Shutter speed.

[Rob one]

Good morning everyone

My first post and I need some help.

I have recently purchased a Canon EOS R100 camera, I take a lot of wildlife photos, so far I've been using the auto focus on sports mode, it's ok, but I now want to try manual.
I'm having a problem with the shutter speed, if I set it to 1/2000, the picture is going a little dark, the higher the speed I go, it gets darker till it's completely black.
If I set it at 1/800 the picture is going a little bright, the lower I set it, it gets brighter till you can't see anything.
Other settings f5.6 and ISO 400.
I've been on various website tutorials, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, not being an expert though, I have no idea.
I thought for wildlife photos you needed a high shutter speed? at the minute I can only use between 800 and 2,000.

Can anyone out there please help, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks Rob.

 

[smoke665]

@Rob one first of all welcome. As to the question, exposure is a balancing act with the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter, ISO).

Any adjustment made to one requires an adjustment to one or both of the other two. If you're shooting in one of the priority modes like (AV, TV), you set the aperture or shutter speed and the camera will attempt to adjust the other two to arrive at a correct exposure. If you're shooting manual you have to do it. In priority mode if you exceed the adjustment capability by using to high of a shutter speed, or to small of an aperture then you won't get a good exposure. Also, most cameras have the ability to set a range for ISO when using priority modes.

In ambient light I use TV or AV and EV comp, rather than manual, because the camera is faster at adjusting to changing light than I can.

As to shutter speed it depends on conditions the faster the subject is moving the faster shutter, however lighting conditios may prevent that, and you need to move to a slower shutter, and pan to stop motion.

 

[Jeff15]

For birds in flight, you need at least 1/1200th of a second; on the ground, at least the focal length you are using. Good luck..

 

[21limited]

Combine the information form the two posts above….. both are accurate. But a bit more on the trade offs.

For APS-c or FF, ƒ5.6 is your best resolution in line width / picture height.
But, for wildlife, depth of field can be critical. F11 can look sharper than ƒ5.6 based on more of the subject being in focus.

My own experience involves the use of AV.
I will set my aperture and ISO, and allow the camera to adjust the shutter speed. That’s a personal choice, I prefer to monitor only shutter speed in the viewfinder. Others may choose to monitor ƒ-stop or ISO depending on the mode they use.

As per above a humming bird moth. at 1250/s.
The moth is in full flight, those wings are frozen you shouldn’t need to go any higher.
2025-06-06 Porch-Hummingbird Moth-3 by Norm Head, on Flickr

Ditto this humming bird
1/2000s - to freeze the wings
ISO 1600 to let me use ƒ11 for depth of field
ƒ11
I chose to use a higher than optimism ISO in order to freeze the wings, and ƒ11 to get the best possible depth of field. So I chose shutter speed and ƒ-stop, those two factors dicatated ISO.
2025-05-02--FIrst hummer by Norm Head, on Flickr

Even for faster moving BiFs, fast shutter speed can help.
2014-01-03-Blue-Jay -in-Flight by Norm Head, on Flickr

A nice bright day, and 1/250s - ƒ8 - 1600 ISO.
2013-03-23-Canada-Jays by Norm Head, on Flickr


Now another image.
2025-05-12-FC-Purple FInch M-D-SF by Norm Head, on Flickr

The bird is further from the camera, and stationary… so I can cheat on the ISO, move it down to 400 for better IQ. (noise defeats top quality resolution at higher ISOs.
shoot at -.7 EV for a faster shutter speed and ƒ stop.
I move further from the bird, with a lower focal length… so I can go to ƒ8
An 1/400s because the bird isn’t in motion.

I actually have preset for the top photos labelled (Birds in Flight), with the preferred settings pre-dialed in, and I adjust from there.

Then this one relatively stationary bird at a feeder.
I’ve allowed my shutter speed to fall to 1/125s to got to 200 ISO for even lower noise at ƒ8.
2025-05-12-FC-Purple FIc F by Norm Head, on Flickr

Only experinece will teach you when you can reduce the original settings.

That being said, small birds are the exteme, and hummingbirds are the extreme extreme.

WIth stationaly wildlife I’ll go as low as 1/30s. The image below is 1/60s ƒ9, 200 ISO
2025-03-14-Raccon-2 by Norm Head, on Flickr

ON the one below I’m shooting at 1/125s. ƒ4 but I’m at a further distance from the animal, meaning ƒ4 provides me with adequate DoF, ( Depth of Field increases with distance.)
I'm shooiting ISO 400 because it’s low evening light.
Moose by Norm Head, on Flickr



For this one 1/80s ƒ6.3 was sufficent.
2023-01-11-Deer-1 by Norm Head, on Flickr

So in order of importance…. ƒ stop to keep as much as possible of the subject in focus. You can move to a smaller aperture to increase DoF, or move backwards. ƒ5.6 is optimal for resolution. But especially for subjects close to the camera, ƒ5.6 may not provide adequate DoF.


ISO, allows you to reduce noise by using the lowest possible ISO, on my camera 100 ISO. I will select this based on other conditions, like will I need a fast shutter speed for a quick moving subject, Or you can I cheat with low shutter speed for a slow moving subject? WIth modern noise reduction software, which can eliminate noise while maintaining sharpness going low noise is not as important as it once was, providing you with some leeway.

Shutter speed… I allow the camera to set this, although I do watch in the viewfinder window to make sure it was in the desired range.

Well what’s a desired range you ask?
And that comes with experience.

To make things more interesting, you can shoot any aperture from ƒ4 to ƒ 16 based on distance from subject, size of subject speed of movemnt of subject.

You can shoot from ISO 100 to ISO 1600, based on the need for a high shutter speed.

You can shoot from 1/25s to 1/4000s depending on speed of motion of the subject, the need to keep ISO low
or the need for higher ƒ-stop for more depth of field.

BIrd in flight. HIghest possible shutter, for a reatively slow moving bird. 1/800s
ISO 800, to keep my shutter speed up, but will need to be cleaned up with good noise reduction software.
ƒ8 for highest posible DoF given the other cicumstances.

I walk around with the fastest setting for the fastest moving animal I might see in my current light conditions.. For slower moving animals I will have time to adjust my settings.
2023-11-05-AP-Heron-Crossing-Hwy-60-DS.heic by Norm Head, on Flickr

I hope that gives you an understanding of what you’re doing, but bottom line, experience counts for everything. Get out and shoot shoot shoot. Come home and process your images right away so you can evaluate what might have been better. Learn how much your post processing software can rescue less than perfect images. With many wildlife images, you can’t think about it, it has to become automatic. Practice practise practice. With many images you’ll have to accept “close enough” because going for perfect images by fiddling with settings will mean missing shots. I always take a few images before I adjust any settings, so I get something even if t’s not optimal. Then if I have time, I go for optimal settings. With my camera all setting are changeable quickly from the top of the camera with buttons and dials without menu diving. That is absolutely essential for a wild life camera. I can change ISO, ƒ Stop and EV (plus one for snow or backlit, -0.7 for normal shooting.) without taking my eye away from the viewfinder. IMHO this is absolutely essential.

Also essential, pick the settings you consider essentail, use something like AV mode and let the camera calculate and implement the settings. And shoot burst mode. Even on stationalry subjects a 3 or 4 shot burst. On moving subjects, more. On the image directly above, that was a 6 shot burst, and the image above is by far the best one of the group which took about a second. You do’t have time to shoot manual, or use manual adjustments. Personally, I wouldn’t even turn off AF.

This one shot with a manual focus Pentax A-400. You can do it in manual, if the subjects aren't moving very fast, and you have lots of time to read the light and set the f-stop… but why would you? There’s really no benefit to doing that. There are many settings that are a step up from fully manual, that let you focus on the settings that are important for that shot and let the camera manage the drudge work.
2013-06-11-Moose_and-newborn-4 by Norm Head, on Flickr

Hope that helps.

 

[Rob one]

@Rob one first of all welcome. As to the question, exposure is a balancing act with the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter, ISO).
View attachment 287704
Any adjustment made to one requires an adjustment to one or both of the other two. If you're shooting in one of the priority modes like (AV, TV), you set the aperture or shutter speed and the camera will attempt to adjust the other two to arrive at a correct exposure. If you're shooting manual you have to do it. In priority mode if you exceed the adjustment capability by using to high of a shutter speed, or to small of an aperture then you won't get a good exposure. Also, most cameras have the ability to set a range for ISO when using priority modes.

In ambient light I use TV or AV and EV comp, rather than manual, because the camera is faster at adjusting to changing light than I can.

As to shutter speed it depends on conditions the faster the subject is moving the faster shutter, however lighting conditios may prevent that, and you need to move to a slower shutter, and pan to stop motion.

Hi Smoke, many thanks for the reply, I will have to inwardly digest the information, I may get back to you.

 

[Rob one]

Combine the information form the two posts above….. both are accurate. But a bit more on the trade offs.

For APS-c or FF, ƒ5.6 is your best resolution in line width / picture height.
But, for wildlife, depth of field can be critical. F11 can look sharper than ƒ5.6 based on more of the subject being in focus.

My own experience involves the use of AV.
I will set my aperture and ISO, and allow the camera to adjust the shutter speed. That’s a personal choice, I prefer to monitor only shutter speed in the viewfinder. Others may choose to onito ƒ-stop or ISO depending on the mode they use.

As per above a humming bird moth. at 1250/s.
The moth is in full flight, those wings are frozen you shouldn’t need to go any higher.
2025-06-06 Porch-Hummingbird Moth-3 by Norm Head, on Flickr

Ditto this humming bird
1/2000s - to freeze the wings
ISO 1600 to let me use ƒ11 for depth of field
ƒ11
I chose to use a higher than optimium ISO in order to freeze the wings, and ƒ11 to get the best possible depth of field.
2025-05-02--FIrst hummer by Norm Head, on Flickr

Now another image.
2025-05-12-FC-Purple FInch M-D-SF by Norm Head, on Flickr

The bird is further from the camera, and stationary… so I can cheat on the ISO, move it down to 400 for better IQ. (noise defeats top quality resolution at higher ISOs.
shoot at -.7 EV for a faster shutter speed and ƒ stop.
I move further from the bird, with a lower focal length… so I can go to ƒ8
An 1/400s because the bird isn’t in motion.

I actually have preset for the top photos labelled (Birds in Flight), with the preferred settings pre-dialed in, and I adjust from there.

Then this one relatively stationary bird of a feeder.
I’ve allowed my shutter speed to fall to 1/125s to got to 200 ISO for even lower noise at ƒ8.
2025-05-12-FC-Purple FIc F by Norm Head, on Flickr

Only experinece will teach you when you can reduce the origianl settings.

That being said, small birds are the exteme, and hummingbirds are the extreme extreme.

WIth stationaly wildlife I’ll go as low as 1/30s. The image below is 1/60s ƒ9, 200 ISO
2025-03-14-Raccon-2 by Norm Head, on Flickr

ON the one below I’m shooting at 1/125s. ƒ4 but I’m at a further distance from the animal, meaning ƒ4 provides me with adequate DoF, ( Depth of Field increases with distance.)
I'm shooiting ISO 400 because it’s low evening light.
Moose by Norm Head, on Flickr



For this one 1/80s ƒ6.3 was sufficent.
2023-01-11-Deer-1 by Norm Head, on Flickr

So in order of importance…. ƒ stop to keep as much as possible of the subject in focus. YOU can move to a smaller aperture to increase DoF, or move backwards. ƒ5.6 is optimal for resolution. But especially for subjects close to the camera, ƒ5.6 may not provide adequate DoF.


ISO, allows you to reduce noise by using the lowest possible ISO, on my camera 100 ISO. I will select this based on other conditions, like will I need a fast shutter speed for a quick moving subject, Or you can I cheat with low shutter speed for a slow moving subject? WIth modern noise reduction software, which can eliminate noise while maintaining sharpness going low noise is not as important as it once was, providing you with some leeway.

Shutter speed… I allow the camera to set this, although I do watch in the viewfinder window to make sure it was in desired range.

Well what’s a desired range you ask?
And that comes with experience.

To make things more interesting, you can shoot any aperture from ƒ4 to ƒ 16 based on distance from subject, size of subject speed of movemnt of subject.

You can shoot from ISO 100 to ISO 1600, based on the need for a high shutter speed.

You can shoot from 1/25s to 1/4000s depending on speed of motion of the subject, the need to keep ISO low
or the need for higher ƒ-stop for more depth of field.

BIrd in flight. HIghest possible shutter, for a reatively slow moving bird. 1/800s
ISO 800, to keep my shutter speed up, but will need to be cleaned up with good noise reduction software.
ƒ8 for highest posible DoF given the other cicumstances.

I walk around with the fastest setting for the fastest moving animal I might see in my current light conditions.. For slower moving animals I will have time to adjust my settings.
2023-11-05-AP-Heron-Crossing-Hwy-60-DS.heic by Norm Head, on Flickr

I hope that gives you an understanding of what you’re doing, but bottom line, experience counts for everything. Get out and shoot shoot shoot. Come home and process your images right away so you can evaluate what might have been better. Learn how much your post processing software can rescue less than perfect images. With many wildlife images, you can’t think about it, it has to become automatic. Practice practise practice. With many images you’ll have to accept “close enough” because going for perfect images by fiddling with settings will mean missing shots. I always take a few images before I adjust any settings, so I get something even if t’s not optimal. Then if I have time, I go for optimal settings. With my camera all setting are changeable quickly from the top of the camera with buttons and dials without menu diving. That is absolutely essential for a wild life camera. I can change ISO, ƒ Stop and EV (plus one for snow or backlit, -0.7 for normal shooting.) without taking my eye away from the viewfinder. IMHO this is absolutely essential.

Hope that helps.

Many thanks for the reply, blimey lots of information, I will need to inwardly digest it all. Can I just say that your photos are brilliant, you're obviously a professional, definitely the quality of photos I'm aiming for, but I think it'll be quite a while before I'm anywhere near as good as you. I think that's my weekend sorted, out with the camera. Once again, many thanks.

 

[Rob one]

For birds in flight, you need at least 1/1200th of a second; on the ground, at least the focal length you are using. Good luck..

Many thanks for reply.

 

[Digger...]

Good morning everyone

My first post and I need some help.

I have recently purchased a Canon EOS R100 camera, I take a lot of wildlife photos, so far I've been using the auto focus on sports mode, it's ok, but I now want to try manual.
I'm having a problem with the shutter speed, if I set it to 1/2000, the picture is going a little dark, the higher the speed I go, it gets darker till it's completely black.
If I set it at 1/800 the picture is going a little bright, the lower I set it, it gets brighter till you can't see anything.
Other settings f5.6 and ISO 400.
I've been on various website tutorials, I'm sure I'm doing something wrong, not being an expert though, I have no idea.
I thought for wildlife photos you needed a high shutter speed? at the minute I can only use between 800 and 2,000.

Can anyone out there please help, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks Rob.

Stay in manual and turn on auto IS0, you'll still have control of of the shutter and the aperture.

 

[21limited]

Many thanks for the reply, blimey lots of information, I will need to inwardly digest it all. Can I just say that your photos are brilliant, you're obviously a professional, definitely the quality of photos I'm aiming for, but I think it'll be quite a while before I'm anywhere near as good as you. I think that's my weekend sorted, out with the camera. Once again, many thanks.

Remember, these are examples from over 10 years of shooting, pick one. And when I first went to digital from film, it took me a while. I’ve been paid for a few images (less than 20) but I taught photography for 15 years and spent a year studying the photography. Hence the long winded repetitive information.
And you’re welcome.

Stay in manual and turn on auto IS0, you'll still have control of of the shutter and the aperture.

TAV mode on a Pentax.

 

[smoke665]

@Rob one Anyone who's shot for awhile settles into a routine that works for them and that's okay. In studio I'm always on full manual, lights and camera are metered, after the initial dial in, those settings rarely change unless the lighting setup does. In ambient light its different...the light can/does change quickly, that's why for those starting out especially, it's better to limit the number of settings you have to change on the fly. Did a photo walk with a church group this week, as we walked I asked one of the young ladies, about her settings. With an air of smugness she informed me that she "always shot in manual". I challenged her to a quick draw, 3 different subject, 3 different lighting scenarios from where we stood (just turn and shoot), with me on AV using EC, and her on full manual. On go, I shot all 3 and stood waiting while she was still fiddling with the settings for her first shot. Her full manual shots weren't any better, in fact not as good as the three I shot on AV. After that, she was all ears to learn how to use AV with EC. Tv (shutter priority), Sv(ISO priority) work the same they use one or both of the other legs of the exposure triangle to compute the correct exposure. TAV (shutter and aperture priority), limit the camera to only being able to adjust the ISO, sometimes that works, but sometimes you inadvertently push the other settings to far forcing some unnecessarily high ISOs.

Check out some of the others here on TPF, and by all means, post up some of your images so others might direct you better.

 

[jeffashman]

Howdy and welcome! All good advice. My own experience is that shooting images in RAW is helpful since you can take a dark image and lighten it without negatively impacting the image quality too much. I usually use either a Canon EOS 90D or a Sony RX10M4, and personally I keep my aperture wide, since my wildlife shots are taken at a distance. While walking around I will usually have the camera set at f/8 and 1/1000 but will frequently drop to f/4 on the Sony, especially at 600mm, and if I'm trying to capture motion I will up my speed to 1/1250 or 1/1600. ISO is always AUTO for me, and with today's post processing software "fixing" noise is not difficult. Lately I've been experimenting with higher shutter speeds as high as 1/2500 based on images displayed by another photographer on this site that look really nice. High speed benefits me because my shakiness often overrides the image stabilization in my cameras which results in motion blur in my images. Age has its pitfalls. At the end of the day, experiment because you will find your own personal sweet spot. You got this!

 

[smoke665]

personally I keep my aperture wide, since my wildlife shots are taken at a distance.

This^^^^ DOF is a factor of aperture, distance to a subject, and focal legth. The reason a wide aperture lens is popular is because it allows you to shoot wide open and still maintain satisfactory DOF. IE with a 400mm lens on your APS-C, you'll have a FOV @100 yards of roughly 18ft wide by 12ft tall, more than enough to capture most all members of the animal kingdom. At f2.8 you'll have a total DOF of over 18ft, with today's cameras that should be more than enough to nail focus. If you go to f/8 , you get 2.9x the DOF (53ft) but you give up three full stops that could be used elsewhere. At f/2.8 instead of a shutter speed of 1/1000 you could got o 1/2000, and drop your ISO two stops. Plus you gain the advantage of greater separation of your subject from the background. Now the closer you get to the subject the less DOF, but even at 50yds you'd still have about 13ft to work with. Considering a standard pistol target for 50yds is only 8in for open sights, if you're not nailing focus with 400mm, and 13ft of DOF, you might have other problems.

This is why I said earlier, that exposure calculation is a "balancing act", dependent on the circumstances. One setting does not cover all scenarios.

 

[21limited]

This is why I said earlier, that exposure calculation is a "balancing act", dependent on the circumstances. One setting does not cover all scenarios.

Exactly… which is why I walk around with setting that’s fast and suitable for moving wildlife. If the wildlife is stationary or slow moving, you’ll have time to change settings.

 

[Rob one]

Stay in manual and turn on auto IS0, you'll still have control of of the shutter and the aperture.

Many thanks for that.