Help please!

So walking out the front door I hear a hawk screech and see him in the top of a tree. Run for the camera, stick on the 70-300 DO, knowing time is short I just switch to Program AE, select the center AF point, half press, get an immediate focus lock and get one horribly focused picture!
(These are links to original large/fine so the file is huge!)

http://www.flickr.com …6@N06/245251696​9/sizes/o/

I could tell just from the LCD things weren't right so I tried again

http://www.flickr.com …6@N06/245252065​5/sizes/o/

This shot looked the same, the bird fluffed it's wings so I think it's about to fly, I switch to sports mode (for ai servo) and fire off 3 shots. Now I don't expect these to be great (given the branches) since sports mode selects all AF's, and they're not, but they're in better focus than the shots I pasted the center AF point on the bird!

http://www.flickr.com …6@N06/245335301​6/sizes/o/

Or in the last shot before he flew (in Program AE again) when I put the center AF on the branch just in front of him.

http://www.flickr.com …6@N06/245252812​9/sizes/o/

I know I'm a rookie but I can usually figure out where I went wrong with a shot after the fact. I didn't expect a great shot but I expect the area I cover with the center AF to be sharper than this. Am I expecting too much from program mode? From this lens? Can you even tell where the camera actually focused? You can check in ZB that I nailed the bird, or in the last shot the branch he's inches from, with the center AF point. I'm just lost here, disappointed and frustrated and looking for some guidance.

Unfortunately the branches around the hawk had a higher contrast so that's what your AF focused on.

The only way to guarantee a nice clean shot with surroundings like this (cages, a lot of branches, heavy bush) is to switch to manual focus and do it yourself. I've missed way too many nature shots because the surroundings were higher contrast than the subject.

Manual focus in these situations has greatly improved my success rate. Switching your AF start to the * button will allow you to use manual focus even when your lens isn't set for it because pressing the shutter won't trigger the focus to start.

Since I knew from the LCD the first shot stunk I tweaked the manual focus ring before taking the 2nd shot, but the bird was just too far away for me to tell if I was doing any better than AF. I saw what you're saying about the contrast, but it appears to me the focus is no where near the center AF point. Even if it had focused on the branch in front of the bird he would be in much better focus.

Check out this shot from a similar situation when I had a 20D, but much better focus with the same lens in full auto.

http://www.flickr.com …6@N06/245270715​3/sizes/o/


http://www.flickr.com …6@N06/245353411​2/sizes/o/

Thank you for taking the time to look and comment!

It looks like you've got some movement blur in this shot as well as the camera picking the distant leaves for the focus. Also the 70-300 is reported to be soft beyond 200mm.

I've been in similar situations where I've rushed the shot, hoping that the camera will be kind to me. It usually isn't.

May I recommend that you not put full resolution shots on the web? It makes it easy for somebody to take and use without your permission. A low resolution shot has less utility.

Full sized photos are far too time consuming!

Flo wrote in post #5436134
Full sized photos are far too time consuming!

agreed, resize then repost

The resizes are there, click one of the links at the top.

If you go to the top left "Back to flickr photo page" you can see the EXIF data under more properties; which is 1/500th, f8, iso400, 300mm on a 40d on the shots that I looked at.

That first shot is perplexing... it looks like it focused well behind the bird. It also looks like there's some motion blur, but there shouldn't be with those settings and the IS lens. Honestly, I can't tell what went wrong.

I guess if I were to give advise I'd say shoot it two or three times. Each time if you feel the lens focus ring move shoot it again. Move the focal point around and shoot again. It's digital, you're not burning film. Although, for something like a hawk I'd burn a few slices of silver anyway

Oh and don't get discouraged, wildlife photography is just hard... very hard

javaprog wrote in post #5439943
=javaprog;5439943]The resizes are there, click one of the links at the top.

If you go to the top left "Back to flickr photo page" you can see the EXIF data under more properties; which is 1/500th, f8, iso400, 300mm on a 40d on the shots that I looked at.

That first shot is perplexing... it looks like it focused well behind the bird. It also looks like there's some motion blur, but there shouldn't be with those settings and the IS lens. Honestly, I can't tell what went wrong.

I guess if I were to give advise I'd say shoot it two or three times. Each time if you feel the lens focus ring move shoot it again. Move the focal point around and shoot again. It's digital, you're not burning film. Although, for something like a hawk I'd burn a few slices of silver anyway

Oh and don't get discouraged, wildlife photography is just hard... very hard

9 out of 10 times folks don't go to links....they want to see the photo posted

You said yourself you were in a hurry, so the time it would have taken to set your subject wasn't there?

LD said it well.

Motion blur is a major problem in this shot. You are shooting at 300mm freehand and in a hurry. If you want to bird, you will probably want a different lens. I had a 75 to 300mm Canon and had some decent shots but paid in time to get them. Move to some long focal length L glasss and you will be assured of much better results. If you can use a tripod, it will dramatically improve your results.

Thanks for the comments. Flickr allows you to choose which size to look at, I left these full size so you could tell just how terribly out of focus they were, I won't do that again.

I leaned against the wall and tucked my elbows in, and with the IS and the light I didn't expect any motion issues. Time was short, a little less than 3 minutes and I spent a bit of that looking in frustration at the LCD. I'm not birding per se this was just a (missed) opportunity shot. In retrospect I wish I had grabbed the tripod, since I didn't get the shot anyway.

The shots with the 20D in the 2nd post were taken standing freestyle in the backyard and while the subject didn't cooperate like this hawk, at least the pictures were sharper. I know I'm in the 'consciously incompetent' phase but I have stepped up my reading and am gradually making more time for shooting. Still, my focus failure rate with the 40D with all my lenses is 2-3 times higher than it was with the 20D, though usually not so dramatically.

My sincere thanks for the feedback.

joedlh wrote in post #5436119
May I recommend that you not put full resolution shots on the web? It makes it easy for somebody to take and use without your permission. A low resolution shot has less utility.

I hear you, but I figure with these the worst someone will do is use them as an example of how not to do photography!

StarJack wrote in post #5445948
Still, my focus failure rate with the 40D with all my lenses is 2-3 times higher than it was with the 20D, though usually not so dramatically.

I hate feeling like my equipment is not functioning properly

Maybe you should get it checked out. Have you tried a focus test?
http://focustestchart.​com/chart.html
(try to ignore the Nikon references, it works for Canons too :eek