Settings for photographing eagles?

Dani

I'll have the 300D and the 70-200.... short I know.. but its all I got lol.

Supposed to be partly cloudy (or mostly sunny :dunno )

Andy

Dani wrote:

I'll have the 300D and the 70-200.... short I know.. but its all I got lol.

Supposed to be partly cloudy (or mostly sunny )

:nono Dani you know better than to ask that. "Settings" vary from minute to minute, photographer to photographer, gear used, and place to place.

Guidelines? Sure - we have plenty: You need as fast a shutter speed as possible - to avoid camera shake, and to stop action (unless you are shooting Harry's stuffed eagle on that tree in the Viera wetlands )

So, think FAST shutter speed first. Like 1/500th, better at 1/1000th. You'll need to crank your ISO up, but DON'T WORRY about that, because you're shooting with a Canon

Now, the final part of the equation is that the smaller the aperture, the greater your DOF. Even at f/4, you can have part of the bird NOT in focus. So you'll likely want to be at f/5.6, maybe f/8 IMO - also 5.6 and 8 are nearer to the sweetspot of your glass.

Finally - probably wise to shoot in RAW and set your EC to -1/3 - avoiding chance of the blowout on the Eagle's head.

Does this help?

John Mueller

What Andy said and use AV mode.
That was funny about Harry's stuffed Eagle.

Dani

that sounds about what I was thinking.

and I ALWAYS shoot raw

Andy wrote:

:nono Dani you know better than to ask that. "Settings" vary from minute to minute, photographer to photographer, gear used, and place to place.

Guidelines? Sure - we have plenty: You need as fast a shutter speed as possible - to avoid camera shake, and to stop action (unless you are shooting Harry's stuffed eagle on that tree in the Viera wetlands )

So, think FAST shutter speed first. Like 1/500th, better at 1/1000th. You'll need to crank your ISO up, but DON'T WORRY about that, because you're shooting with a Canon

Now, the final part of the equation is that the smaller the aperture, the greater your DOF. Even at f/4, you can have part of the bird NOT in focus. So you'll likely want to be at f/5.6, maybe f/8 IMO - also 5.6 and 8 are nearer to the sweetspot of your glass.

Finally - probably wise to shoot in RAW and set your EC to -1/3 - avoiding chance of the blowout on the Eagle's head.

Does this help?

Harryb

Hey Dani,

I saw Andy's advice and its ok for someone who last live eagle was seen in a cage in the Bronx.

Having seen a few in an unfettered state I will throw in a few points to consider. The challenge of getting a decent eagle shot is the proper exposure. You are dealing with a white head and a dark body. If you catch an eagle roosting in a tree I try to expose off the head. If its roosting you should have time for a trial shot. Before you move in to capture him take a quick shot and check your highlights. You want to have a bit of blown highlight around the edges of the head but not too much. The eagle's body will be a bit underexposed but this can be brought out in post processing. If you blow out too much of the head you will have a nice eagle body but a head with no detail. I shoot in aperture priority and usually do an ev adjustment or at -0.3.

If the eagle is in the air the head is not as prominent and you want to expose more for the darker body. Keep your shutter speed to about 1/1000 second (faster is better). For flight shots I will usually do an ev adjustment of +0.3 or +0.7

Please note that the ev adjustments will vary according to the light you are shooting in. A big factor will be if the eagle is backlit or not.

Good luck.

Andy

Harryb wrote:

and usually do an ev adjustment or at -0.3.
.
.
.
Keep your shutter speed to about 1/1000 second (faster is better).

Haven't we heard this already in this thread

Harryb

Andy wrote:

Haven't we heard this already in this thread

Just re-enforcing the excellent point you made.

luckydog

So only crank up the ISO for flight shots or bump it up a little anyway?? Not that we have any Bald Eagles down here....not even a stuffed one in a tree.

gus

luckydog wrote:

So only crank up the ISO for flight shots or bump it up a little anyway?? Not that we have any Bald Eagles down here....not even a stuffed one in a tree.

Plenty of wedgies about mate. You should have them about your way.