Beginner Help, camera blur

Edited version doesn't look much better tbh. The sharpening kinda makes the bokeh harsh and distracting.

Your shots look like they have been severely cropped and also out of focus. I suggest also working on getting close to the subject. Also your lens may require micro-focal adjustments (ah the fun of owning a DSLR ;) )
 
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it would have been dusk when the hare pic was taken so prob be high on the iso, and yes i do crop lol
 
nandbytes said:
Edited version doesn't look much better tbh. The sharpening kinda makes the bokeh harsh and distracting.

Your shots look like they have been severely cropped and also out of focus. I suggest also working on getting close to the subject. Also your lens may require micro-focal adjustments (ah the fun of owning a DSLR ;) )
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I can assure you no cropping, only resized to show them as equal, every part of the edit is exactly the same as the original.Suggest you go back and have a proper look, even the bokeh harsh and distracting you say is the same in original as I didn't touch it..
 
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pipgyp said:
micro focal adjustments ????????????????????????
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I wouldn't go there quite yet, work on your technique and settings first otherwise you could make things worse.
 
realspeed said:
I can assure you no cropping, only resized to show them as equal, every part of the edit is exactly the same as the original.Suggest you go back and have a proper look
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The cropping wasn't referring to your edited pic. Sorry for the confusion. Its referring to OP's flickr pics :)
 
pipgyp said:
think i need a bigger lens :)
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No you don't (well you can never have enough reach but that's not the point lol). getting close to wildlife is an important a skill to develop. Also requires a lot of patience and time.
 
thank you all for your advice, so practise practise practise, think i am going to join my local photography group aswell
 
nandbytes said:
here are a few recent practice pics with my £15 100-300mm lens - https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/59459359

They are not going to win wildlife photographer of the year award but makes my above point I think...
Good luck, let us know how you get on :)
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You took those with a Sony A7RII or Sony A7 so it is a different animal to a Nikon so to do a straight comparison ? not really.

Don't know what others think but what I tend to use is a nikon D800 with 36 mp sensor and a Nikon AFs70-200 f2.8G11 ED VR lens which allows a lot of cropping or for longer reach my AFs80-400mm f4.5-5.6G ED VR lens. I would point out that they are not cheap £1800 and £2000 respectively.


Do you get better photos than the Sony? it depends on how good the photographer is and I will leave it at that.

Oh my main walkabout lens is the AFs 24-70 f2.8 G ED but doesn't have VR as it is the earlier version
 
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nandbytes said:
here are a few recent practice pics with my £15 100-300mm lens - https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/59459359

They are not going to win wildlife photographer of the year award but makes my above point I think...
Good luck, let us know how you get on :)
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Slightly off-topic, but I have a big soft spot for those Canon 100-300's - my current wolf profile pic was actually taken with one of those (with a rather ratty old 50D) last year, after I picked one up from eBay for £20 as a fill in while I saved for something better. The New Forest Wildlife Park ended up featuring it on the front page of their brochures this year, which pleased me greatly, and is a constant reminder to myself that the biggest thing holding me back isn't my lack of expensive gear, it's the lack of talent. :D

Lovely shots, by the way. :)
 
In most cases your SS is too slow, in other cases the ISO is too high (or both). The skill/technique requirements go up exponentially as magnification is increased (either with FL, MP's, or Macro). You're working with both high MP's (small pixels on a smaller sensor) and a long FL (750mm equiv)... so, two out of three factors working against you.

I would suggest you start learning to use that lens/camera combination by limiting yourself to good (bright) light situations, SS's no slower than 1/1600 (higher preferred) and ISO no higher than 800 (lower preferred)... even with support/tripod. Once you start getting sharp images, then you can start pushing things to see where your limits are and improve your technique.

And as has been noted... long distance shots are never going to be that great for fine detail/sharpness.
 
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@realspeed There really is no point in editing a picture like that. It's straight for the recycling bin. No amount of PP will improve an image like that!

@pipgyp Birds in flight is one of the trickiest types of photography. If you're only just starting out, then practise on gulls at the local rubbish tip or beach (whichever is closest). Keep the sun behind you. You'll get lots of out of focus shots, over/underexposed shots but it'll help you in learning to track the subject and keep it in the viewfinder and pan with it.

If you're okay with manual mode, change the shutter speed to 1/2000, keep the aperture at 5.6 and enable auto-iso. Use your exposure compensation to dial in +1 or +2 or the subject will be dark against the sky. These settings aren't going to get you even good shots, you might get a couple of lucky ones, but I'm recommending them so that you can practise tracking the birds with acceptable results.

Good luck and keep us posted (y)
 
realspeed said:
You took those with a Sony A7RII or Sony A7 so it is a different animal to a Nikon so to do a straight comparison ? not really.

Don't know what others think but what I tend to use is a nikon D800 with 36 mp sensor and a Nikon AFs70-200 f2.8G11 ED VR lens which allows a lot of cropping or for longer reach my AFs80-400mm f4.5-5.6G ED VR lens. I would point out that they are not cheap £1800 and £2000 respectively.


Do you get better photos than the Sony? it depends on how good the photographer is and I will leave it at that.

Oh my main walkabout lens is the AFs 24-70 f2.8 G ED but doesn't have VR as it is the earlier version
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TBH Sony, Nikon or Canon it matters not, the technique and photographic principles are exactly the same.
 
Yes the system is not important or my point (besides I am using a canon lens on a Sony body! So which system do you want to compare that to :LOL:)
The point was OP doesn't need a bigger lens or a different lens for that matter. She needs to practice and work on her skills.
 
The quality of the OP's photos looks poor even if the focus is out a bit. What file size has the OP got the camera set at. It wants to be Jpeg > fine> large at least if not RAW.
 
Are you using Back Button Focus. The first shot is ok but you have not focused properly for the second shot. I would have been set to BBF and 9d or single spot focus for that.You should not have missed that second shot with the equipment you have. Your not doing something right.
 
You need to seperate the focus from the shutter actuation. You put the camera into AF-C which is continuous focus and use the AF-E /AF-L botton on the back of the camera to focus ( by tapping or holding down the button).

To set it up on D7100 just go to menu > f Controls > f4 Assign AE-L / AF-L Button > Press > Select AF-ON AF-ON > press OK.

I take it you know how to set AF-C using the button at the front left. This system gives you complete control of focusing.
 
yes have it set to af-c and will defo try doing the back button focus thanks
 
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