My best BIF shot yet!

[Deka]

I have good days and I have bad days but I'm not giving up.

Canon T4i, Tamron 150-600mm lens, manual setting, landscape setting, hand held, VC on, f 8.0, 1/1250, 300 mm and ISO 200.



This bird was very intent upon finding food in the small pond. I was able to take 60-70 shots and this one was the best.
This is approximately a 60% crop of the original. Cropping any closer would not be a good idea. LOL
Shooting RAW so some manipulation of exposure, contrast, clarity and sharpening of the image. Still not as sharp as I would like.



In and out empty clawed.
F 8.0, 250 mm, 1/1250 & ISO 800.
Same general manipulations as above.

I would like to politely request CC please.
(Yes, I'm pretty sure more practice in is order, but am I missing a technical detail (setting)?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.

Deka

 

[Bill Anderson]

Does the T4i have the Al Servo auto focus selection? if it does, it is your best choice for tracking birds in flight.

I shoot with the ISO on auto and try to use as slow a shutter speed as possible (depending on the bird) in order to keep the ISO setting as low as possible. The "noise" from higher ISO settings is one of the first things to degrade a photo, especially after cropping.

Here are my default settings for photographing birds. I shoot in jpeg and fine tune (mostly cropping) in Picasa.

M mode
Landscape setting
auto ISO
shutter speed 1/1000
aperature f/8.0
Al Servo autofocus
Evaluative metering
AWB white balance

When back lighting or harsh, direct side lighting is present, I switch to Tv mode and adjust the exposure compensation + or -.

My 7DII and 5DIII have two of Canon's late$t & greate$t autofocus systems with added fine tuning adjustments that I don't believe are on your T4i. Your wallet will thank you if you have not succumbed to that $lippery $lope like some of us have.

Nothing beats time spent behind the shutter. With practice, you will become familiar with each species' behavior and can anticipate a bird's movements to get really good shots. The osprey is an excellent bird to practice on as it is fairly large with flights and dives that are smooth, regular, and easy to anticipate and track. Our locals are habituated to people and will fly fairly close and not get upset at you for photographing them or their nests.

We are having three bird photography classes at this year's Puget Sound Bird Fest in Edmonds, including one that I am teaching. Check the program to see if any of them may be of interest to you.
http://www.pugetsoundbirdfest.com/index.php/about-the-event