Osprey in B&W

[ArthurDent]

One suggestion, mainly to find the right exposure, is to bracket with rapid shutter release and check the histogram.  I look at the histogram more than the image.

Once you have the right exposure settings then you can stop the bracketing, although it can be good insurance, the birds often don't rapid shutter noise.  No way you can HDR BIF!

I wouldn't mind betting you could set the exposure by photographing the underside of your hand held against the sky, it's the same lighting as the underside of the bird.

What are the chances of catching the Ospreys diving into the water to catch fish?

Thank you for your suggestions on setting exposure, I’ll give them a try when I go back this morning to make another attempt at it. I’ve got a few shots of them with fish in their talons, but they all suffer from various infirmities, so I didn’t spend much time on them, but getting a nice clear shot of one with a fish in its talons is the goal. Those opportunities come about once an hour. They do a lot more fishing than they do catching. Shutter noise doesn’t seem to be an issue for them.

[ArthurDent]

Seapy- Here is an example of a bird with a fish in its talons. I think the focus is a little soft due to my filter being a bit smudged. Just another thing to add to my mental checklist to look at as I go along. It is awfully hot and humid in the Florida summer and so easy to get sweat onto the lens, even with a lens hood in place. Those talons are rettyipressive!

[ArthurDent]

Thank you, that confirms my thought. I shot these using the smallest (6mm) spot on the theory my previous shots using the 8mm spot were including too much of the background. I really appreciate your comments, they are moving me along in my journey to become a better photographer. 

I'm going back tomorrow to reshoot the birds using less compensation (if the light seems to be the same) to see if I can get a higher percentage of keepers.

EDIT- In looking at my metadata, I see that I was not spot metering as I thought I was. I've corrected that and will be in spot mode today using the smallest spot. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Jack Dahlgren]

Two things:

Picture controls should not affect the raw file, as you can always change to another in Capture NX, but they will change how the photo looks on the camera when shooting. At least that is my experience.

If you are shooting with objects against the sky you might want to use a polarizing filter. It will help darken the sky and reduce the contrast  (while also saturating colors). I was out the other day and there were many many white gulls flying around. With polarized glasses they showed up quite distinctly, but the people around me did not see them at all. Without the glasses they were nearly invisible against a whitish sky.

[ArthurDent]

Two things:

Picture controls should not affect the raw file, as you can always change to another in Capture NX, but they will change how the photo looks on the camera when shooting. At least that is my experience.

If you are shooting with objects against the sky you might want to use a polarizing filter. It will help darken the sky and reduce the contrast  (while also saturating colors). I was out the other day and there were many many white gulls flying around. With polarized glasses they showed up quite distinctly, but the people around me did not see them at all. Without the glasses they were nearly invisible against a whitish sky.

Great idea. Next time I go out, I'll try that. Thanks!

[Akira]

Picture controls should not affect the raw file, as you can always change to another in Capture NX, but they will change how the photo looks on the camera when shooting. At least that is my experience.

I always start my editing from the picture control (PC) set to flat in the editor, so it is quicker to set the PC to flat in the camera.

Also, at least to me, I found the focus check on camera's LCD at 100% magnification easier when the PC is set to flat and the sharpening is set to zero.

[Ann]

Picture controls should not affect the raw file, as you can always change to another in Capture NX, but they will change how the photo looks on the camera when shooting.

Picture controls do not affect the raw file at all: and only Nikon's own conversion software can even read any of the in-camera Picture Control settings for NEFs.

As Akira said, all of those PC Controls settings can also be changed after the fact if you do happen to use Nikon software.

Also the in-camera Histogram is a totally false prophet because it is only applicable when shooting JPGs and you will usually have another full EV of extra headroom when you are shooting RAW which the Histogram does not show you.

[Peter Connan]

May I ask what shutter speed you are using? My experience with BIF indicates that the most common cause of lack of detail is a shutter speed a bit lower than ideal.

On smaller birds I can show you motion blur at shutter speeds over 1/3200th. Achieving shutter speeds that high often mean somewhat elevated ISO's, and at ISO's over 400, the D500 is effectively ISO invariant.

Taking advantage of this, I like to under-expose a little bit, and just lift the shadows some in post. I find the results a lot punchier that way...

[ArthurDent]

May I ask what shutter speed you are using? My experience with BIF indicates that the most common cause of lack of detail is a shutter speed a bit lower than ideal.

On smaller birds I can show you motion blur at shutter speeds over 1/3200th. Achieving shutter speeds that high often mean somewhat elevated ISO's, and at ISO's over 400, the D500 is effectively ISO invariant.

Taking advantage of this, I like to under-expose a little bit, and just lift the shadows some in post. I find the results a lot punchier that way...

 

Peter-  Thank you for your comment. I believe I was using 1/3200 sec. and f/4 in these images. I've since switched to 1/3200 and f/7.1 (which is what you will see in the images in the later post I made), which seems to work very well in the Florida sunshine on large birds (these birds have about a 5' wingspan). Those settings give good depth of field, good action freezing on large birds and ISO somewhere around 1000 (I use auto ISO in the range of 100-3200). I'll check the image when I get home to make sure, and will correct this post if it was anything different, but honestly, I think the image is blurred because my filter was smudged. I now carry my cleaning kit with me so I can clean the filter periodically during my shoot.

[Jack Dahlgren]

I think the image is blurred because my filter was smudged. I now carry my cleaning kit with me so I can clean the filter periodically during my shoot.

What filter are you using? Generally I avoid clear filters as they decrease image quality.

[ArthurDent]

What filter are you using? Generally I avoid clear filters as they decrease image quality.

It is a Hoya HMC Super 72mm UV(0). More info here:
http://www.hoyafilter.com/hoya/products/generalfilters/uv0/

[Peter Connan]

That should be sufficient shutter speed Arthur.

As for the aperture, that's pretty good too, although I would go faster (most of my birds are shot wide-open, and to hell with the DOF.

To my mind, the way to shoot birds is manual with auto ISO. Seems like that is what you are doing too? I limit my ISO to the maximum numbered value (IE not going into the "High" section. If I ever do see something truly amazing, I would rather have noise than motion blur, and if the sighting is not all that amazing after all, I can always press the delete button...

[ArthurDent]

That should be sufficient shutter speed Arthur.

As for the aperture, that's pretty good too, although I would go faster (most of my birds are shot wide-open, and to hell with the DOF.

To my mind, the way to shoot birds is manual with auto ISO. Seems like that is what you are doing too? I limit my ISO to the maximum numbered value (IE not going into the "High" section. If I ever do see something truly amazing, I would rather have noise than motion blur, and if the sighting is not all that amazing after all, I can always press the delete button...

I use the manual setting as well, most recently set to 1/3200 sec. and f/7.1. I use auto ISO set in the range of 100-3200, but on a sunny day in Florida, ISO rarely exceeds 1600, even at f/7.1. I chose f/7.1 because I read a review of my lens which indicated that is the sweet spot for sharpness.
Autofocus is normally set to AF-C using 25 autofocus points. If I’m shooting with a cluttered background, I change that to the mode which prioritizes the image in the foreground, the name of which is escaping me at the moment.
If the birds are white or have large white patches, I’ll use no exposure compensation or maybe even as much as -0.7 stops. If the birds are dark feathered, I might use as much as +0.7 stops. I usually use spot metering using the smallest possible spot.
Based on a suggestion from Akira, I am now setting ADL to auto, as it seems to help with detail recovery in darker areas.
I’m certainly no expert, and I can see where there is plenty of room to argue for other settings, but those are the more important ones I use. I have them set up in custom settings bank “B,” for birds. As I learn more, they will undoubtedly change. At present I am considering changing my top ISO to 51,200 based on your argument that I can always press the delete key.
You may have noticed I previously quoted you but did not reply. Actually, I wrote a long reply, but for some unknown reason it did not post, only the quote posted. I had to leave to meet up with a friend to hunt for the swallow tailed kites, so could not correct it before I left. Still no luck on the kites. We saw a few, but they were too far away to photograph, but the post is now corrected.

[Peter Connan]

Thanks for the detailed reply Arthur.

Which has left me another opening:

The D500 has an amazing focusing system. One of the things which make it amazing is the amount of customisation that is available within the menus.

As you allude to above, there is no AF mode which is ideal for all conditions. It is therefore very valuable in bird photography to be able to change the selected AF areas very rapidly.

The D500 allows you to set up different focus area selections on different buttons if you are prepared to use buttons other than the shutter button.

For example, mine is set up as follows:
Focus on the shutter button is de-activated.
The AF-L/AE-L button is set up for focus, using whatever mode is selected by using the AF button (inside the Manual focus lever). These have been limited to just three modes. I usually leave this on 153 points.
The multi-selector button has been set up to activate AF using a single point.
The top one of the two programeable buttons between the lens mount and the grip, on the front of the camera has been set to change the mode to Group Area (I believe this is the mode you refer to above). Note that the change is only active for as long as the button is pressed.

In this way, I can comprehensively change the behaviour of the AF system without having to move the palm of either hand. Also, focus is always acheived using the same finger. And when using single-point AF (for birds hiding in trees), I can move the active AF point around using the same button as I do to focus.

I also have three different Custom Settings Banks set up which further tailor the AF settings to what I do. "Fast" is set up for rapid response to changing situations, "Slow" is set to give slower response to a lost focus track, and "stars" basically gives me only a single point, as in this mode I will probably be focusing by hand and I don't want the AF system to get any clever ideas between shots.

[ArthurDent]

I haven’t gone to the same extent as you have in programming buttons. I’m using the shutter release to autofocus. I have the af-on button programmed to change focus to a single point to catch the birds perched in trees and the center of the joystick programmed to switch the camera to Group Area when I press it to catch birds flying against a cluttered background.  I have the other custom settings banks set up for landscapes, portraits and sports, which are the primary other areas I photograph. I’ve seen a lot of criticism of the custom settings banks online, but I’ve found them to be quite helpful in getting the camera quickly reconfigured to handle different shooting situations. Thanks for posting a detailed description of what you’ve done. I’ll study it to see if bthere is anything I might want to change to make the camera more useful for my shooting style.