New guy's trip to High Island Bird Sanctuary - would love some help too!

[dragon0103]

Hi folks! I am a bigtime newb SLR shooter (about 2 months) and I have really taken to shooting wildlife and nature. I have the normal struggles of any new photographer (composition, exposure, sharpness, etc...). If I could improve one thing about my shots it would be the sharpness. I realize that this will improve with practice, but I would like to ask for some tips from the pros and the peeps that know more than I:

At the bottom of the post I have example pics.

Here is a list of my equipment:

Canon Rebel XTi
EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
EFS 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro
Giottos MT9160 Tripod
Giottos MH7001 Ballhead with QR plate


Is it possible that the telephoto I am using is limiting the sharpness of my shots, or is it more in the technique? (Holding the camera steady, etc.)

I try to use a tripod when I can, but that is especially difficult with birds I have found (and its a pain in general ).

When I shot at the santuary I mostly used f8-f11 to try to limit focusing errors and hopefully keep shots sharp. I probably will not try to use this technique in the future because the background is WAY too in focus and completely distracting. Even though I used this smaller aperture my shots are still not tack sharp. What gives?

Shutter speeds were a toughy for me. It was fairly overcast and the sun was going down so it was difficult to get any faster than 1/250. Could this be contributing to the un-sharpness. The ISO I used was 200 early and then 400 towards sunset and finally 800 after the sun went behind the trees.

Ok, last one... I typically leave my in-camera sharpness level to the default level (3 of 10) should I try to raise it? Will that affect the quality of the image?


http://ryanhanford.smugmug.com/photos/149710466-M.jpg

http://ryanhanford.smugmug.com/photos/149711604-M.jpg

http://ryanhanford.smugmug.com/photos/149712098-M.jpg

This place is so awesome, hundreds of birds so close!
http://ryanhanford.smugmug.com/photos/149710785-M.jpg

Thanks for looking!

[ShepsMom]

Your images look fine on my screen. If you have photoshop or any other editor, you can twick sharpness that way. Sharpness is a big problem with digital photography, almost everyone have to adjust sharpness manually, i know i do. I shoot exclusively in RAW and do all the post processing including sharpness in PS. Also, i don't use in camera sharpness, but that's your preference.
Overall, i think your pictures came out great, i don't see much blur at all, your subjects are well in focus, your lighting is good, you might want to add some color saturation to have them "pop"
Look around this place, there are tons of tuts and techniques that can be very usefull and bunch of pros to help you out!!

Nice work!! :clap

[Maestro]

At the distance you are working the shots look fairly good. Sharpness is affected by several things.
Movement obviously affects the sharpness and the focus of the lens. A steady hand, Image Stabilization and a tripod all help here.
The higher the ISO, which is the sensor's sensitivity to light, the more noise is created in the shot decreasing sharpness.
Sharpness is also affected by the distance from the subject. The farther the subject the less detail will be perceived by the digital sensor. Using Photoshop and Unsharp mask you can tweak the acutance of the picture to make the transition of pixel edge to pixel edge quicker thus sharper.
Another obvious aspect of sharpness is resolution which you can not control and with your XTi you have plenty of pixels with which to play so that is not an issue unless you crop a picture like mad or try to print billboard size prints. :D
The shutter speed can affect the sharpness especially when photographing birds or any animal for that matter that may suddenly move. I try to shoot at anywhere from 800 to 2000 for a shutter speed so that if there are sudden movements, the shot is still perceived as sharp. This, of course, affects, the time light has to hit your sensor so you may need a good flash unit to avoid having too many shots that are in focus but too dark because the shutter speed was so fast. If you set your XTi to "Aperture Priority" the camera will select the appropriate shutter speed to achieve a good exposure.As far as the shots that you have posted, if you would like them sharper, I suggest trying to get closer to the subjects, use Unsharp Mask or any other sharpening program in whatever photo editor you use, use a tripod if possible with gimbal heads to be able to track the subject or if you are like me and that is just too expensive for you, get a small bean bag and use your car or a big rock as support. I use a lens with IS which helps. Your shots are good so keep posting. Heck, your snowy egret there is well exposed with no blown out whites and your spoonbills have good color. You are doing a very good job for just starting. Keep it up! I have still have tons to learn too. :thumb

P.S. In your third pic just above the head of the egret you have what looks like dust on your sensor. I use this company (http://www.visibledust.com/) to clean my sensor and many others here use this company (http://www.copperhillimages.com/index.php?pr=products).

[Harryb]

Welcome to the nature and wildlife forum Ryan. :wave

Its tough to judge the sharpenss of the shots from these size images. If the shots are looking soft I would say its probably due to your shutter speed. Most of these shots were at shutter speeds slower than 1/500 sec. You would have done better by opening up the aperture and getting a higher shutter speed. If you don't want to change the aperture settings then bump up your ISO for a higher shutter speed.

Also when shooting at shutter speeds that make getting a keeper chancey then take multiple shots of the scene. Finally use the tripod or some form of support (fence post, car roof, tree stump, etc.)

[bfjr]

Can't add much to what already has been said

All top notch advice from top notch shooters :thumb

Just keep at it and enjoy :D

[tong]

I have the same problem with sharpness. Stephen's tips made me realize my pictures are not as sharp because I'm not close enough to my subject. I think I'm zooming into my pictures too far making it not sharp.

Hopefully i get a chance to go back out to Bolsa Chica Wetlands to get some shots and post them for comments.