BWCA wildlife action shots Boundary Waters Group Forum: Photography in the BWCA
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Needleguy
senior member (78)senior membersenior member
  
09/13/2009 06:54PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
Does anybody have any helpful hints on capturing a good action shot of any/all wildlife? I just got back from a four day trip, in which I spent the majority of time slowly paddling down every creek and river possible waiting/looking for that once in a lifetime photo opportunity. I found myself never ready! I got this shot simply by chance. I would love to see other wildlife images captured. Feel free to critique my image, all suggestions will help me on future trips.


 
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jenrobsdad
distinguished member(572)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
09/16/2009 03:43AM  
Great depth of field shot. I think you did a great job with a good shutter speed and aperture. I have found that you just have to be ready and make sure you have a fast shutter. That can be tough in low light situations or using a zoom lens. Great picture!
 
Arne
member (9)member
  
06/24/2010 09:17PM  
Getting out early and being lucky.
 
06/24/2010 11:43PM  

Getting out early and being lucky.
Osprey on Rogue River, Oregon
 
bapabear
distinguished member(2861)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
10/01/2013 10:26AM  
I was digging back through old posts in this forum and saw this one. This summer I frequented a large marsh/wildlife area near my daughter's place. Getting that "perfect" shot has still eluded me but I've gotten a few decent ones. I find I have to go into "hunting" mode - dress and act the part if I want to even have a chance with some of these animals. I started leaving my camera on "sport/action" setting in hope of when I get that shot I wanted I'll be taking multiple shots and it should increase my chances. Do others do this? Will it hurt the quality as opposed to being on another setting?
 
10/01/2013 07:45PM  

loon taking flight, French lake, BWCA
just happened to be watching this loon floating around and trying to get a decent head shot when it started to take off.
I was using my small pocket size digital so it was aim and shoot.
 
10/01/2013 07:52PM  
quote Needleguy: "


I really like this
 
hobbydog
distinguished member(1973)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
10/01/2013 08:56PM  
There is a lot of luck involved, especially when shooting out of a canoe. But there are some things you can do. First of all you have to have your camera set for the current light conditions. Shutter speed, aperture size and ISO setting. It is a three way trade off, especially in poor light. In a canoe and to capture action you need a fast shutter speed. 1/500 will stop wings and cover up some camera shake. 1/250 is the slowest I would go. As your shutter speed goes up your aperture has to open up (smaller number)to maintain the exposure. The more it does that the narrower the depth of field. Your photo is a very good example of this. You can see in your photo that the depth of field is very small. If the goose has a 6' wingspan, the depth of field or focus area is less than a foot, maybe only several inches. You can calculate it using this calculator. I can't extract the shutter and aperture settings from your picture so can't say for sure. It also looks like there is a little motion blur as well. A faster shutter speed can help that. But as you can see these two settings work against each other. This is where the ISO setting comes in. ISO is your sensitivity control. 100-200 ISO is a normal setting. If you had set yours to 800 you could have bumped up speed and the aperture 1 stop. So why not set ISO at 800 or 1600 or even more? Like with everything else nothing is free. The higher the ISO number the more noise or graininess. There is one last variable...the quality of the $$$ lens $$$$. It makes a world of difference. So, to have the best chance, don't use presets. You will get lucky once in awhile but you increase your odds with getting these settings close to what you might expect with the current light conditions.

Another thing is anticipation when it comes to birds in flight. If you are approaching a duck on the water be ready to shoot before they take flight. I paddle solo a lot so it is hard. I want to paddle slowly towards them to get them to fly yet have my camera in hand when they take off. If you are in the front of a tandem then you just need a good stern paddler that can sneak you in close.

In the picture below my focal length is 280mm, aperture f5, and a distance 100'. That gives me about a 7'depth of field, more than enough for this shot. My shutter speed was 1/640 with ISO at 200. In this case, in hindsight I could have gone 1/1000 as the picture is not as sharp as it could be and a little more shutter speed might have helped. The important thing is to look at the exif information that is logged with each photo and see what your settings were and learn from each shot. Google "birds in flight photography" and you will get a lot more tips, tutorials and advice. Be assured that even the best nature photographers have plenty of throw away photos they missed for each opportunity.


 
hobbydog
distinguished member(1973)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
10/01/2013 09:50PM  
One more thing. Post processing marginal photos can sometimes make a big difference. The one below was basically one I would have passed over but I had some new post processing software I was trialing (Topaz Adjust). It had lots of preset that you could fine tune. The picture was taken the day the ice went out in 2012 (very early) and I was out in my canoe. Some geese were coming my way through the fog. The poor light, fog and soft focus didn't do much for the picture. As I ran it through some different presets...one called grunge it just popped and really covered up the defects.




Another one from the same morning with the same post processing.



 
10/02/2013 09:04PM  
A hobbydog said, having the right settings for the conditions set on your camera before you encounter the action will lead to more success. If you are fiddling with the camera to get the right settings the action is probably over by the time you are ready to shoot. This is especially true with birds because they don't sit still very long.

Being in the right place at the right time is a big factor too; if you put yourself in situations where wildlife or bird life abounds, sooner or later you will get the "shot" ...with a little luck of course.




Blue Heron in flight





Don't know if you would consider this "action" or not; I am happy when I catch a bird singing to the world.






Otters in the BWCA





Catching this chickadee trying to steal our hashbrowns was good timing and using a flash, and a little luck





Cedar Waxwing in flight
 
10/03/2013 07:22AM  
 
10/03/2013 11:21AM  


a gray jay and a pine grosbeak
 
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