Swans in flight at sunrise

[timputtick]

Took this at 1/500th of a second which seems a bit slow, but feedback appreciated of course.

 

[globeglimpser]

Still seems a little - blurry despite being at 1/500 :er:

Maybe focus is off or perhaps it needed to be faster...

Great timing though

 

[Dagwood56]

I agree about the focus, but still a nice shot. I do feel the crop is a bit tight - might have been better to leave a bit more land or water at the top.

 

[Benco]

Nice capture. Looks a little soft overall, what was your aperture and ISO?

 

[timputtick]

ISO 320, F/4. Yes, I did go out just to get this shot, I've taken the picture before which also turned out soft, so my intention was to get it sharper which unfortunately didn't work out. I had my camera on a tripod with my sigma 70/200 f/2.8. The only thing I can think of which is making this image soft is a combination between the shutter speed and the focus possibly hitting the water behind the swans, I did use single point focus hovered over the swans but it's possible it's focused for the background.
I think the water been splashed up and the speed of the swans flapping their wings is just to fast for 1/500th of a second.

 

[timputtick]

To see the larger resolution image to judge the focus point, click this link via Flickr All sizes | swans | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Thanks

 

[Benco]

ISO 320, F/4. Yes, I did go out just to get this shot, I've taken the picture before which also turned out soft, so my intention was to get it sharper which unfortunately didn't work out. I had my camera on a tripod with my sigma 70/200 f/2.8. The only thing I can think of which is making this image soft is a combination between the shutter speed and the focus possibly hitting the water behind the swans, I did use single point focus hovered over the swans but it's possible it's focused for the background.
I think the water been splashed up and the speed of the swans flapping their wings is just to fast for 1/500th of a second.

Yeah, it's a problem, not much light and you need a fast shutter speed to catch them. Maybe if you get antother go at it try two stops higher on the ISO and close down the aperture a stop giving you (depending on the light of course) maybe 1/1000 sec.

 

[timputtick]

Yes, but then I have the problem of my Nikon D90 not handling high ISO's very well, and I didn't want to open up the aperture because of the risk of the subject being totally OOF. Something I often think of is purposely underexposing by a stop (shooting in RAW) and increasing the exposure by a stop or so in post processing. I don't know how many people do this or whether it's frowned upon but it appeals as a viable idea to me.

 

[Benco]

How high can you go with your D90 before noise is unnaceptable, looks pretty clean at 320.

 

[Mach0]

I don't know what AF mode you had but I've had decent success with the d90 afc and center AF point locked. For BIF 1/500 second isn't the quickest but with good panning you will be fine. Focus looks on the water ( I'm on my phone )

 

[timputtick]

Yes I had AFC on, and I'd say I should of gone up to ISO 640 or even 800. And I did actually pan the shot, using a tripod too. I think the focus is the suspect here, I guess my focus point missed the swans slightly.

 

[Mach0]

Yes I had AFC on, and I'd say I should of gone up to ISO 640 or even 800. And I did actually pan the shot, using a tripod too. I think the focus is the suspect here, I guess my focus point missed the swans slightly.

Did you use the center AF point or did you use the 3d tracking? Or let the camera choose the focal point for you?

 

[timputtick]

I used center AF point, guess it was me, not the camera.