Day at the Zoo

Hi
Need some advice!

I went to the zoo and took many pics of the animals. I was mostly disappointed with many of the pics as I felt they were not sharp enough, almost a little fuzzy. I need to understand why, and I have a few theories.

I used my brand new tripod. Most of the pics were shot with ISO 100 as it was a very sunny and HOT day. I was in Aperture mode, and shooting in RAW. What surprised me is that my shutter speed on most of the pics was very low, like 1/30 or 1/60. Most pics were taken with a f/stop of 6.3 or more wide open.

Were they a little blurry because my depth of field was to narrow? Should I have used an 8.0 or higher number?

Ruth

Could have been a number of things. DOF issues from shooting wide open, mirror slap/unsteady tripod, wrong focus point. You could have raised iso in order to get higher shutter speeds or smaller apertures.

Don't you usually get fast shutter speeds with wide open apertures? Bright sunny day in combination with f 5.6 or 6.3, shouldn't a fast shutter speed follow?

Were the animals you were taking pictures of and having problems with directly under the sun or were they under a shade as I suspect they would be if it were a really hot and sunny day.

Also, unless the animals are taking a siesta or otherwise stationary, slow shutter speeds usually do not freeze motion, even if the camera is on a tripod.

Usually, yes. Were your subjects in shade? In bright sunlight, even at iso 100, I would have expected higher shutter speeds then 1/30. That's why I wondered if your subjects were in shade. You could have safely bumped your iso to 200 or 400 in order to get faster shutter speeds.

Yes, most were in the shade, taking a snooze. I thought of that too. In some cases I bumped up the iso to 200. Next time, I'm going to try and stay in the f/8.0 range as I think more of the subject will be in focus. I'm also going to shoot in P rather than A mode. It's been my way of thinking, and maybe I'm wrong, but I always try to keep my ISO as low as possible, making adjustments with the aperture and shutter speed first, maybe changing modes. But if I'm finding I'm not getting an adequate shutter speed then I will go to the next iso.

Looking at your sig, if you were using the 75-300 @ 300mm that would also explain why your pix were a little soft. Not known for being very sharp @ 300, or wide open. You would probably be better off with a tcon on the L. As far as iso is concerned, you usually do want to keep it as low as possible, but when circumstances dictate, bump it up accordingly. You're not going to notice enough noise at 400, even 800, to make a huge difference.

What you want to do is use the lowest ISO you can get away with that gives you the shutter speed and aperture that you want to use. In order words, your shutter speed and aperture take priority over ISO. If you can't get the shutter speed or aperture where you want it, then bump up the ISO until you can.

I guess I need to flip my way of thinking. I think that's why I'm going to shoot P next time as that gives me a more balanced positive effect of aperture and shutter speed. Then I will deal with the ISO. Three very important details to remember, this is why I don't juggle for a living.

Thanks for your help.

PS I was using my L lens, the 70-200mm.

It may be a bit late now, I realise, but if you post an example picture then it makes it a lot easier for people to diagnose problems. Something to remember for next time, perhaps...

Using the "P" mode is quite silly if what you are looking for is control over your exposure settings. The "P" mode lets the camera decide everything for you, and there's no way to talk to the camera to tell it what you really want. Well, you can talk to the camera, but it surely won't listen.

Using "M" mode, and possibly an external meter, is the way to gain maximum control over how your images are exposed. The built-in meter is OK for most situations, but you still have to learn how to use it and not just let the camera decide things for you.

You should always be looking at your shutter speed - it's far more important than appeture because a slow shutter speed like you had will kill your shots rather than a wider appeture.

As you shoot different things, your lighting will change. Bright and dark areas within the same frame will cause exposure problems.

You haven't stated your focal lengths yet. When I'm at my local zoo I use all isos: 100-3200 to get a fast enough shutter speed with my Bigma - usually shooting f8 but wider if low light or want more DOF. Even with a tripod you should go no slower than 1/125 because the animals move too.

And I don't recommend P mode as it often gives a wider appeture. Just use Av and ALWAYS monitor your shutter speed - crank the iso up when needed.

Lesson learned. I will pay more attention to it next time. thanks for the input.