I Need Help Using My Camera

[aj sellarole]

Hey, I'm Vic Sellaroli. I am having a rather hard time with my

photography as of late. Today, I was at the beach, with a rebelxt

and brand new 70-200f4l lens. I have no idea whether it's my

technique, or what, but my pictures were not turning out well.

Mainly I was trying to shoot the birds, as they flew around me.

Pictures just seemed to be blurry, and not very sharp. I figured

this could be due to several different things.

 

For one, it could be that my shutter speed was not fast enough? I

had it around 1/500, to about 1/1000 most of the time, is this fast

enough zoomed in all the way to 200mm to capture bird movement?

Another thing I thought of, was could it be the filter I have on

there? i am using a quantaray mc uv filter, for protection. Other

than that, I thought that maybe my parameter needs to be tweeked,

where should the sharpness be set to? Or, I figured that Maybe I

should consider processing my photos on the computer, or shooting in

RAW. Is that what most people of the people do that show super

sharp photos from their telephoto lenses on here?

 

Whew. Sorry for the long message, I just had to get alot off my

chest. Thank you for considering my message.

 

Regards, Victor

[keith_van_hulle1]

You need to check what focus mode you're using. It also never hurts to do a static test to make sure the equipment is performing OK. Like on a tripod and such. Technique may be a minor part too.

 

Do you know how to pan? That takes a little practice with any type of camera. 1/1000 should be fast enough for what you're doing if you hold the erquipment right. But you may not be getting focus lock properly. Check one thing at a time to reduce the variables.

[chrisjb]

Hi Victor, your shutter speeds should be fine, you don`t mention focus mode, A1 may help. birds are pretty quick you focus on one and by the time you press the shutter they maybe 6 feet away from your focused point A1 will lock on and follow the subject, should be in your manual. Panning as mentioned is helpfull. depth of field may help too by using a higher ISO (400ISO) the camera selects a smaller aperture, providing you are in `TV` mode at around 500 of sec. for your perpose. Try using motor drive if you are using a large card. don`t rush the shots with quick shutter action as it causes shake. Sometimes a monopod may help with heavier lenses but you should be ok with that one. Leave sharpening in a nutral parameter and sharpen at the last step with photo software. I don`t feel sharpness

youe main problem just a quick birdie.

Juat practice and have fun

 

HTH

[quasifoto]

If your Rebel works the same as my 10D, you can select just one AF point or have all the foucus points active. If you leave it on automatic focus point selection, the camera may be focusing on something other than the bird you are trying to shoot. I usually have it on the center focus point if I know I'm going to try and capture birds in flight and make sure it's finding my subject.

 

Happy shooting!

Gary

[wingedrabbit]

Hello Vic,

 

Can you display one of the problem images? It would be easier to troubleshoot. With the picture, we can normally figure out what went wrong.

 

It could be:

 

1. Out of focus

 

2. Bad panning

 

3. Camera shake

 

4. Or maybe sea spray on the filter

 

 

Tom

[aj sellarole]

Here's one of the Images. Some were sharper than this, but this seemed to be more of the norm. Some of them, like this one, look ok from here, but when you zoom in 100% or more it doesn't look as sharp as I expected for some reason. Thanks for your suggestions so far, they have been very helpful.<div></div>

[pjmeade]

Hello Victor, the shot you posted isn't a bad shot. It may not be perfectly sharp, but it doesn't look like it was a very bright day, so that's a reasonable result for a first time out.

 

If you look at 100% you could well expect to find imperfections in a shot, especially if you are looking for them.

 

The advice given above is all very good, if I can add just one more suggestion; practice lots.

 

P

[mark u]

You need to learn to use AI Servo focus mode. I'd actually try with all focus points active with birds in flight. You should start to focus (half press or *, depending how you have the camera set up) by aiming the centre point at the bird, trying to keep it under that point for half a second or more before you adjust framing and start releasing the shutter. Shooting small continuous bursts can be beneficial, since the camera does more work for the first shot in a burst, whereas for subsequent shots the camera is concentrating exclusively on keeping up with focus. AI Servo always acquires focus with the central point, but once acquired it can track a subject that falls under any focus points that are active.

[erin.e]

and follow on with the camera after you have pressed the shutter button just like you do with a shotgun.

[andrew robertson]

photo.net/learn