articles/Owls/mysteryowls-page6

Mystery, Superstition and Imagination Ashton's Owls - part 6 of 1 2 3 4 5 6

by Jon Ashton Published 01/02/2012

Ideally you would be taking images with the sun behind you and the background would provide sufficient contrast between itself and the owl thus making for easy or ready focusing. Unfortunately this rarely happens, we have to set the camera accordingly. Now we have to consider focus mode and focus point selection(s), here I am referring to the Canon 7D but I am sure you will be able to relate to your own particular camera. I usually choose AF point expansion (Manual selection); this means I use the centre point focusing point and select the mode that permits the immediate, adjacent points to focus. My logic for this selection is that I have selected the most sensitive focal point and expanded it by incorporating the immediate points. There is a certain logic that may indicate just use the single point thus giving the camera less to think about but I tend to go for the expansion because I cannot guarantee to keep the bird smack in the middle of the frame and the adjacent points may for example pick up the wings or tail which may have otherwise been missed. If the bird was going to be against a perfectly clear background, eg the sky, then I would use Zone AF manual selection of the centre zone. If your camera does not have a number of options such as this then I would advise use of the single central focus point. The focus mode would of course be set to Servo Mode - ie Continuous Focus or Predictive Focus mode. I tend not to use the focusing aid that prevents the camera from focus searching when the subject is considerably out of focus as it can be very irritating if you lose track of the bird and pick it up again when it is significantly closer - the camera will not focus under these circumstances. I would, however, use this facility if, say, I was in a boat gently bobbing up and down and there was a bird perched on the branch of a tree; here the lens would move but the subject would not and the focus would immediately snap in as soon as you were back on the bird.

Focusing is a tricky business, it takes practice and skill to keep track of an owl in flight. To minimise battery consumption (and this applies especially in cold weather), I use a technique referred to as 'focus bumping'. This is an informal phrase adopted by American photographers; once you acquire initial focus keep the bird in the frame but do not keep your finger/thumb on the button responsible for focusing, rather just blip it every now and again to maintain approximate focus and, of course, when you sense the time is right to take images then keep your finger/thumb on the button.

Some photographers strongly advocate using Custom Functions to set one of the rear buttons on the camera to focus and just have the shutter button available to fire the shutter; many top photographers do this but it does take some getting used to and owl photography is not the place to start! I would only recommend this if you are already used to this set-up as, initially, it is counterintuitive. I have my camera set so that the shutter controls focus and shutter operation, I set one of the rear buttons to stop focus should the need arise - this mimics 'one shot' focus mode.

You will appreciate there is an appreciable number of factors to contend with in order to get a well focused owl image. Maybe you would wish for some owl shots (they are after all beautiful creatures), but maybe you would prefer to cut your teeth as it were on something a little more straightforward. Well luck y for you there are alternatives. There are a number of bird photography workshops available and the Societies is due to start its own under the tutoring of Ron Thomas and John Fairclough (see Societies' News section).

On workshops such as these it is possible to refine your skills in regard to focusing, exposure and composition. After this of course you have ample opportunity to refine your Photoshop skills in cloning, patching and healing.

• Mystery, Superstition and Imagination Ashton's Owls page 1
  
• Mystery, Superstition and Imagination Ashton's Owls page 2
  
• Mystery, Superstition and Imagination Ashton's Owls page 3
  
• Mystery, Superstition and Imagination Ashton's Owls page 4
  
• Mystery, Superstition and Imagination Ashton's Owls page 5
  
• Mystery, Superstition and Imagination Ashton's Owls page 6
  

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