I am a beginner with my new Nikon D500 ..

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Just wondering how i am doing.. jumping from the Nikon D7500 to the D500.. what do you think of these photos.. be honest.. i can take it.. have to hear the negative too to learn.. in the meantime just practicing.. thanks
 
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No complaints about the images themselves. Those are well composed enough.

But try to use longer shutter speeds and keep the ISO as low as possible. Even freezing sports usually can be shot at 1/1500 or 1/2000 sec shutter speed. There is absolutely no reason to shoot a statically sitting bird with 1/5000 sec unless you have to because you are at base ISO and theres too much light. Your lens probably has image stabilization, thus 1/100 sec should have been very manageable. Then the ISO of the first two images would have dropped from 25k to around 400, meaning they wouldnt have a noise problem anymore.

And for the cases which need ISO 25k and above, you might want to get a dedicated denoise software like Topaz.

Also center weighted wouldnt be my first pick for the metering mode. I would probably want to use spot, to make sure the bird is correctly exposed.

I'd recomment to get the AF-S 200-500mm f5.6 VR for a lens with the D500. Its an amazing optic and insanely cheap for what it is. Its even a really good portrait lens, which is very rare for a zoom. And sure, its not an AF-S 400mm f2.8 VR or AF-S 600m f4 VR, but its a hell of a lot cheaper than those.
 
No complaints about the images themselves. Those are well composed enough.

But try to use longer shutter speeds and keep the ISO as low as possible. Even freezing sports usually can be shot at 1/1500 or 1/2000 sec shutter speed. There is absolutely no reason to shoot a statically sitting bird with 1/5000 sec unless you have to because you are at base ISO and theres too much light. Your lens probably has image stabilization, thus 1/100 sec should have been very manageable. Then the ISO of the first two images would have dropped from 25k to around 400, meaning they wouldnt have a noise problem anymore.

And for the cases which need ISO 25k and above, you might want to get a dedicated denoise software like Topaz.

Also center weighted wouldnt be my first pick for the metering mode. I would probably want to use spot, to make sure the bird is correctly exposed.

I'd recomment to get the AF-S 200-500mm f5.6 VR for a lens with the D500. Its an amazing optic and insanely cheap for what it is. Its even a really good portrait lens, which is very rare for a zoom. And sure, its not an AF-S 400mm f2.8 VR or AF-S 600m f4 VR, but its a hell of a lot cheaper than those.
wow this is just the information i was looking for ...i will try this minus the lens... but i will be sure to look up this lens since i really did not think the tamron lens was compatible as it was with my last camera..thank you very much..i really appreciate it..will have fun today trying this..
 
The first two are a little soft but the Cardinals are better.

Birds can be tough especially if they have black around the eyes, the light has to be perfect to see the eyes clearly. The exposure is often a mixed bag when shooting birds and I typically use spot metering so the bird is exposed well at the expense of the surroundings being off.

I also agree with Mr. Gandhi, keep the ISO as low as possible to get the best color and noise performance.

I'm curious as to why you changed from the D7500 to the D500?
 
The first two are a little soft but the Cardinals are better.

Birds can be tough especially if they have black around the eyes, the light has to be perfect to see the eyes clearly. The exposure is often a mixed bag when shooting birds and I typically use spot metering so the bird is exposed well at the expense of the surroundings being off.

I also agree with Mr. Gandhi, keep the ISO as low as possible to get the best color and noise performance.

I'm curious as to why you changed from the D7500 to the D500?
it is funny you mentioned the eyes.. yes especially ones with the black around the eye.. i find it a challenge to get the clarity of birds with the dark eyes.. i will try the spot metering just to see if i can improve that aspect.. yes i am going to follow Mr Gandhi reply today when i practice..looking forward to it..busy day ahead but i will squeeze this in no matter what.. looking forward to a new challenge and idea.. i had trouble with the D7500 flash.. sent it to nikon to be repaired.. while that camera was being repaired i started to check out the d500 and one thing led to another and i sold the d7500 for a good price.. it was mint.. especially after flash was repaired.. I was able to get a pretty good deal on the nikon d500.. my favorite camera of all the nikons was the d7100. something about that camera seemed special to me.. especially when i look back on photos.. they are impressive especially to me who was just learning.. the d500 is a great camera.. i just have to know how to use it to its full capacity.. and it is fun to learn.. just love photography ... i really enjoy the challenge and fun.. so curiosity probably was the main reason for changing cameras..
 
Nice shooting, keep taking lots of photographs...........
thanks I intend too... so looking forward to spring.. getting tired of snow and ice photos..
 
Images are really soft and lack fine detail could be over cropped or from in camera noise reduction if your shooting Jpeg, i would turn this off or to low if you are.otherwise nice start to well composed images.
 
Images are really soft and lack fine detail could be over cropped or from in camera noise reduction if your shooting Jpeg, i would turn this off or to low if you are.otherwise nice start to well composed images.
thank you i will do this..yesterday planned on a little fun testing new settings.. but ran out of time..today looking forward to trying all this advice.. thanks again
 
Good start.

It always takes a bit of time to get used to a new camera.
Solarflare has given some excellent advice.


Since you have a camera that can perform micro adjusting of focus for each lens you use I would suggest that this be step 1.
It can be very frustrating to troubleshoot what you need to work on if the camera is continuously focusing 1" in front of your subject.

My setting for shooting birds is normally as below.

I shoot in manual but the basic concept can be done in Shutter or Aperture priority as well. Any other dial settings I have never used so I won't speak to them.

Shutter speed.
Sunny day I'll start at 1/1600.
Cloudy day start at 1/800.

Aperture.
Lowest that provides a clear image. For me that's F4

ISO Auto almost always.
The only time I will come out of ISO auto is if the lighting is low then I'll adjust everything manually.

Metering is spot.

Now these are only staring points. I watch what my ISO is in the viewfinder and try and maintain my ISO between 125-400 if possible but have shot as high as 6000 ISO. If in auto ISO I try not keep it at base ISO. If you're at your base ISO you could be over exposing your subject.

AF
I almost exclusively use single point continuous auto focus.
This way I choose what to focus on and not the camera.
It's great to have a million focus points but they're useless if they don't focus on what I want.

Usually my primary adjustment is my shutter speed. As was stated before 1/5000 is used primarily for stopping extremely fast action. Here you have near stationary subjects so if you can, bring your shutter speed down to about 1/1600, if you can get down lower then come down to a point where you are near your base ISO if you have the light to do it.

Second I will adjust the aperture. Some will use this as the primary adjustment and neither way is inherently wrong. By adjusting the aperture smaller (larger number) you potentially have two benefits.
1. Most lenses are not at their sharpest wide open so stopping down the aperture a bit can make your image sharper.
2. You open your depth of field a bit which gives you a bit more of the image depth that will be in focus.
I normally only adjust my aperture for two reasons.
1. Like your last image there are two subjects. In this case I would want to open up my DOF to help get both in the best focus I could.
2. If it is a sunny day and I have the shutter speed as fast or a bit faster than I need to shoot the subject then I'll stop down the aperture to give me the best chance at an in focus subject by opening the DOF.


Now for getting the right exposure of the bird.

Your last image is a great one to learn from.

I would have placed my focus point (also my spot metering point) in the dark part of the female cardinals wing that is just to the left of the branch.
This is an area that is going to brighten the image enough to bring out the eye detail as well.

Waiting for the birds to look a bit more to their left would also provide a reflection of the sun in their eyes. This will also improve the detail.

Basic setting for this shot I would have started at around the following.

Shutter 1/1250
F8
Auto ISO, this will probably be between 200-400


The techniques above are how I shot the image below.

Settings were.
1/800
F4
ISO 200

Baltimore Oriole by Trevor Baldwin, on Flickr



Hope this helps.

Edit. Just read my own post.....dam I like to talk don't I. lol
 
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Good start.

It always takes a bit of time to get used to a new camera.
Solarflare has given some excellent advice.


Since you have a camera that can perform micro adjusting of focus for each lens you use I would suggest that this be step 1.
It can be very frustrating to troubleshoot what you need to work on if the camera is continuously focusing 1" in front of your subject.

My setting for shooting birds is normally as below.

I shoot in manual but the basic concept can be done in Shutter or Aperture priority as well. Any other dial settings I have never used so I won't speak to them.

Shutter speed.
Sunny day I'll start at 1/1600.
Cloudy day start at 1/800.

Aperture.
Lowest that provides a clear image. For me that's F4

ISO Auto almost always.
The only time I will come out of ISO auto is if the lighting is low then I'll adjust everything manually.

Metering is spot.

Now these are only staring points. I watch what my ISO is in the viewfinder and try and maintain my ISO between 125-400 if possible but have shot as high as 6000 ISO. If in auto ISO I try not keep it at base ISO. If you're at your base ISO you could be over exposing your subject.

AF
I almost exclusively use single point continuous auto focus.
This way I choose what to focus on and not the camera.
It's greta to have a million focus points but they're useless if they don't focus on what I want.

Usually my primary adjustment is my shutter speed. As was stated before 1/5000 is used primarily for stopping extremely fast action. Here you have near stationary subjects so if you can, bring your shutter speed down to about 1/1600, if you can get down lower then come down to a point where you are near your base ISO if you have the light to do it.

Second I will adjust the aperture. Some will use this as the primary adjustment and neither way is inherently wrong. By adjusting the aperture smaller (larger number) you potentially have two benefits.
1. Most lenses are not at their sharpest wide open so stopping down the aperture a bit can make your image sharper.
2. You open your depth of field a bit which gives you a bit more of the image depth that will be in focus.
I normally only adjust my aperture for two reasons.
1. Like your last image there are two subjects. In this case I would want to open up my DOF to help get both in the best focus I could.
2. If it is a sunny day and I have the shutter speed as fast or a bit faster than I need to shoot the subject then I'll stop down the aperture to give me the best chance at an in focus subject by opening the DOF.


Now for getting the right exposure of the bird.

Your last image is a great one to learn from.

I would have placed my focus point (also my spot metering point) in the dark part of the female cardinals wing that is just to the left of the branch.
This is an area that is going to brighten the image enough to bring out the eye detail as well.

Waiting for the birds to look a bit more to their left would also provide a reflection of the sun in their eyes. This will also improve the detail.

Basic setting for this shot I would have started at around the following.

Shutter 1/1250
F8
Auto ISO, this will probably be between 200-400


The techniques above are how I shot the image below.

Settings were.
1/800
F4
ISO 200

Baltimore Oriole by Trevor Baldwin, on Flickr



Hope this helps.

Edit. Just read my own post.....dam I like to talk don't I. lol
wow thanks so much for this vivid information... i need time now to read this over and over and apply ..... i am so excited.. if i can get those eyes like you have captured i will be so happy to make this improvement.. gorgeous shot.. i will need some time now.. i think i will wear out my camera before its time.. because i just love practicing.. i will get back to you when i feel i have accomplished this to some degree.. thank you again.. for very informative help..
 
The D500 is quite the versatile that can handle higher ISO's than most other cameras in the Nikon line. Shooting it with the 200-500 is an exceptional experience and you'll come to love this far more than the D7500. I still shoot this camera for wildlife and though the D850 is also great, I have pretty designated it to landscapes. Namcy Elwood, a Florida Photographer regularly shoots the D500 at ISO 3200 with stellar results. Follow Trevor's advice and have lots of fun.

http://www.naturesportal.net/
 
The D500 is quite the versatile that can handle higher ISO's than most other cameras in the Nikon line. Shooting it with the 200-500 is an exceptional experience and you'll come to love this far more than the D7500. I still shoot this camera for wildlife and though the D850 is also great, I have pretty designated it to landscapes. Namcy Elwood, a Florida Photographer regularly shoots the D500 at ISO 3200 with stellar results. Follow Trevor's advice and have lots of fun.

http://www.naturesportal.net/
Thanks so much... i have been testing out all the settings.. i agree the higher ISO seems to be helping... and i will follow Trevers advice ..as i have copied and pasted his reply where i can see it..lol Hoping i get some good shots to share soon..
 
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Such beautiful pictures! I really loved the first one (Blue) and the last one (Dark Orange)!
 
No complaints about the images themselves. Those are well composed enough.

But try to use longer shutter speeds and keep the ISO as low as possible. Even freezing sports usually can be shot at 1/1500 or 1/2000 sec shutter speed. There is absolutely no reason to shoot a statically sitting bird with 1/5000 sec unless you have to because you are at base ISO and theres too much light. Your lens probably has image stabilization, thus 1/100 sec should have been very manageable. Then the ISO of the first two images would have dropped from 25k to around 400, meaning they wouldnt have a noise problem anymore.

And for the cases which need ISO 25k and above, you might want to get a dedicated denoise software like Topaz.

Also center weighted wouldnt be my first pick for the metering mode. I would probably want to use spot, to make sure the bird is correctly exposed.

I'd recomment to get the AF-S 200-500mm f5.6 VR for a lens with the D500. Its an amazing optic and insanely cheap for what it is. Its even a really good portrait lens, which is very rare for a zoom. And sure, its not an AF-S 400mm f2.8 VR or AF-S 600m f4 VR, but its a hell of a lot cheaper than those.
I might be getting this new lens for birthday....thanks again
 

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