Aperture priority?

[gh patriot]

Im new to shooting birds and photography. I have a fairly good understanding of exposure. Looking through the bird photos in these forums it seems that the vast majority shoot in aperture priority with some degree of EC.

Do you use this shooting mode as opposed to manual due to the changing light conditions? What are the reasons that you shoot in aperture priority?

Just trying to improve my bird photography in any way possible.

[artyman]

My take on this is that choosing the Aperture Priority you determine the depth of field that you want and the camera will then give you the highest shutter speed it can within the constraints of the ISO setting. If the display indicates that is too slow then you need to up the ISO. Then again the camera will be fooled by birds against a light sky so you need to think about that. The same thought processes as regards exposure should be taken whether birds or anything else.

[BradM]

I shoot primarily in AV to keep the critical areas I want in focus while ensuring I have good separation between the subject and background. This does require a bit of experience in understanding how the focal length, the subject distance from the lens and the distance from the background, and the aperture selected are working together.

The usual rule is the closer one is, the more one needs to stop down to pull the eye and head (at least) into sharp focus and have the background fade away.

Exposure compensation is a quick method and with practice almost intuitive in handling those areas that maybe over/under exposed. So for me AV is just a quicker "manual" setting to adjust settings albeit with only a 2 or 3 stop range (depending on body) within the aperture I have selected.

[Sean]

I've always shot AV, until recently. I have switched to Manual, as I can without moving the ISO, adjust the shutter speed to get the exposure I am looking for. If I am getting lower shutter speeds than I am comfortable with, I up the ISO. It's taken me a bit of getting used too, but I enjoy the control much more now.

[Roy C]

I've always shot AV, until recently. I have switched to Manual, as I can without moving the ISO, adjust the shutter speed to get the exposure I am looking for. If I am getting lower shutter speeds than I am comfortable with, I up the ISO. It's taken me a bit of getting used too, but I enjoy the control much more now.
The same for me - I switched to manual around six months ago and find I am nailing the exposure with a lot more regularity than I ever did with AV and exposure comp. I still flick the dial back to AV on occasions when a bird goes out of the ambient light.
For BIF in particular I find manual to be an absolute boom.

[TooManyShots]

Is either AV or TV mode. Action is too fast and really don't have the time to manually expose the shots. Most of the time, the color of the birds as well as the background setting can tell me if I need exposure compensations.

[Roy C]

Is either AV or TV mode. Action is too fast and really don't have the time to manually expose the shots.
This is the exact reason why I use manual - just set the manual from something around 18% grey (I use medium toned grass) and shoot away, anything that is in the ambient light will be exposed correct irrelevant of the background (bright sky or dark woods, the bird will be exposed correctly without having to dial-in exposure Comp).
You only need to change the manual setting if the ambient light changes and this is done by by just the top thumb wheel. Could not be easier IMO.
I personally have no time to mess around with exposure comp but each to their own I guess.

[gh patriot]

Thanks so much for everyones input and I look forward to any more hints , tips or tricks that you all might have up your sleeves.:D

[Hawkman]

Manual unless there are changing light conditions, then AV to control the DOF. If a faster shutter speed is needed for the desired DOF then bump up the ISO.

I don't like the feeling that my DOF will be set by the camera. The shutter speed doesn't affect the image as long as it is fast enough but the aperture does.

Gene