View single post by Eric
 Posted: Wed Aug 12th, 2015 03:33
Eric



Joined: Wed Apr 18th, 2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 4186
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Nice bird shot, Maurice. You have achieved one key thing that many people fail to do....shoot a bird with TWO eyes. Too often you see shots of wildlife with them looking away so you only see one eye.

I think I would ask WHY do you need to keep looking between the viewfinder and the LCD? Its stating the obvious I know to say, in the old FILM days we never had an LCD ....and managed ok. I personally, rarely look at the rear screen apart from a confirmation I got the shot.

I preset my camera to settings that I believe from experience will be adequate for the subject and lighting. The beauty of digital is the ability to change 'film ASA' without stopping film rolls. And with the newer cameras you be an effortlessly use mega high ISO to help with setting selection.


So for example, without seeing the actual lighting conditions of your birdshot, I would usually set my camera for that sort of shot to that assure me of fast enough shutter speed to freeze those bird twitches (1/800) and say f8 depending on the focal length I was using.

I would set it to shutter priority and then IF the aperture I needed wasn't possible I would raise the ISO till I got it.

I would check the viewfinder display as I shoot to ensure lighting hasn't changed....and occasionally look at the histogram on the LCD.

If I am unsure if the settings will expose precisely ( ie white bird or black bird in same setting), I use the EX Comp button to make a 0.3/0.7/1 stop adjustment.


I don't know if this is a feature of your model, but one great thing on my camera model is the ability to set Manual mode but still retain auto exposure adjustment through ISO.

So I set my camera to Auto ISO and shooting mode to Manual.
I then set the shutter speed I WANT and the aperture I WANT independent of exposure needs .....and let the auto ISO get the exposure right. you still have the ability to tweak the Exp Comp if the subject changes as mentioned above.

Hope that makes sense?

By shooting in this manner you take control of the settings choice and therefore don't need to keep checking what the camera is doing.



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Eric