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Well the week found me doing a lot of post processing and part of the off time I had I was reading a workbook style book called “The Magic of Digital Nature Photography” by Rob Sheppard. As far as workbooks go, it is not half bad covering landscape and animal photography separately. I can’t possibly type out all the good stuff in it, but I wanted to quote a part from the book that some may find helpful.
Here are five of the “Ten Quick Tips for Great Wildlife Photos.”
1. Set your auto focus early- Your camera needs time to find the animal, lock focus, and track it.hold the shutter release button down to start autofocusing as the animal approaches, follow the animal as it moves, and squeeze the shutter when you like the shot.
2. Use binoculars- A compact pair of binoculars can be a tremendous asset for photographing wildlife. It is much easier to use them than the telephoto lens on your camera for watching an animal at a distance.
3. Note wind direction with birds- Many birds will take off into the wind because it is easier and faster for them to get airborne. This can help you position yourself in anticipation of their movement.
4. Practice panning- Flying shots of animals can be a lot of fun to try, but following a moving animal with a camera and lens, panning, can be extremely challenging. Practice by photographing things that you can control, like a running dog.
5. Sight over a powerful telephoto to find the animal- If you have a long telephoto focal length, you may have trouble finding your subject with it. Take your eye away from the viewfinder, sight over the camera and lens, and point the camera so the lens appears to be aimed right at the animal. often, you’ll find you’ve got the animal dead-on in the viewfinder.
This book is really quite informative. from little tips and tricks to discussing equipment. Maybe next week I will post the other half of the 10 tips for wildlife photos.
Well I hope you have enjoyed this. For all my fellow boarders, remember we are almost half way through the month and your loosing time for the photography challenges. These really are a great way to learn and improve your skills. I can’t wait to see what you all come up with…
good blog john
About tip#4: Practice is HUGE, because the real examples aren’t always predictable or repeatable (you can’t tell that Bald Eagle to come back and take off again…). Dogs are convenient test-models, but I’ve found the most absolutely predictable test-models are baby horses separated from their mother. It takes some good horse people to do the setup, but the baby horses are absolutely fail-safe in making a beeline for Momma. They don’t deviate one bit from the direct path. You just prefocus on a point along the line and wait. And they’ll do it every time. Plus they’re good subjects in this scenario because their ears are up and forward and they tend to bound as they sprint to Mom. they’ll do it all day too. The limiting factor is the stamina of the person holding back the baby, because even a 100-150-pound baby can be a real handful when she wants to be with her momma.
I actually agree with you on that Bob.