Improving this shot

steelneil

steelneil

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Neil
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Hi,

I'm new to photography and was hoping to get some help from some of the more seasoned photographers on here. I have been enjoying taking photos of birds but have a fascination with birds in flight.

Can anybody give me any tips on how to sharpen up this image?

I'm guessing that because the ISO is so high I get a grainy effect to the photo but if I have it any lower, the image is too dark.


Crow Taking Off by steelneil_, on Flickr
 
Well, it's quite dark and not in focus. Taken at 1/2500th so maybe camera shake?

I'd be looking at a cleaner background. Perhaps some flash?

Cheers.
 
Exposure 1/2500 sec
Aperture f/14.0
ISO Speed Hi 6400

The high ISO will increase in the grainy effect or 'noise' but upping the ISO does allow you to use faster shutter speeds.

There is some blurr in there but 1/2500 should be plenty fast enough for a crow.

f14 is perhaps stopped down further than you needed. Something like f8 would have been enough dof for a bird the size of a crow and would allowed you to bring the the ISO down without loosing shutter speed.

Lowering the ISO would make it darker if that's all you altered but using a larger aperture would compensate for that.

As for sharpening up the shot - there's not a great deal you can do for the softness or blurr

It's a tricky shot to nail though with a dark bird with that bright light and shadows.
 
Shuter priority / aperture priority / manual

They're all a means to the same end exposure really but I would use aperture priority.

I tend to set the aperture to something like f5.6 and ISO to 400 and then (asuming I'm using a 400mm lens) check to see if the resulting shutter speed is 1/400 or faster.

If the shutter speed isn't fast enough, I then just increase the ISO till it is.

The reason I go with AV mode is that I generally know roughly what aperture I want to use but the light changes all the time.
 
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I tend to use aperture priority esp when using my sigma 150-500 as I no it works better around f8 esp at the thicker end of the zoom. It does struggle with darker conditions esp on the d90 didnt like to have the iso too high as it didnt work to well above iso 800. Hopefully now I have the d7100 I won't have to worry as much about higher iso.
 
Photographically (pictorially), it's fundamentally never going to work.
No amount of PP or even changing camera modes or settings would make that a good image.

You're photographing a dark subject against a dark background - there is no picture.

In a controlled setting, you could add a toplight or backlight to rimlight a dark subject to separate it from the background, but you're not going to get that level of control. So you need to set off from the right place;

If the trees weren't in the shade - you'd have a picture,
if the trees were in darkness, but the bird was backlit (to create a rimlight) - you'd have a picture, if the background was brighter (sky) - you'd have a picture,
if the bird was a swan - you'd have a picture.

Once you've found a picture you can worry about getting the camera settings.

Once you've got a clean capture, you can use PP to make it better.

You know, we're not kidding when we say 'it's all about the light'.
 
posiview said:
Well, it's quite dark and not in focus. Taken at 1/2500th so maybe camera shake?
Click to expand...


At 1/2500 it's highly unlikely to be camera shake. Any way... it's blatently not camera shake when you look closely. It's poor focus.




....and what Phil Said. Photography is pretty much all about light. No offence, but no amount of post processing will make this anything more than it is. It will still be out of focus as well. You may be able to lighten up the shadows, and pull out more detail, but it will still be the same shot.
 
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Pookeyhead said:
At 1/2500 it's highly unlikely to be camera shake. Any way... it's blatently not camera shake when you look closely. It's poor focus.

....and what Phil Said. Photography is pretty much all about light. No offence, but no amount of post processing will make this anything more than it is. It will still be out of focus as well. You may be able to lighten up the shadows, and pull out more detail, but it will still be the same shot.
Click to expand...

The question wasn't so much about this particular photo but more about this type of shot.

Now I know. Lighter bird or lighter background plus a bit more light. Cheers
 
1/2500 is fast enough to compensate camera shake. F14 is abit too much in my opinion.

Like above said, use aperture mode and set it to somelike like 5.6-8 first and see what the camera reads, then adjust accordingly.

Also is not in focus as well.
 
Does the D3100 have auto ISO feature?
 
steelneil said:
The question wasn't so much about this particular photo but more about this type of shot.

Now I know. Lighter bird or lighter background plus a bit more light. Cheers
Click to expand...

Not the greatest example, but hopefully an idea of the improvements better lighting and background can bring. This was at 400mm, 1/1000, f/5.6, 400 ISO on my 7D. No edits except cropping.

20100131_111558_3182_LR.jpg
 
i think the d3100 have auto iso. i think the OP set it to auto ISO as well ....
Click to expand...

Nope, I set the ISO manually

tdodd said:
Not the greatest example, but hopefully an idea of the improvements better lighting and background can bring. This was at 400mm, 1/1000, f/5.6, 400 ISO on my 7D. No edits except cropping.

20100131_111558_3182_LR.jpg
Click to expand...

This is the type of photo I'm aiming for. Looking forward to putting all this great advice into practice
 
That's loads better, have you done any editing in LR to it?

There still seems to be some camera shake there as I can't see anything that is in perfect focus, maybe the shutter at 1/250th is a bit too slow for 300mm, doubling it would be better, then up the ISO from 100 to compensate?
 
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Hi
I use A mode about 90 % and just watch the shutter speed and bump the iso up and down as needed if too slow.

Sometimes with birds you have a choice of do I take the shot or not. They do not pose like models in perfectly lit studios, so you cant always get the perfect background.

1 tip I will say is use constant shutter high mode that way you would have caught maybe 4 frames of this bird and one could have been better lit or more in focus than the other. You can always bin the duff shots.

I have some less than ideal shots of birds but in interesting poses or action that I have kept because that opportunity would not present itself again, a less than perfect shot of a dodo is still an amazing shot as no one else will have it ;-)Plus its always practice
 
That's miles better Neil - it can be quite addictive.
 
The exif doesn't show much of the autofocus information but it does show the mode as AF-A (auto). This is part of the problem. I use AF-C 9/21/51pt. With the D3100 I *think* you don't get to select how many points it will use in AF-C, it just uses the 11 it has.

In AF-C the camera starts with the selected focus point (center by default but user selectable) and then tracks the subject across the other focus points.
In AF-A the camera chooses which focus point to start with and it's often not on the subject.

AF-A is sometimes more effective if the BG is very nondescript (i.e. blue sky) and the subject is hard to keep under the active focus area/point.

I don't use 3D tracking because it is slower. I also set the release priority for AF-C to focus (it won't take a picture unless it thinks it's in focus). The default behavior in AF-C is release+focus which means it takes the first shot immediately regardless of focus lock. I don't know if you have this option with the D3100.

The reality is BIF are a difficult subject. The smaller the bird is, and the less time you have to get acquired/tracking the lower the success ratio. And, you are somewhat hindered by the D3100. It's *lacking* in AF points and processing speed compared to the more advanced (and much more expensive) cameras. I suggest you just accept that....otherwise it gets VERY expensive chasing BIF.
 
If you want good results (as opposed to results) shooting Birds in Flight is no different to shooting anyhthing else.

Location and Light are the important considerations. Once they're taken care of it's just a matter of patience. Now admittedly, for people photography the opportunities might come thicker and faster than for BiF, but the fact remains you'll get better pictures by setting off in the right place/conditions than just chasing birds around the undergrowth (where you'll get loads of 'snaps').
 
Just wanted to say what a top bloke Phil V is, your advice is always spot on and i've learned so much from just reading your replies in various threads on here.

A big thanks from me :)
 
Phil V said:
… but the fact remains you'll get better pictures by setting off in the right place/conditions than just chasing birds around the undergrowth (where you'll get loads of 'snaps').
Click to expand...

Yeh, admittedly I've just had my camera with me when out for a walk. I have had an opportunity to sit in one place and just wait for 'the' photo.
 
steelneil said:
Yeh, admittedly I've just had my camera with me when out for a walk. I have had an opportunity to sit in one place and just wait for 'the' photo.
Click to expand...

I know it's a change of mindset, but it's not 'photography' until you take control of the situation.

A lot of people go wrong with 'being in control' they think it means shooting in Manual :nuts:. It actually means everything but; it means considering lighting, composition and using the right camera settings to convey the image that's in your imagination.

If you're just out for a walk and shooting whatever you happen upon, then you can't expect the results to be more than 'snapshots'.

It's the old line about 'photographs being made not taken', context shift accepted.
 
Phil V said:
I know it's a change of mindset, but it's not 'photography' until you take control of the situation.

A lot of people go wrong with 'being in control' they think it means shooting in Manual :nuts:. It actually means everything but; it means considering lighting, composition and using the right camera settings to convey the image that's in your imagination.

If you're just out for a walk and shooting whatever you happen upon, then you can't expect the results to be more than 'snapshots'.

It's the old line about 'photographs being made not taken', context shift accepted.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. Just been reading some of your posts on your website. Great advice there too (y)
 
As well as the excellent advice all ready given I'd suggest going somewhere where there are lots of birds like a duck pond or a nature reserve for an afternoon. Get lots of practise in, experiment with different places round the pond so that the light is coming from different directions to see what you like the look of and what works for you, and take the time to study the bird's behaviour. If you notice a particular branch they like to perch on or a certain place they circle before landing that can help a lot.

And be patient! I've taken a lot more blurry photos and nice sharp pictures of branches a bird was sitting on a moment ago than I have keepers :)
 
Pookeyhead said:
At 1/2500 it's highly unlikely to be camera shake. Any way... it's blatently not camera shake when you look close
Click to expand...

Fair point. I did see some photographs showing oof and camera shake, need to look again, but at this shutter speed I should have know.

Great a advice from Phil.

Cheers
 
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A world of difference, a faster shutter speed would have given you the shot.
 
I actually like the small amount of wing blur. I would just bring up the shadows to bring out more detail; or increase the contrast to turn it into more of a silhouette. Right now it's kind of "in the middle."

Most things are going to underexpose when shot against the sky. You might want to change metering mode (probably to CW) or add EC (~+1).
 
you should be able to get a lot more from that yet, if you let us download it I will have a go for you if you want.
 
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