very bright areas. And it's free.

mikeg492 Loc: WIlmington, NC

Increase your shutter speed it's motion blur not focus

larryim Loc: Ohio

Google Steve Perry and read as much as you can of his excellent tutorials and watch his videos on how to become a better wildlife photographer. He is a Nikon shooter, but most of his work applies to all brands of cameras. I buy all of his ebooks because they are so good, but he posts lots of free stuff. Good luck!

Pymatuning Bill Loc: Jamestown, Pa.

Thank you all who responded. I will heed your advice.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

Next time consider a higher ISO setting and a high shutter speed in the neighborhood of 1/1000sec. perhaps more depending on your subject.

LouV Loc: Juno Beach, FL

With dues respect to Mike, I actually think it is both motion blur and focus, specifically too shallow a depth of field.

You need a smaller aperture to increase the depth of field. Of course, that will force an even slower shutter speed so the solution here would have been to boost your ISO to a point that would have enabled both a higher fstop and higher shutter speed.

woodweasel Loc: bellingham Wa

A lot of great information about this project

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Starting out you may want to use the dreaded AUTO Setting. But that is too easy. You can try priority or aperature settings as well. You need to speed up your shutter speed to capture motion. You need to increase your f/stop so as to get better detail on the feathers. Finally you need to dial up your ISO so as to increase your camera's sensitivity to light. Don't be afraid to experiment. That is what photographers do. Use a monopod to avoid camera shake. After a while you'll learn how to hold the camera with proper stance and the grace to press the shutter gently b

Finally, welcome to the Ugly Hedge Hog. This is you forum to learn share and grow.

Happy Shooting!