Digital Camera - Ken Gilbert
Digital Camera - Ken Gilbert
Digital Camera - Ken Gilbert
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thephotoFixer<br />
We ansWer a reader sOs<br />
What’s theproblem, prey?<br />
Reader Jason is struggling to getsoaraway<br />
birdshots; his best effortsare not so<br />
much screaming eagle,morearthritic<br />
budgie.Yet he’sanenthusiastic photographer<br />
who’s keen to turn pro, and he owns enough<br />
pukka SLR equipment to open a camera shop.<br />
So what’s stopping Jason’s shots getting off<br />
the ground? Is it a case of all the gear and no<br />
idea, or is dodgycameratechnique ruffling his<br />
feathers? To do a full diagnosis, we took Jason<br />
to The Hawk Conservancy Trust near Andover.<br />
THE DiAGNOSiS<br />
Getting great shotsofbirds of prey requires<br />
split-second reactions, solid camera skills and<br />
bags of patience. The beautyofshooting at<br />
places likethe Hawk ConservancyTrustisthat<br />
it givesyou the opportunitytophotograph the<br />
birds in a controlled, but still spontaneous,<br />
environment. You can obviously capture birds<br />
of prey at the many displays that take place,<br />
and youcan also getclose for some fantastic<br />
headshots. Read on, as The Photo Fixer helps<br />
Jason’s photography to take flight!<br />
Background information<br />
A quick once-over of Jason’s images on the laptop quickly<br />
reveals some poor habits that are really clipping his wings<br />
Jason’s SLR gear is worthmorethan the editor’s Skoda, so<br />
it’s clearly not a kit issue – more about how to use it properly<br />
Jason's shots prove thathoweversharp your<br />
bird, adistracting background will ruin aphoto.<br />
Get panning and bust open that aperture!<br />
The Photo Fixer’s advice<br />
Acouple of minutes spent with Jason<br />
revealed a pretty big howler: he kept<br />
shooting at his favourite aperture, f/8.<br />
Shooting at a medium aperture like<br />
this limits your creative possibilities,<br />
especially on Jason’s pro-spec EOS<br />
SLRs. It’s like buying a performance car,<br />
pootling along in thirdall the time and<br />
then wondering why Nissan Micras<br />
overtakeyou. By picking awider<br />
aperture, such as f/2.8, he was able to<br />
take advantage of faster shutter speeds<br />
–essential for photographing birds<br />
of prey, as these things are no slouches.<br />
Even better, he could get a shallow<br />
depth of field, thus nicely blurring<br />
backgrounds while keeping the bird<br />
sharper than a sparrow hawk’s claws.<br />
<strong>Digital</strong><strong>Camera</strong> July2010<br />
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