countrycameraman.com wrote:
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
Please tell me what you do to capture sharp images... (
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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.