Focus wildlife

[lance70]

Hi!

I have been active for a while now with wildlife photography, but for some reason I always have issues with my focusing....

When the animal is not moving, I could get 7 out of 10 pictures good, but as soon when it moved, even just small movements, I get issues o-o
when In action, I always feel its more of lucky shots, it is not consistent enough from my point of view.
Also, with birds in flight, the bird could be very dark, despite doing a EV of +1 or even +2...
Also when there is lots of trees in the way, my camera seems to take focus on the leaves before or after the animal, even tough I focus on the eyes of the animal.

I think I tried almost everything,...
5, 9, 51, 3D focus points, spot meting, center meting, changing the settings of center meting to smaller or bigger
Also I go fast high in ISO to keep high speed, but sometimes I think I could take it at lower speed, but always worried to get blurry pictures ( and I have had many after testing...)
I do know my D7100 lacks some speed and is not perfect for wildlife photography, but people did it for so many years already with worse gear, so It clearly is me who needs to get the blame, not the camera! (and for who would like to know, my lens is Nikon 200-500)

What am I doing wrong? I have read so much, but cannot figure it out, I know, more practice! But still..
Or could I ask you, wildlife photographers, What settings (on Nikon preferable) do you use for this?
birds in flight
birds still in trees/on rocks
wildlife (like for example deer)
...
I am mostly looking for what kind of focus tracking/points or tips/tricks

Thanks!

With a long lens like that you will need to really watch your shutter speed as well and make sure it's fast enough for what you have in mind.

 

[Strodav]

As a fellow wildlife enthusiast the best advice I can give you is to pick up a copy of Steve Perry's book "Secrets to Stunning Wildlife Photography". The first section of the book goes though the techniques this very talented professional uses. The second part goes through equipment and settings. Well worth the $13 price and time to read it. I often go back and re-read sections to improve my skills little by little. My hit rate and quality of photos has gone up significantly following his techniques.

Secrets To Stunning Wildlife Photography - Backcountry Gallery