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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

What mistakes do you keep making when taking a birding pic.? (1 Viewer)

senatore

senatore

Well-known member
The mistake I keep making is that when I have adjusted the exposure compensation to get a great pic.of a bird flying in a bright sky (if only!!!) I forget to reset the compensation when taking the next pics which of course don't need any adjustment.I've wrecked a lot of good pics doing this.

Do you keep making the same mistakes when taking pics or am I alone?

Max.
 
Yes I do.
My problem is not learning the settings for the conditions at the time.
Some thing I am remedying by taking lessons at night classes.
The one mistake I keep making over and over is not switching back to autofocus from manual.So many shots just out of focus!!
 
Stranger said:
Yes I do.
My problem is not learning the settings for the conditions at the time.
Some thing I am remedying by taking lessons at night classes.
The one mistake I keep making over and over is not switching back to autofocus from manual.So many shots just out of focus!!
Click to expand...
Stranger,
It loks like we are the only two who are making mistakes!!!!

Max.
 
No, Senatore, I made and am still making the same mistakes as you do. So to minimize its occurrence, I am now always trying to turn the settings back to neutral after taking pictures requiring change of settings. Most of the time, my shooting mode is set in Aperture priority mode.
 
senatore said:
Stranger,
It loks like we are the only two who are making mistakes!!!!

Max.
Click to expand...

Well, it must be so! :cool:

Just kidding, I'll list a couple of common mistakes I make:

not turning the exp setting to neutral after each shot (if conditions have changed) [usually]
assessing camera settings' effectiveness when watching my pics [sometimes]
planning flight shots a bit in advance [often]
stopping too late when stalking a bird [often]
leave the caps on [rarely]
checking tides for the day [often]
unmount my new dome-hide [impossible]
charging batteries the evening before a birding day [sometimes]
choosing the right hide in my reserve [birds are often close the opposite hide 1 mile away]

now I'm thinking of something else ... more mistakes to come
Cheers,
Max
 
senatore said:
Stranger,
It looks like we are the only two who are making mistakes!!!!

Max.
Click to expand...
Nope me too!

Similar problem to you. Most are flight shots of late with EV at +2 - okay as long as they're against the sky but not when they dip down to sea level or against the far shore. I'm gradually getting in the habit of a quick flick on the dial - but not every time. I've messed up some great opportunities but I guess that's the way it goes sometimes!

Perhaps a good reason to start using RAW?
 
I'm so new to this DSLR game that I don't have the time to type in all the mistakes I keep making 3:)
The main mistake I make is not resetting the exposure compensation (seems to be a common complaint)
 
I'm afraid I'm also guilty of forgetting to readjust the exposure settings. It's very frustrating, specially not being able to blame anyone else.
I think I'm slowly learning though. Hope so anyway.
Graham :-C
 
I am usually guilty of forgetting the ISO setting and firing away willy nilly until it suddenly dawns on me, sometimes, that I am using an unusually fast shutter speed.
Fortunately my camera is very forgiving in this department.
I will get the hang of this one day !!
 
I'm making all of ya'lls mistakes and more! Exposure compensation - always forget. ISO setting - been there constantly using to high a setting. Leave on mid focus only intsead of using all 9 focal points. You name I do it. So glad I have a digital!
 
My best mistake was last week, when set up to photograph kingfishers on the Dordogne during a canoeing holiday. I was in perfect position, overlooking one of the bird's regular perches, beautiful evening light, and the bird arrived. A frame filler! Why won't the AF work ? Checked the switch, OK. AF seemed just to keep hunting. Not set on the 'long range' AF setting, so that wasn't the problem. Went to manual focus, couldn't really focus very well, and the image looked, well, a bit dark. After a minute or so's fiddling the bird flew off. Zoomed out and noticed a dark horizontal bar across the field of view - could it be the mirror was stuck ? Turned the camera around, and there was a ten-pack of Kleenex tissues wedged across the inside of the lens hood! Duh!

Luckily the bird came back...
 
Neil Grubb said:
... Turned the camera around, and there was a ten-pack of Kleenex tissues wedged across the inside of the lens hood! Duh!

Luckily the bird came back...
Click to expand...

Glad it did!

In any case, don't blame yourself for the Kleenex tissues .. better be with them than without ... believe me |:$|
PS That's another mistake to list here
Max
 
I've come to the reluctant conclusion that landscapes are far easier and better. They don't move and you have all the time in the world to compose and check everything. Now I leave bird photography to those people who are really good at it and enjoy looking at their results. As a spin off to my new approach to photography you get more usuable pictures on the camera data recording card and thus are not so uptight about bad results!
 
I tend to panic when the great bird shot lands right near me and I race to get a shot in before it flies off not checking anything ie. Is the lens cap is off, is the camera switched on? Oh to be calm and relaxed when this happens next time!!!

Max.
 
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