Optimum Technique for Action Shots

<p>Recently, I have seen two extremely clear images of birds in Nature Photographer magazine. The first (ringed necked duck) was shot at f/4. The second, (bald eagle) was shot at f/34 (I don’t recall the shutter speeds or ISO). Both birds where flying towards the camera. Removing optical quality from the equation, handheld, at what point does f stop take preference over shutter speed in obtaining the best possible image capture for birds in flight? Example: in AP mode, if I have a shutter speed of 1/2500 at f/4 at 300mm would stopping down help with the clarity of the bird? Or, does shutter speed for stop action take preference? I am trying to determine what the optimum combination would be on a sunny day at ISO 100. And how important focal length, speed and distance to subject is to this combination. Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>It would depend on the speed of the bird in most instances. A gull, for example, moving into a breeze towards you is usually slower. The same gull with a tail-wind can out-fly your auto-focus system. Bird photography takes time to wait for the right moment, the right light, and some luck....</p>

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<p>Each of your lenses has a aperture at which it is the sharpest. Some folks will try to tell what that is. They can't without using the lens. You should test each of your lenses and determine the best aperture to use. Then you will know which one is best. Having said that, you will still need to think about the other settings as well. Shutter speed to stop the action and ISO. Good luck! This is the fun part.</p>

I'd say that Depends on your preferred

style - some of my favourite bird shots

involve substantial amounts of blur.

Same for sports, kids fooling around,

etc. You could have a sharp/frozen

image with only the eye in focus, a

frozen one with the whole subject in

focus, or a shot with more or less blur

(wing tips vs entire bird, say). Number

two is the most useful for text books,

while other people would go for

something "creative". And don't forget

panning for blurred backgrounds... Try

figuring out what style that you prefer -

maybe scouring Flickr - and look at the

technical data. Hope this helps...

<p>Robert, any subject moving towards (or away from) the camera will let you use a lower shutter speed than one moving directly across the frame. So in your example of an exposure reading of 1/2500th @ f/4, I'd feel pretty confident in using a speed down to 1/500th and a smaller aperture. That's assuming that a good tripod is being used of course.</p>

<p>Remember that great bird and action pictures were being taken long before we had the crazy-high shutter and ISO speeds available today. It wasn't that long ago that 1/1000th of a second was considered an unusually high shutter speed to be using. Not sure about using f/34, though - I really can't see why anyone would need to stick their head in the noose of diffraction to get an action shot.</p>

BTW: I also thought that f/34 for a bird shot would be a typo or something. Not many

experienced photographers would

usually stop down that much...

<p><em>"at what point does f stop take preference over shutter speed in obtaining the best possible image " </em> You might consider that a balance between the two depending on the shooting conditions (lighting, distance to subject), camera body and lens being used may give you the results you are looking for. A camera with slower AF (either because of the body and/or lens) will require you to stop the lens down quite a bit in order to insure proper AF (by expanding the DOF to correct for focus error) , while a fast focusing combo will allow for properly focused shots wide open.</p>

<p><em>"substantial amounts of blur" </em>I like shoots like this too but there is a big difference between motion blur and an image that is out of focus. An OOF image with motion blur may not look so good.</p>

<p>For me: shutter speed takes precedence over aperture. I try to keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 sec or faster for birds in flight.<br>

Equally important is keeping the focus reticule on the eyes.<br>

Depth of field for D300S at 50 ft: f4 = 0.47 feet and f16 = 1.89 feet with 500 mm lens.<br>

Not a big difference in depth of field, but an enormous ( 16 x ) difference in shutter speed.<br>

I agree with you; sometimes I see 500 mm bird in flight photo at f22 and 1/60 sec and I wonder what the photographer was thinking. I think sometimes by chance those images turn out sharp.<br>

maljo<br>

<img src="http://gallerymallery.smugmug.com/Photography/Gallery-Mallery/Roseate-Spoonbill-In-Flight-3/864589761_AC2zE-X2.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="914" /><br>

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html</p>

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<p>If "the best possible image capture for birds in flight" includes optimal focusing, then how you set up the camera for focus is also a primary factor. And it is not easy to do so correctly on dslrs.</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00ZVO0</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/casual-conversations-forum/00ZWnl</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00ZXGL</p>