scenario's

Photography Scenario's

Depending on the situation you are photographing the camera needs to be configured. Below are basic tips on how to configure your dslr camera.

Camera settings

Set your shooting mode to 'continues', so you can hold down the shutter button to take multiple images in burst-mode
Set your Autofocus to 'AI servo', this way you keep focus with a half-pressed shutter button
Set the camera to Aperture Priority (AV), to keep enough depth-of-view
Set your aperture to F8, to keep a balance between getting the subject in focus and have a fast-enough shutter-speed on a sunny day.
Decrease the F-value (e.g. to 5.6) if it's more cloudy.
Set the Auto-focus to the center-point only.
If you have IS, turn it off (it only helps in low-light with slow shutter-speed). At shutter speeds above 1/500 it only slows down the AF.
Set the Lens to AF (autofocus)
Set the minimum focus-distance to the furthes (eg '1.2m - unlimited' or '3m - unlimited', set it it to the latter)

tips

Go to your local Zoo's bird-of-prey show to experiment - in-flight fotography is not easy!
Background: Sky: easier to keep the autofocus on the bird
Background: Other: Can be more 'interesting' (also avoids problems with limited dynamic range)
Easier: Try a shorter zoom (more wide) and crop the image
Avoid shots where the bird flies towards or away from the lens (many AF systems can't keep up)
Try to get shots where the bird flies perpendicular to the lens

Camera settings

Camera settings

shutter-speed of 1/125sec will make the water static and show no motion.
shutter-speed of 1/15 will make it look flowing fast (blurred) - but you need a tripod to keep the camera still.
Lakes show the best reflection of objects in the morning, when there are no rinkles in the water.

Camera settings

tips