Poor Light second try

[willing to learn]

Been out today again in poor grey light. Tried various settings taking photos at a twig about 15ft away none where perfect but I am getting a understanding. It looks like in poor light at least I need a tripod with the 100-300mm lens. What sort of range to the subject,say a small bird would expect to be to get an sharp and clear sized image. I know a lot depends on lighting,
but lets say a grey day. Had got a few shots of wood pigeons and squirels much like the ones on the previous thread struggled with small birds, I think through their movement and mine, due to slow shutter speeds and no tripod.
did get a shot of a blackbird and Jay. Blackbird is pretty poor, the jays not great but I only had a quick chance to get the shot which I was quite pleased with.

[nightshade]

If the rangefinding relies on contrast poor light/darkness could give poor results

[big bill]

Hello the pics are not to bad granted the focusing on the blackbird is off thepoint of focus has locked on the wall at about the 5oclock area otherwise its fine I know its not easy to get the shots in such a short space of time it all comes with practice,the pic of the Jay is the better of the two except that its slightly over exposed but focus is OK here what you could have done was take a reading from the wall and recomposed and taken your shot.
As to the size of your lens if your using the lens at the long end then either a tripod or monopod is better to give extra stability and it also helps to elimanate camera shake.Using either one of these and putting the camera on Aperture Priority where you choose the aperture of around f5.6 or f8 then the camera will select the shutter speed focus on the eyes or head as near to the eyes as possible and the rest of the image should be sharp.
Keep at it your pics are improving since the last lots you put up well done

[Ollie]

Hi, Those are not bad efforts at all considering the conditions.

Have to agree with Bill on the focus of the Blackbird, definitely looks like the camera has took the focus point from the wall rather than the bird.

The Jay is a very decent shot, focus is pretty well spot on. Again I agree with Bill on the exposure, just a touch over exposed towards the tail area of the bird. -2/3rds of a stop exposure compensation would have helped a lot and would also have helped to get the shutter speed up a little as well because setting a -exposure compensation increases the shutter speed anyway.

In poor light with the inevitable slow shutter speeds I would always use a tripod or at least a monopod with a 100/300mm lens, but as I said a decent try which with practice will only get better.
Roger

[glsammy]

As Bill said, the camera got the exposure incorrect for the bird. The reason for this is the large dark background. The camera thinks the image overall is dark, so offered you a low shutter speed. Always try and take into consideration the shooting conditions.
For this shot I'd apply at least -1 stop exposure compensation, forcing the shutter speed higher, which would have stopped the highlights from being slightly blown. My Garden is very much like this, the background is really dark and dull, I never trust the camera metering in these types of conditions.
Apart from that, your focus is spot on and it's nice and clear. You did well, considering the Shutter Speed selected.

[glsammy]

If I'd seen your post Roger, I wouldn't have posted mine!

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by glsammy

If I'd seen your post Roger, I wouldn't have posted mine!

No problem Graham, we both more or less said the same thing in slightly different words
Roger

[Hobjob]

Originally Posted by glsammy

If I'd seen your post Roger, I wouldn't have posted mine!

Sometimes it pays to deliberately underexpose so much that you get a darkish picture, but extra speed. Such photos can usually be manipulated up with editing software. (but over-exposed can't be rescued! )

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by Hobjob

Sometimes it pays to deliberately underexpose so much that you get a darkish picture, but extra speed. Such photos can usually be manipulated up with editing software. (but over-exposed can't be rescued! )

I regularly under expose by 2/3rds of a stop particularly if the light is bad and I'm trying to get a faster shutter speed but also because I find my Canon 400D has a tendency to over expose in my opinion.
Roger

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Ollie

I regularly under expose by 2/3rds of a stop particularly if the light is bad and I'm trying to get a faster shutter speed but also because I find my Canon 400D has a tendency to over expose in my opinion.
Roger

Mine are also hardly even less than -2/3 stops. If there's any white around, even small bits like tufted ducks, I have to go to around -1.1/3. My 20D also tends to overexpose. I'm never happy leaving it balanced at 0.