Geese Take Off Help

[Jim Stafford]

I would estimate they were about 50' away.

 

[uplander]

I agree with the suggestion that the AF was not locked on target. The lens , aperture and shutter speed were all in zone to get a shot without motion blur and the photo does not show motion blur it's simply is out of focus.

 

[Jim Stafford]

As the geese moved out and landed this was one of the last shots, better but not as good as it should be

 

[Jim Stafford]

wrong link, sorry

 

[OldClicker]

I agree with the suggestion that the AF was not locked on target. The lens , aperture and shutter speed were all in zone to get a shot without motion blur and the photo does not show motion blur it's simply is out of focus.

What makes you say that it is not the result of camera shake? - TF

 

[Overread]

shutter speed of 1/500sec with a 250mm lens - really camera shake would not be an issue here unless he was suffering from some severe muscular control problem in his hands. The speed is certainly fast enough for a handheld shot and should not have any shake from the hands and minimal motion blur on the subjects

 

[DRoberts]

Long focal lenghts and AF are very tricky. Especially with a continuous background/foreground such as water or sky. As stated several times before, it appears the AF was not locked onto the birds when the shutter was released. This happens alot when panning in these situations because at that long of a focal length it is hard to keep right on target. By looking at your photo I would say that your AF was mostlikely adjusting between the birds and the foreground. The fact that the birds were moving away from you, rather than across your field of veiw, complicates this even further.
About the only thing to help this is shortening your focal length, practice and more practice.

 

[uplander]

What makes you say that it is not the result of camera shake? - TF

The water droplets are close to focus and not showing signs of camera shake and flat parts of the water are close to focus also. 1/500 at that range is fast enough to freeze the action.

 

[uplander]

if you look closely you see the forefront of the ( the closest point at the bottom of the shot) is almost in focus. The shot was taken as the camera was still seeking focus.

 

[Jklersy]

if you dont have a mono pod and you plan on panning more often you should get one. I got a manfroto for around 70 bucks new and dont even use a head on it. Works great for panning, I just rotate with my subject. In my case its cars so I dont need to go vertical at all, that might make a difference in what your looking for. You might want a tripod with a good ball head that has a resistance setting.

My camera wont let me take a shot when my lens is in AF and its not focused yet. I have a rebel xt so it should be the same. Looks to me like the water droplets in the left corner are in focus though, so you might want to try center focal point for these shots.

 

[Jim Stafford]

Plus half the time I am sitting in my kayak, I am working on something along those lines

 

[Jklersy]

Hmmm. thats kinda difficult then isnt it, lol. Well, you could drop some cash on a 70-200 f2.8, or go the other rout and get a 40d or 5d with better noise control and go to higher iso's. But then again I dont know if that would work either. Sorry, I'm still a noob who thinks he has a grasp on aperture and iso and shutter speeds. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong. (hopefully )

 

[dhilberg]

I had the focus in servo and shutter on burst, panning and let it fire.

This might be the problem. By the looks of the photo and this quote, I'd say you simply beat the AF system, like others have suggested. I'd try using the center focus point and track the subject with it. Make sure you keep the shutter release button held down halfway the whole time so that the camera is continuously focusing on the subject as it's moving away or toward you.

 

[prodigy2k7]

Hmm, at f5.6 and 250mm, the DOF would be very small, and I think this is the problem. Perhaps it is a combination of this and motion blur, but I think more likely is that none of it is in focus just because the foucs is so far off.

DoF isnt just aperture and focal length, its also includes distance to the subject, and the distance from the subject to its background...

 

[prodigy2k7]

Also, take into affect that this lens isn't very expensive... You wont get picture perfect from a cheap lens wide open at its largest focal length.