Sharpness and Exposure in Bird Photography
Getting Sharper Pictures
It might be difficult at first to capture sharp, well-exposed photos of your subject. This can be frustrating. But with some practice and thought, you’ll soon master photography. After you take the photo, you can instantly check for sharpness. Simply find a shaded area to see the LCD screen clearly, and zoom in to maximum resolution. You will need to examine the image for any camera shake, subject movement, or poor focusing.
Camera movement can cause blurred images in one direction. There are several things you can do to improve the image. To practice the ‘long lens technique, hold your lens under your elbow and place your elbow in support. Also, make sure to use a soft shutter action. A monopod, tripod (which is basically a tripod with only one leg), beanbag, or any other device that can be used to stabilize your camera can be used. You can also increase your shutter speed by setting a maximum aperture. You may need to increase your ISO setting in order to achieve the best shutter speed, but this can cause noise. In a subsequent post, we will discuss ISO and aperture settings.
This could mean that the bird is only blurred. This could be due to a problem with focusing or a problem with the bird’s movement. These two issues can be distinguished easily. The bird may appear blurred if it is a focusing issue. You can fix this by refocusing on the bird. This is how you can tell if the bird is moving. You will be able to see the blurred direction on the bird, but the rest of the image will remain sharp. This can be corrected by waiting for the bird’s stillness and then taking the photo again.
How to Get the Exposure Right
You can improve your exposure by checking if your camera displays a histogram. Your exposure compensation will be required to correct an image that is too dark on the left or has too much light. If your histogram shows too much on the left and you clip the edge of your right-hand side, your image may be over-exposed. You will need to adjust your exposure compensation to reduce the amount. This is not always true. For example, if your photo shows a black cat in the tunnel, then your histogram will show to its far left. If you take a picture of a white cat with a snowy background, then the histogram will show at the far right. This rule will work for most images.
