The Heron is back

[Julia]

Couple of photos of our local heron. Not brilliant I know, please comment on how I can improve (aperture, F stop, ISO etc.) next time he flies across.





Julia

[Autumn]

Re: The Heron is back

Hi Julia. I am not going to comment because I would not know what to tell you. It looks to me as though you have panned as the background is blurred and the heron is sharper.

Anyway I think you have done a good job there. I have never caught one flying like that.

Well done.

[paul.r.w]

Re: The Heron is back

Faster shutter speed?

[Stephen]

Re: The Heron is back

Couple of photos of our local heron. Not brilliant I know, please comment on how I can improve (aperture, F stop, ISO etc.) next time he flies across.





Julia

Hi Julia, firstly please, please consider using the BB code to show the image fully, rather than making us leave the forum to your gallery page.

Photographing birds like these needs a certain amount of anticipation IMO so your camera is set pretty much in the right area to capture them at their best.

If as in the first shot the bird is coming towards you then AI focus might be condsidered so that the camera stays in focus as the bird moves towards it. However you should also consider raising the ISO and reducing the aperture to allow a much faster shutter speed so that any motion can be frozen.

It is important to have the bird sharp and ideally frozen unless you are using blur creatively. I'd suggest that you need a shutter speed of 500th sec or above. As for panning, this can give a good background effect, but its an acquired skill I think and takes a little practice. Personally I'd consider getting the bird sharp first.

If you look at the gallery of Nature Photographer and particularly the bird in flight shots, then check out the Exif data, you will see how the fast shutter speeds give pin sharp results. Now I'm not suggesting that the conditions down my the canal in Hemel are on a par with those, but the principles are the same.

[Julia]

Re: The Heron is back

That's great, Stephen, thank you.
So many things to think about.



Julia

[Tinka]

Re: The Heron is back

Hi Julia,
A good attempt, better than I can do no doubt, and Stephen has covered the rest, what camera are you useing? A DSLR is favorit but some good bridge camera's are good for bird photography, and general photography without to much expense.