Some more criteria for whether or not an image is sharp:
I’m not sure if I’m ready for this yet, but I guess I need to leave my lens at 300mm most of the time, instead of zoomed out until I see the bird, then start zooming in. First thing for me, now - get subject inside field of view, and start shooting. It takes some time before the lens and my camera and I settle down, but I guess I need to go right to 300 as soon as possible.
Next, I need @Joanna to send me some “sharpen pills” so my body can do what it’s supposed to do, better. …or more realistically, lots more practice at this.
Are you suggesting that for you, one shot out of 500 is what you would call “sharp”??
Tried, w/o success, to get an answer from Nikon Tech Support.
My Nikon 70-300 VR ED AF-P 70-300 lens has two switches on the side. The top one lists A/m M/a and M.
With the regular tech person on the phone, she had no idea of the difference between the first two.
The more experienced person I asked for gave the same definition for the first and second choices - and when I asked him what the difference was, he had no idea, and offered to send me the user manual for my lens - but even that he messed up, sending the wrong link.
I think I eventually did find the explanation:
M/A : Autofocus can be overridden by manually focusing with the focus ring. A/M : Autofocus can be overridden by manually focusing with the focus ring, but focus ring detection sensitivity is lower than in A/M mode. Use this mode to avoid canceling the AF setting by unintentionally moving the focus ring.
I think I left them both rather frustrated, but as for me, I will use the first choice A/m. I have never yet attempted to use Manual focus with this lens.
The information I found on-line seems like a better explanation:
" M/A : Autofocus can be overridden by manually focusing with the focus ring. A/M : Autofocus can be overridden by manually focusing with the focus ring, but focus ring detection sensitivity is lower than in A/M mode. Use this mode to avoid canceling the AF setting by unintentionally moving the focus ring."
Back to reality, I only plan to practice and use the left-most setting, A/M. @Joanna suggests I replace this lens with her all-in-one 300 zoom.
You’re right, this has next to nothing to do with PhotoLab, only with which lens to use, and how to use it, and that’s because I’m trying to take acceptable photos of birds, and do the processing in PhotoLab.
I haven’t posted this yet, but I’ve been searching all over my PhotoLab menus for a single tool labeled “sharpen image”, which would affect the entire image. Does such a tool exist?
Not at all. What I am saying is that I only kept about ten percent of the shots I took at that event. And, even then, a lot of what was left wasn’t particularly inspiring.
I learned this in India. The Black Eagle was way above me, lit from above by the Sun, I was shooting up at the Eagle, and I got lots of silhouettes, with a black bottom, no detail, no nothing. Very under-exposed. If I have that situation again, I plan to use +2 for exposure. I worked so hard to try to get a decent image, and people told me the images I got were OK, but I felt they were garbage, like what @Joanna is always telling me.
As for motion blur, I set the camera to Shutter Priority, and bumped that up to 1/2000th. As for ISO, I left that in “auto-ISO”. I wasn’t all that concerned with ISO, thanks to PhotoLab.
As for checking the times of day for when birds mostly fly, I suspect that is early morning and late afternoon/evening, but I ought to look into this better. I wish I had more opportunities to take bird photos, as every time I do, I learn just that little bit more.
Oh, and I took my camera out of “quiet” mode, and put it into high speed burst mode. I start taking images before the bird is where I want it to be, and continue until long after.
The part of all of this I need to work on most is ME, not the camera, or the lens, or the PhotoLab, but how well I do everything, starting with how well I hold and move the camera, and how well I can zoom in to 300 and leave it there.
I think you would do well to do exactly that. Find yourself a location to shoot in the morning or early evening and keep the sun at your back. Lighting is everything when it comes to taking quality photos. Pretty much every image you have posted was taken without any regard to the direction of light or the lighting on the subject itself. Start trying to take photos of only well lit birds and I guarantee you will achieve better results. If you continue to shoot birds above you with overhead sun, you will continue to get the same results. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result by definition is insanity. Change it up and watch what happens. With the sun at your back, track the bird at 100mm and then while still tracking zoom out to 300mm. Take the shot(s).
Quite true - I was already there, and the birds found me, not the other way around.
I hope to go to some places where others go to photograph birds, with my friend, and he knows places like what you describe. My recent photos were taken from my balcony, and I simply aimed my career where the bird was. There are good bird watching locations not too far from Miami, and that’s where I will be going. Ditto, when I get back to India.
I’m not a “bird photographer”, just a photographer who likes to take photos of many things, one of which is birds, when I get an opportunity.
Something else I need to learn - try to not loan my camera or lens to others to try, as that seems to guarantee that I will find what I think is a good photo, but be unable to capture it. Outside, I’m smiling. Inside, I’m thinking “GRRrrrr…”
Oh, and the city of Miami or Miami Beach isn’t the greatest place for bird photography, unless I decide to photograph pigeons or sea gulls…
Then photograph whatever birds you have in your area. The idea is to get a properly exposed image that is in focus. Hone your skills and don’t concern yourself that they are only pigeons or seagulls. By the the time you get to the right place you’ll have the skills to capture the images you desire.
I occasionally try birds, but it’s really not my field of interest and I am not going to buy a lens that I’ll almost never use…unless I decided to go all-in.
If I need long reach, I use my long lens on an APS-C sensor camera. Teleconverter bonus without optical penalty
Which is nothing else than “cropping in advance” but you’re right. Birds in flight are far too busy keeping themselves in the air and don’t bother much to become proper models. After a while I really felt sorry for all the unused pixels. Too much skies cluttering my hard drive.
Speaking of clutter, I’m looking forward to the next 3k+ threads, when Mr. Myers tries to master, no, dive into (without getting too wet) macro, and the next 3k+ for astro and so on, all under the false flag “processed in DxO PL” transforming a user forum into a chat portal
I know it was only a young seagull, but I took this sequence a couple of years ago. First, you spy the bird on the ground, then with patience, wait until it is disturbed and simply follow it taking off…
but you’re right. Birds in flight are far too busy keeping themselves in the air and don’t bother much to become proper models. After a while I really felt sorry for all the unused pixels. Too much skies cluttering my hard drive.
transforming a user forum into a chat portal
I like the movement of the wings in the first take-off image very much
