I am not a wildlife photographer; however, I work with an excellent wildlife photographer. You have received a lot of very good advice, but I think you may be missing the most important item in wildlife images. Patience. My friend shoots with a beatup T6 that should have been sent to the bin a long time ago, but he has patience. Several blinds scattered about several acres and he will spend all day, literally from pre dawn to past sunset in a blind. Cold, snow, pouring rain, high wind, you name it, he's there when the image is there. BY the way, I don't see anything wrong with the two images you showed us.
wdross
Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
countrycameraman.com wrote:
Truly appreciate all the great suggestions and advice you fellas are sharing. Per your request Larry, I'm attaching a couple of shots here to illustrate my opinion of good vs poor results. Plus more info on the procedure I use. Shoot 100% in manual. JPEG only. Shoot from fixed position, no way to move shooting angle around (shoot thru opening of glass pane removed from window. I think the turkey image is good. Taken in sunlight at about 85 yards. Mother/daughter deer shot was taken at maybe 35 yards during late evening, and I consider it marginal at best unless you like soft images.
Truly appreciate all the great suggestions and adv... (
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Tinwhistle may have the best suggestion. Patience may be your best option. New equipment would help and shooting hints will also help. Trying shooting changes from time to time to see if they help you with your shooting. But all this too will require patience. The two pictures show us all that you know how to shoot. Patience is something none of us can give you. But Tinwhistle's suggest that you do your best at increasing patience may be the best one.
Just experiment with faster shutter speeds, and carry a whistle. When you want them to raise their
heads or freeze, "blow your whistle" and they will stop and alert to your sudden shrill sound.
(And then they run away). For some species of animals, (try a hunters mating call), to see if that will
get their attention. Of course, if it's not mating season, they might ignore you.
You might be asking too much from the camera. . The write speed of the card and buffer size of the camera can limit your frames per second, so get a card that will not slow down the camera. High shutter speed will reduce camera shake effects. Professionals say they take many photos to get the money making shot.
I do not generally shoot wildlife so some of what I write may not be correct. Use continuous shutter and start shooting as soon as the animal moves. I am not sure what the best focus method would be; but if you are not panning maybe pre focus and then switch to manual focus on the lens so the camera is not refocusing. Low light tend to drive us to using large lens apertures that reduce depth of fields. Long lens have shorter DOF than short lens at the same DOF. You need to know the DOF for the f/stop, lens length and subject distance.
My “main” go-to camera is the Sony A7RIV, but I echo the comments re: Olympus cameras with the ProCapture features for wildlife. I would also suggest sticking with the Olympus Pro lenses. Although Panasonic offers some M43 lenses with Leica optics that fit Oly cameras bodies, stay away from them, because the Oly ProCapture low feature with continuous focus doesn’t work with the Panasonic lenses (more specifically, the 100-400mm with Leitz optics).
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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As a wildlife photographer one of my greatest assets is how quick I am to respond and my unending patience. I believe these two things are needed to get good wildlife shots. I'm always looking for that defining moment. My camera is correctly set for the light, my speed is generally at minimum 1500 but most often at 2500 or 3200, depending on the shot. I'll take a high ISO setting over a blurred shot any day. I set my focus on the subject. I never take my eyes off the subject and do not engage in conversation with others that might be around me. I anticipate what the animal might do next based on my past knowledge. Wildlife photography can be very difficult and takes a lot of time to learn. Continue to shoot and correct any past mistakes and you could be rewarded with the shots you desire. I will say that some people will never be able to be a competent wildlife action photographer as their reflexes are simply too slow.
Peteso wrote:
My “main” go-to camera is the Sony A7RIV, but I echo the comments re: Olympus cameras with the ProCapture features for wildlife. I would also suggest sticking with the Olympus Pro lenses. Although Panasonic offers some M43 lenses with Leica optics that fit Oly cameras bodies, stay away from them, because the Oly ProCapture low feature with continuous focus doesn’t work with the Panasonic lenses (more specifically, the 100-400mm with Leitz optics).
That’s why I sold my Panny/Leica 100-400 and got the Oly version. And because the OIS in the Panny lens won’t sync with the IBIS in the Oly. That was true when I bought the E-M1X, but with the OM-1 the Pro Capture will work, (although you need Oly Pro lenses for 50fps), but still no IS sync.
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
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My Nikon has a focus and exposure lock button. So, when the shutter button is pushed the camera fires instantly. No delay.
frangeo wrote:
My Nikon has a focus and exposure lock button. So, when the shutter button is pushed the camera fires instantly. No delay.
"No delay" applies only to the hardware but theres still a delay problem due to a human operator. Thaz where preburst really shines with better than zero delay. It will actually provide negative (less than zero) delay. The burst includes about 30 frames BEFORE you press the shutter release button. Its magic.
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