Fast moving animals

[Drew Smith]

Originally Posted by MattUK

AF-C, yep - I assume I should use the 39 point focus setting?

Hi Matt

Well, if your problem is blurry (as opposed to OOF) pictures, then all other things being equal, your shutter speed is not fast enough. But you already know this, so the question is why? Obviously you aren't getting enough light on to your sensor to allow faster speeds so it'either a wider aperture you need or /and a higher ISO.

BTW; why are you using the active 39 point focus? What do you assume that gives you with the kind of pics you are after? God knows how many focus points my camera has but I only use it to selective my one active focus point.

I shoot a lot of equestrian and when they get to the fence they rise up in the air so my tracking point has to be high and to the left or right to get a balanced, full shot. I track with one focus point, and if it's an animal I tend to focus on the eyes (head if too far away).

The other setting I find really helps is the focus 'sensitivity' - how slowly / quickly it shifts focus to go hunting for something else covered by my focus point. I set this to 'slow' because I don't want it reacquiring as a horse goes behind a post or tree or fence support.

I switch it to fast if I'm not fussy on what it will jump to. Even then I still stick with the one point focus as I don't want my camera choosing what to focus on.

As others have said, you'll need a fast lens (f2.8) and a quick focussing lens if you want to shoot in anything other than bright day light. Even then you may be shooting in to trees/bushes and not have enough light.

ISO as mentioned will need you to judge when you have too much noise to 'salvage' the shot, and this also depends on what you wish to do with it afterwards - if it sits on your Gallery on line, then you'll obviously get away with much more noise than if you are blowing your shots up to wall size prints. See if you can find a decent de-noiser for those shots you love but that are very noisey (NEAT is pretty good and has a free downloadable demo online).

This shot of the Huskies was taken in a dark forest on a dark day in the rain. The lens was wide open at 2.8 and the shutter at 1/1000 (maybe could have gotten away with 1/800). I had the ISO on Auto (which I hate, but with the crappy light and the quick action I couldn't afford to be switching ISO mid shot). On some of the shots from that day I think it peaked at 6400 but was more normally around 2500, which isn't too bad depending on your camera's specs.



When the sun is shining, even in late evening, you don't have to be so bothered and I flip everything to Manual with ISO down at 100.



I hope some of this helps.

[OldBoy]

When the light is low try putting the exposure compensation to +1 or greater, as this can help in getting the subject bright but might/can over expose the background. I did that trick with a Little Owl shot to give more detail in the subject, as I was shooting towards the sun.

[MattUK]

Originally Posted by Drew Smith

BTW; why are you using the active 39 point focus? What do you assume that gives you with the kind of pics you are after? God knows how many focus points my camera has but I only use it to selective my one active focus point.

The manual recommends the 39 point system for fast moving subjects (such as birds), however I can see the suggested benefit of a single point tracking the subject, so will try that.

Originally Posted by Drew Smith

I shoot a lot of equestrian and when they get to the fence they rise up in the air so my tracking point has to be high and to the left or right to get a balanced, full shot. I track with one focus point, and if it's an animal I tend to focus on the eyes (head if too far away).

Sorry, it might sound like a stupid question, but how exactly do you "focus on the eyes" in this manner? Do you manually shift the focus point in the view finder to the upper left, and then position that focus box over the eyes?

Originally Posted by Drew Smith

The other setting I find really helps is the focus 'sensitivity' - how slowly / quickly it shifts focus to go hunting for something else covered by my focus point. I set this to 'slow' because I don't want it reacquiring as a horse goes behind a post or tree or fence support.

Funnily enough, I was just reading up on this setting last night, and have adjusted it accordingly - thanks for confirming!

Originally Posted by Drew Smith

ISO as mentioned will need you to judge when you have too much noise to 'salvage' the shot, and this also depends on what you wish to do with it afterwards - if it sits on your Gallery on line, then you'll obviously get away with much more noise than if you are blowing your shots up to wall size prints. See if you can find a decent de-noiser for those shots you love but that are very noisey (NEAT is pretty good and has a free downloadable demo online).

I use Lightroom 3 normally, but I might give this NEAT a go, thanks

Thanks for your response and tips - hopefully I'll get better in this area given practice

[Drew Smith]

Originally Posted by MattUK

Sorry, it might sound like a stupid question, but how exactly do you "focus on the eyes" in this manner? Do you manually shift the focus point in the view finder to the upper left, and then position that focus box over the eyes?

Sorry Matt - I mean I try to keep my one point focus over the eye, it auto focusses as previously described. I've not tried manual focus in these situation, that might be quite tricky.

The other thing I forgot to mention; you might want to ensure in these situation you start tracking (half depressing your shutter button when over your subject matter) your subject as early as possible to give the camera time to 'acquire' the target and focus lock (and IS works this way too). It's usually 1/2 a second or there abouts. If you just point and fully depress straight away you stand a change of missing your target.

[MattUK]

OK, thanks.

I think the poor light as well as not having AF-C set last time I tried really screwed me over

I'll give it another go and report the results back!

[Frida25xang]

I love photography. I am graduate and I am planning do do photography course. I am looking for a camera which helps to take photo of a fast moving object.

[Drew Smith]

Originally Posted by Frida25xang

I love photography. I am graduate and I am planning do do photography course. I am looking for a camera which helps to take photo of a fast moving object.

Aww, what a shame, just when I was getting to like Frida!

[MattUK]

I missed Frida?!