not the best shot of a osprey and eyes arent clear

[photographerinoregon]

here is a shot of a osprey i just took the other day. i have problems with getting the eyes to come out clear can anyone tell me what i am doing wrong or what might help? I am using a 40d and 50d canon and a canon 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS L series lens. please help. this shot was with the 50d

kevin

[Broncobear]

Can you give me a little more info of what you would like help with, I know I can download the file for the exif. But a good starter would be to list your exif data and tell me your settings you typically use when shooting birds.

What I tend to do is use AI servo, F 8 on 400mm focal length, adjust ISO so that the TV is around 1000+. I use spot metering when shooting birds an din some cases use flash with high sync.

With the technical aspect out of the way, shooting birds takes a great deal of patience and luck as well. Positioning, for your yourself and the bird are all part of the equation.

We have some fantastic bird photographers in the bird forum on potn, you can visit there and get to know people. They are very friendly and gave me a lot of great advice when I started out

[photographerinoregon]

i just want to know how people get these shots of osprey and bald eagles and their eyes are so crystal clear. i use settings manually to set the exposure and shutter and apeture . apeture i leave at 5.6 to get as much shutter speed as i can can. wheni go to tv or av mode it always takes to dark of photos for some reason even though the mark is in the middle for the right exposure. this one i had a shutter of 1/1000 and 5.6 apeture. picture style inside the camera was set on standard and set on AI servo the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens was at 400mm and set on auto focus and mode one for the IS. you need anymore info if so just tell me what you need. thank you


kevin

[tonydee]

ISO is also useful, so we know if you can reasonably go to a faster shutter speed. Basically, faster is always better for reducing motion-blur, so long as the noise is acceptable.

Diagnosing sharpness issues is a bit of an art, and difficult to do well from a much smaller resized image. It does look a bit soft all over though, which suggests motion blur. Either your camera wasn't tracking the bird accurately enough and/or your shutter speed was inadequate for the angle, 640mm effective focal length and distance involved. IS mode 2 is intended for tracking moving subjects - using mode 1 may be contributing to your problem.

Separately, shots will appear sharper when the lighting is better... in this shot most of what we see is in shadow and therefore quite dull. Contrast is limited, and the eye struggles to pull out details that would jump out easily from a better lit shot.

Cheers, Tony