24 replies to this topic

[smo4142]

My husband bought me a Nikon D40, with a Nikkor Zoom, 55-200. I am a very beginner photographer and not little about the terminology, much less using manual settings, so all of my pictures are taken in auto.

Problem is, the spot I see most of my birds is in a very shaded area, too far away for a really clear close-up with only a 200 mm lens. Can anyone advise me on a simple setting to set my camera to for low light, long distance shots. I realize I can't get the same quality as I would with a bigger lens, but am hoping I could improve on what I do have.

 This is how most of the bird pictures I take turn out, unless I can manage to get up close in bright light.. they are blurry and dark.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm not having as much fun as I used too because my pictures haven't improved at all.

Thanks...Linda

[birdseye]

It's a little difficult to judge the quality, or problems with this picture because it is too small.. Can you re-post it larger? thanks

 

[smo4142]

Thanks. Here it is enlarge some.

[riverotter]

Do you have a tripod?  Are you taking your photos from inside or outside?  One more question ... do you have a remote to snap photos?  I'm asking these questions so as to better be able to assist you - if I have any good ideas, that is!  I go through the same frustration myself!!!  Wildlife and birds are so difficult to photograph, please don't despair ... I'm still learning too - we all are!

 

[smo4142]

I shoot most of them from the inside, some from the outside. It would be difficult to use my tripod as I am shooting the pictures from a window.

 Thanks for the encouragement! I'll bet your going to see great photos from us in the near future!!

[thekiwi]

smo4142:

My husband bought me a Nikon D40, with a Nikkor Zoom, 55-200. I am a very beginner photographer and not little about the terminology, much less using manual settings, so all of my pictures are taken in auto.

Problem is, the spot I see most of my birds is in a very shaded area, too far away for a really clear close-up with only a 200 mm lens. Can anyone advise me on a simple setting to set my camera to for low light, long distance shots. I realize I can't get the same quality as I would with a bigger lens, but am hoping I could improve on what I do have.

 This is how most of the bird pictures I take turn out, unless I can manage to get up close in bright light.. they are blurry and dark.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm not having as much fun as I used too because my pictures haven't improved at all.

Thanks...Linda

I have the answer for you but as it seems most here don't value my input email me I will give you the answer to your question My email address is found under my profile

[birdseye]

smo4142:

I shoot most of them from the inside, some from the outside. It would be difficult to use my tripod as I am shooting the pictures from a window.

 Thanks for the encouragement! I'll bet your going to see great photos from us in the near future!!

this may sound too elementary, but you can shoot right against the glass with a tripod. put 2 of the legs to the window side, and shorten them,( you may need to lengthen the back leg some) pitching tripod head, and camera forward. rotate the head itself upward til the camera is straight.

one thing i might say, is to try bracket shooting... look at the 3 and see which setting worked best ...if you shoot in a one place (out the same window for instance) that should give you a good starting place. What setting are you using?, auto, P,A,S or M? telling us these things can help us help you. good luck

[smo4142]

Thanks Birdseye. I will try the tripod against the window (and by the way.. I love "elementary" ideas).

Right now I use auto on everything.

[thekiwi]

birdseye:

smo4142:

I shoot most of them from the inside, some from the outside. It would be difficult to use my tripod as I am shooting the pictures from a window.

 Thanks for the encouragement! I'll bet your going to see great photos from us in the near future!!

this may sound too elementary, but you can shoot right against the glass with a tripod. put 2 of the legs to the window side, and shorten them,( you may need to lengthen the back leg some) pitching tripod head, and camera forward. rotate the head itself upward til the camera is straight.

one thing i might say, is to try bracket shooting... look at the 3 and see which setting worked best ...if you shoot in a one place (out the same window for instance) that should give you a good starting place. What setting are you using?, auto, P,A,S or M? telling us these things can help us help you. good luck

Sorry Birds eye good advice to get sharp steady image but Linda's problem is on of exposure and the nikon cameras have a very quick means of adjustment to suit any shooting situations. I will not post the answer here after someone stated to me they care about exposure I just want to take photos of birds little does that person know exposure is everything Linda email me I will show you how to fix it is very simple just a matter of pushing a couple buttons on the back of your camera.

[birdseye]

i was addressing  the statement of the difficulty of using a tripod close to the window. Bracketing give you 3 choices of final picture., different exposures.  pick the one that looks best. sounds easy to me. works good too

[ff151]

Here is my two cents.

 Regarding the tripod, it doesn't matter if you have a $1000 tripod right up beside the bird, glass or not, if your shutter speed isn't fast enough to take a sharp exposure of a moving object.

 Your picture is of goldfinches, lets look at a few points regarding your shot...

 1) Goldfinches are typically jittery and quick in their movements, In addition, because there is so many of them in the picture, it is VERY HIGH ODDS that one of the birds will always be moving.

2) Wind, if the wind is moving the feeder, moving the feathers on the bird, etc, you need a fast enough shutter speed to "stop the motion".

 As a quick lesson, there is three basic components to a correct exposure.

- shutter speed

-ISO

-Aperature

 

I would suggest as you are just learning bird photography, set your camera to "S" for shutter priority,  The guideline of what you start your shutter speed is at least 2X's the focal length you are shooting.  (So if you are shooting at 200mm, set your shutter speed at least 1/400 sec).   I try and get a shutter speed of at least 1/800 sec when shooting a stationary bird, and much higher when they are flying (1/1600). 

 I hope this helps.  I shoot a D200 and examples of my bird shots are here.

www.flickr.com/photos/ff151

 If you would like to PM me on flickr, I may be able to respond quicker.

Cheers

[birdseye]

she was looking for simple! How much editiing did you do to your flkr photos of the hawks? just curious.

[thekiwi]

these are the Camera settings you need

OK I am going to break my own rule here and give you the answer here.
Your problem is exposure.
Here is the fix for images either to dark or to light it will work either way.

Turn your camera on Set it to Program mode P (that is still auto but will allow you to control some things)look at
the back compare it to the image I have up loaded
Press the button I have circled in RED it will Highlight one of the icons going around the edge use the select button up
down as I have indicated in blue on the image, keep going until it highlights what I have indicated in yellow.
Press the OK button the one I have shown in green that will open the EV compensation if your images are to dark then you want to add some plus start with
0.3 if still to dark then try 0.7 if your images are to light then you need to go to the minus.
then you press the OK button again to set it. That is it.
The pink indicated bit is the metering you may need to change that from matrix to counterweighted or spot
I wrote a piece on exposure zone you will find that in this blog take a look at that it may help you understand exposure.

You may need to increase you ISO to get a faster shutter speed

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[smo4142]

WOW Kiwi.. thank you so much. You took a lot of time to explain this to me and I appreciate that... this is  exactly what I needed. I can't wait to get home and try this out.

 Hope you have a good Week!

Linda

[smo4142]

Thank you very much. The shutter speed guideline sounds like a good rule of thumb to go by. I will definitely try your settings when I get home and over the weekend. As I said, I was beginning to give up.. had tried some on-line sites.. but  couldn't find a good one.

 Thank you again for your time.

Linda

 

[thekiwi]

Linda I have a nikon D60 similar in almost all ways to the D40 I use a 55-200mm DX VR lens. I do have a 400mm manual focus les as well if you need any asistance don't hesitate to email me and I will assit you the best I can there are  a feww extra things that you can do as well but what I gave you is a start 

[lyceel]

I can't add any more specifics to what's already been posted.  It's all good advice, and please post your results so we can see! 

Only other thing I'd suggest is, if you're really serious about improving your photography, you need to learn what all the buttons, knobs, and switches on your camera do.  The Nikon manuals (at least the ones I've read), don't really help much when you're just starting out.  On the plus side, the Nikon D40 is a beginner's SLR, and as such, there are quite a few excellent beginner-level books written for it.  I'd encourage you to pick out one and work through it.  Don't just read it, but take photos and examine them as you learn about the different settings.

By the time you're done, and you get a bit of experience under your belt, you'll be able to adjust your camera for lots of different situations.  Good luck!

[clancas100]

Kiwi,

Just came across this posting to Linda and wanted to thank you for your explanation for beginners.  Just received a new Nikon D-90 and ED 82A spotting scope with tripod from my husband for my birthday and am just learning.   I have always loved birds and had a very unusual one in our yard for months that I have been trying to make a picture of with a Cool Pix but could never get close enough to it to capture it.  Today, the bird was close to the house and although it was dark and just stopped raining, I was able to make this shot with my new equipment.  In my haste and inexperience (add in excitement) , along with having to shoot through a window, this is the best I came up with but am still thrilled to have gotten a shot.  I plan on reading your blog on exposure. 

Again, thanks!

Carole

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•  Albino white finch and Baby,Scout,Cleo011.jpg   144.07K   0 downloads

[lyceel]

clancas100:

Just received a new Nikon D-90 and ED 82A spotting scope with tripod from my husband for my birthday and am just learning.

Wow, that's some gift!  Congratulations!

I just got a new Nikon DSLR about a month ago.  I ended up getting a D300, but I took a good, long look at the D90 before I did.  It's a fantastic camera, and I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it.  Please post your favorite pictures!

I like your photo above.  It does look like an unusual bird.  The photo isn't bad given the circumstances  

[clancas100]

Thanks!  Yes, it is a great outfit and I hope to do it justice.  This is a great forum for pictures and tips.

 

Carole