Early Morning Doe Help

[Jim Stafford]

OK, so what am I doing wrong here? Ap Priority, F6.3, 1/8 shutter, ISO 800 on the same Xti, 55-250 EF-S at 250mm. I'm on a tripod with a shutter release

 

[RebelTasha]

Your shutter speed is toooo slow, perhaps the Fstop could be 5 which will help you bring up your shutter speed and a higher ISO.
Again there is just no focus in this picture though, do you have Auto Focus on your camera? Do you know how to use it? Is your lens ok?
Please don't think I'm trying to put you down.
You look like you have some fantastic subjects to take pictures of, I look forward to seeing more in the future..

 

[Jim Stafford]

I think my lens is fine, check out my other threads, geese and mallard. They were all done with the same lens. I think the early morning stuff, there is just not enough light for this lens. Yes , auto focus is on and working.

 

[Overread]

I second the advice to use a wider aperture (smaller f number) - though as I said earlier I would not boost ISO higher myself - just too much noise.
Out of interest what mode did you shoot in for this shot and also what auto focus system were you using - further which AF point (is it only the middle one or does the camera select from all the availible points?)

I would also recomend getting hold of a copy of Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson to help you understand ISO, shutter speed and aperture better - many here have the very same book and its well worth reading.

 

[Jim Stafford]

I was in aperture priority, normal auto focus, and I am using the center AF point and I put it right on her nose.

 

[uplander]

You need to get your shutter speed up to 1/250 or better. A moving deer shot like this in low light you would have been better off handheld and panning. Static shots on a tripod at slow shutter speeds yield the results you got.

 

[TCimages]

I agree with the above suggestions. I personally don't think you should be afraid to use higher ISO if you have low light. You could end up with a usable image that can be edited for noise removal.

Is this image heavily cropped ?

 

[Overread]

well your shooting right - when in lower light use the widest aperture (smallest f number) you can - raise you ISO as high as you dare and see what shutter speed you get. If the speed is too low then I suggest underexposing the shot delibratly - using exosure compensation. You might get a dark shot, but it might be more usable than a soft shot.
Also as a general rule of thumb your shutter speed (when hand holding) should be 1/focal length. Eg if you are shooting at the 250mm end you speed should idealy be at least 1/250sec and anything below 1/60sec handheld is likley to have handshake. For action you really want at least 1/100sec (this is a rough guess by me) or faster to freeze motion.

Early hours of the morning can be tricky times to shoot and sadly the ideal fast prime lenses are anything but cheap (sadly wildlife photography gets really expensive really quickly). You could experiment with flash as an aid, however you will certainly need something better than a popup camera flash - a 430 or 580M2 speedlite to give you enough light to work with but that is a whole other ballgame (And one with which I have limited experience)

 

[Jim Stafford]

No, no crop. OK, I'll try that. I'll go to time/shutter priority, set for 1/250. I had the ISO at 800, should I go to 1600?

You guys use this Opanda Exif thing for seeing all the settingsused for a picture?

 

[Jim Stafford]

I have another lens I could try also, it is an EF instead of EF-S, 75-300, same F5.6. It is not IS.

 

[Overread]

I would stick with the 55-250mm - chances are at the 250mm end its sharper than the 75-300mm. Plus IS never hurts for removing handshake in a lens.

 

[TCimages]

No, no crop. OK, I'll try that. I'll go to time/shutter priority, set for 1/250. I had the ISO at 800, should I go to 1600?

You guys use this Opanda Exif thing for seeing all the settingsused for a picture?

I don't think that will help you. Consider using AV with the largest aperture possible and bump up the ISO until you get an acceptable Shutter speed (around 200+). Does that lens have the next generation IS. Some IS you aren't supposed to use a tripod with. To be honest, IS doesn't really help much in this situation with a moving subject. Higher shutter speeds are the only solution. If the lens isn't fast enough, wait for better light.

Test your lens for sharpness on a stationary subject and good light. It may be a little soft on the long end. I can't find a sharp area in that shot. The grass should be in focus somewhere since you had the camera on a tripod.

I use Exif add on for Firefox, not Opanda.

 

[OldClicker]

Another thought - your tripod. I have a cheap one and had a very hard time in the beginning getting a sharp shot. I ended up having to hang a 10 lb weight from it (make sure the weight isn't moving) and always using the timer or a remote release. - TF