There is a constant battle, so to speak, between shutter speed and ISO when it comes to freezing the wings of birds. We want a very fast shutter speed, and in bright light that's no problem. But in the shadows or when the sun is obscured by a thick cloud cover, in order to shoot with a fast speed the ISO has to be raised. If the camera you're using produces a lot of noise in low light, you're stuck between settling for blurred wings or for a lot noise. Not a great choice. In this instance, I captured a yellow-billed hornbill in South Africa in bright light. My shutter was 1/1000th of a second which, in most pictures of birds in flight, is too slow. However, if the wings are in a position where there is change of direction, you might get l lucky as I did here and get a sharp picture. I like the low ISO of 400 I was able to use, but in most action shots like this I have to push the ISO to at least 1250 and probably higher. Usually I recommend a shutter speed of 1/3200th of a second especially for fast flying birds with small wings, and that means in low light my ISO is typically 2500 or 3200.
4 Comments
Sep 6, 2016, 10:44:51 PM
Daniel Reynaud - Whoa !!! I was so off on my speed settings.... Thank you for the advice ! Maybe next time I won't be so frustrated by the results !!
Aug 31, 2016, 10:18:43 AM
Bob Vestal - Are you referring to the older Canon 7D or the newer 7D Mark II? It is supposed to have an improved sensor and tests seem to support that. Do you use Nik for noise reduction?
Aug 31, 2016, 3:57:03 AM
Jim - Hi Bob, You're right until the noise gets so bad that the pictures are unusable. For example, using the Canon 7D at ISO above 800 creates too much noise - unacceptably too much. In that case, the best option is to get a camera known for low noise.
Aug 31, 2016, 12:33:23 AM
Bob Vestal - Hi Jim - Your ISO and shutter speed recommendations are helpful. I have a tendency to try to set ISO too low favoring reduced noise and then pay the price of shutter speed that is not fast enough to optimally stop action. Maybe better to accept noise (and then reduce as much as possible in post) than have unacceptable motion blur.