If I got that owl looking at me I’d be really happy. Lol I’m just starting out though so learning what ALL makes a photograph better than another is really important but I find I’m happy with just one or two of the boxes one checks off when trying for that perfect shot.
I live in the Pacific NorthWet and for ~8+ months of the year it's overcast. Glad you mentioned it and I'm going to just pile on and say it again: *Getting the image properly exposed will do more to reduce noise than having a "low" ISO ever will* For the longest time I was fighting noisy images because I was constantly underexposing to keep my ISO low. It just didn't register with my dumb brain that I was wildly increasing color noise by doing that. Get your ISO high enough for your shutter speed that your histogram is in the right third of the graph and you will have done more to reduce noise than anything else you can possibly do, even if that requires you to drive your ISO into the stratosphere. Well done, Paul!
With denoise software nowadays I just set iso to auto and run with it then use exposure comp to fine tune. You can either have a low iso image that’s blurry or a sharp noisy shot that you have to run through denoise. 😁
I think your tip on "going with the conditions" is a really good one. I fall into the trap of bemoaning the fact that the light is often terrible (at Leighton Moss RSPB), and the inability to capture decent images with acceptable noise ... only to completely forget the creative element of bird photography, and trying to capture the essence of flight
Thanks again Paul.. I must admit that in low light on a static subject I sometimes bracket and often end up with at least one workable shot out of three, like you I have never gone above 3200.
Subscribed after watching video for 2 mins . No one explained better about bird photography. I recently bought TZ95 exclusively for wildlife photography
Thank you for your tips! My siblings got me a Nikon D3500 for Christmas and I have been struggling with the right settings to combined with a fast shutter speed.
I use manual mode (M) selecting both speed and aperture combined always with AUTO ISO for wildlife for years. I maintain an eye on the camera selected ISO so I can adjust my speed and aperture if I please... thanks for share this lecture.
Ho ho ho, hope Santa was god you you? Merry Christmas. So your thumb was held down on the AF-ON button and your index finger presses and releases the shutter button, how does that work pretty please? Maybe I am missing something in the custom function menu, all the best from sunny Bahamas
Hi Peter. No, it's just one button - whichever you prefer. I use the shutter button, so I'm sometimes disengaging and re-engaging the focus with my finger. Cheers.
Great vid Paul, I would definitely recommend Topaz Denoise though over messing around in Photoshop or Lightroom, Give it a try with their 30 day free trial
with an iso invariant sensor like Sony A7 III setting iso 640 or 12800 doesn't matter as they give the same noise when corrected afterwards in lightroom ;) So better to keep it as low as possible, i shoot almost all now on 640 which gives slightly more noise then iso 100
great vids, just got a m50 for my 50th this December (2019) , been a couple decades since i had a new camera, first interchangeable one, been getting some great moon (55-200 m mount)and macro (M mount 28mm lens with the built in light) along with the astro and macro my other main hunt is wildlife / birds, have a an ef mount for the m body so looking for a decent zoom to 400mm, trying to keep under £500 for that so might be a while, been looking at sigma and tamron for that, i'm London based, looking to move to south west in the next year or two.
Thank you, I wish I had watched this last week when I was in Washington DC shooting some Canada geese and pileated woodpeckers in some really dull lighting conditions. I ended up with some of my photos looking like your owl photo. I’ve always shot birds in flight at 1/ 2000 or higher. I’ve never even considered lowering my shutter speed. I’m going to try this. Your last image on the end blew my mind at 1/60 with a 400 mm lens!! I know Tony Northrup touched on this once on shooting at a shutter speed lower than the minimal focal range, but he didn’t really elaborate on it. Thank you for a very interesting video. PS, topaz Denoise is the bomb!! It’s not that magical though that it can recover photos like your owl and my woodpeckers LOL
Loved your comment. It's all about trying. I've found some birds in flight I can use less than 1/1000 - others need to be 1/2000. It depends. Interesting username you have there..?
Top Tips there Paul. I learned it the hard way that Underexposing the image at the expense of lower ISO makes the image more noisy in exchange. Where a 2/3 or a full stop over exposed image looks cleaner even at double the previous iso. I used to use Manual Focus with Auto ISO primarily with range set. But as I cant Exposure Compensate in this mode so nowadays Im liking the Aperture Priority Mode better. Realizing why many Pros use it. Cheers.
You get it Zaber! Yes, you can overexpose too - something I didn't mention. You have a good understanding of this. I often favour Aperture Priority, but also Manual.
Cheers Paul..some great tips especially as my lens @500mm only goes to F6.3 .so straight away shutter speed becomes an issue in poor light..so to see speeds of 320th or even a 60th giving quality images gives me hope and and something to try out..
iso is the way digital cameras stretch an image inside the camera , it does not increase the amount of light your camera is catching , opening the aperture and longer exposure length is the only way to increase the amount of light hitting the censor .
Another good tip is expose for the sky, use iso manual and raise or lower iso so that the sky is +1 EV. That way when you lower to pan you should have a slightly - exposure or if shooting a bird direct up in sky it will be +1 exposure. Best of both worlds
Hi Paul. I always enjoy your videos. I have a question regarding this video. Around 7:18, you mention that you like tapping the shutter button to re-engage the focus. If you are shooting Canon and you stay in AI-SERVO mode, why would this be necessary?
Yes I’m in Servo mode. This technique shouldn’t really be necessary with high quality equipment but I find at times it can help as it allows the autofocus to lock on quickly if the bird deviates from its path. And potentially the autofocus might not track as well in low light. I don’t always do it though.
Hi Paul, I am very sorry to have to correct you so soon into your video but actually varying the Iso on your camera does not alter the sensitivity of the sensor!, all that you can achieve is to amplify the readout from the sensor not the light hitting it!, the only things that improve to image are variations in shutter speed and aperture. Because the higher shutter speed is needed to get un-blurred picture of moving subjects the only real alternative is a wider aperture, each 'stop' of aperture will allow you one more 'stop' of shutter speed. In all cases it is better to achieve the highest level of exposure that you can get onto you sensor to maximise the signal to noise ratio. Pretty much all of the other points that you raise are O.K., only the other day I was talking with a gentleman who had been taking picture of racing horses with a Hassleblad camera onto film, probably medium format, where the maximum shutter speed on the telephoto lens that he was using was one five hundredth of a second and he had very sharp clear shots, he also stressed the importance of good technique!. Cheers, Richard.
Not a problem Richard, I don't claim to be an expert on everything. Hopefully your comment will help some people who are interested in this subject in more depth.
Hi Paul, thank you for your quick response, as you suggest I was hoping that my comment might be useful to others, there is so much mis-understanding and confusion out there!, I think it is very sad that the industry does not feel obliged to be properly informative, allowing advertisers so much latitude!.Cheers, Richard. @@PaulMiguelPhotography
Thank you Paul! Great Video! Paul, what do you think about Câmeras with MFT Sensor for Birds, like die Oly EM1 ii, or EM1 X or G9 with lenses like Oly 300 f4 or Leica 100-400? Would you recomend the M43 System?
Hi. I'm afraid I can't comment on those - I've never used them and don't know too much about them. I know however quite a few people who have switched from Canon or Nikon to Olympus and are happy.
There are so many incompatible things to consider in DSLR photography like ISO and noise, shutter speed and sharpness, aperture and depth of field, etc. You have to give up one to enjoy one. It’s actually a balancing act for priorities. And that’s the beauty indulging in the art of photography. Shooting film before, I used to wish a camera feature that can view the photo taken before it goes to print. We have it now in DSLRs. I do not know if this made me a better photographer. And in the future, those incompatibilities I mentioned might no longer be issues. Will photography be still considered an art?
Great video otherwise things can get quite expensive in terms of gear for low light a Sony A9II with 400mm f2.8 on a gimbal head would be very useful for example
Where do you stand on using flash, maybe a better beamer, (Fresnel lens)? Worthwhile for small birds, but not for raptors and most especially not for owls. Just curious about your opinions on the topic. I don't yet have a flash setup, but considering my options while planning for macro sessions when not birding.
It's a great question. Personally, I do not agree with using full power flash on owls - and I guess not for raptors. As for a bit of fill-in flash, I've always thought that it is not strong enough to cause a problem, but maybe it can? I like the idea of the better beamer for fill-flash - I find it's just more extra stuff and I'm often happy with the exposure without the flash.
I use f8 because of my subject af on 25 fps. Requires f8 for the mode to work. Should I just keep it at auto iso? Shutter doesn't go lower than 1/320. 800mm fl.
Nice overview Paul. It can be quite a challenge frequently here in the UK for us wildlife photographers. It sounds like you have been a photographer for a long time like me & you mentioned shutter speeds that 'freeze' moving subjects. I have a theory that a slower shutter speed could freeze action on a film SLR better than a DSLR. When I worked in a college teaching photography a colleague seemed to agree with this theory too. As you pointed out, 1/500th sec on a film SLR would usually be fine to freeze action whereas it may need 1/1000th sec on a DSLR. Any more thoughts on this?
Thanks Paul. Lots of great pointers. Even your "horrible" owl shot looked pretty good to me!
cracking video Paul very helpful just downloaded that topaz you mentioned its really good
If I got that owl looking at me I’d be really happy. Lol
I’m just starting out though so learning what ALL makes a photograph better than another is really important but I find I’m happy with just one or two of the boxes one checks off when trying for that perfect shot.
Fantastic Paul. Great tips and tricks.
Many thanks Pauline.
Hi Paul, thank you so much for the valuable video. Your video help me a lot.
I live in the Pacific NorthWet and for ~8+ months of the year it's overcast. Glad you mentioned it and I'm going to just pile on and say it again: *Getting the image properly exposed will do more to reduce noise than having a "low" ISO ever will* For the longest time I was fighting noisy images because I was constantly underexposing to keep my ISO low. It just didn't register with my dumb brain that I was wildly increasing color noise by doing that. Get your ISO high enough for your shutter speed that your histogram is in the right third of the graph and you will have done more to reduce noise than anything else you can possibly do, even if that requires you to drive your ISO into the stratosphere. Well done, Paul!
Really appreciated your comment, thank you.
With denoise software nowadays I just set iso to auto and run with it then use exposure comp to fine tune.
You can either have a low iso image that’s blurry or a sharp noisy shot that you have to run through denoise. 😁
Nice video. Just off to try it out. Happy christmas
I think your tip on "going with the conditions" is a really good one. I fall into the trap of bemoaning the fact that the light is often terrible (at Leighton Moss RSPB), and the inability to capture decent images with acceptable noise ... only to completely forget the creative element of bird photography, and trying to capture the essence of flight
Thanks Ian. It just makes sense sometimes - in fact, why not use it to force you into being creative! Appreciate your comment.
Thanks again Paul.. I must admit that in low light on a static subject I sometimes bracket and often end up with at least one workable shot out of three, like you I have never gone above 3200.
Thanks for more great tips Paul, and Merry Christmas to you.
Subscribed after watching video for 2 mins . No one explained better about bird photography. I recently bought TZ95 exclusively for wildlife photography
Fantastic. Many thanks!
Than you Paul these videos are so helpful for a real amateur like me.
Actually ISO is applied gain after the image is captured, it has no effect on the sensors ability to capture light
Thank you for your tips! My siblings got me a Nikon D3500 for Christmas and I have been struggling with the right settings to combined with a fast shutter speed.
I use manual mode (M) selecting both speed and aperture combined always with AUTO ISO for wildlife for years. I maintain an eye on the camera selected ISO so I can adjust my speed and aperture if I please... thanks for share this lecture.
That's good technique. Thanks for watching.
Thanks great tips again must confess, had to watch a few times till it started to sink in 👌
No problem. I also have a video on flight photography more aimed at beginners.
Very good super informative thanks :)
Great video Paul, love the tutorials, keep up the fantastic work.
Thanks for the feedback. Appreciate indeed!
Thank You. I will work on improving my skills.
Ho ho ho, hope Santa was god you you? Merry Christmas. So your thumb was held down on the AF-ON button and your index finger presses and releases the shutter button, how does that work pretty please? Maybe I am missing something in the custom function menu, all the best from sunny Bahamas
Hi Peter. No, it's just one button - whichever you prefer. I use the shutter button, so I'm sometimes disengaging and re-engaging the focus with my finger. Cheers.
Great vid Paul, I would definitely recommend Topaz Denoise though over messing around in Photoshop or Lightroom, Give it a try with their 30 day free trial
Thanks for sharing that Darren. I don’t worry too much about noise, but Topaz certainly seems the best to deal with it.
with an iso invariant sensor like Sony A7 III setting iso 640 or 12800 doesn't matter as they give the same noise when corrected afterwards in lightroom ;) So better to keep it as low as possible, i shoot almost all now on 640 which gives slightly more noise then iso 100
Thanks for the info Adriaan.
Ver nice photo
great vids, just got a m50 for my 50th this December (2019) , been a couple decades since i had a new camera, first interchangeable one, been getting some great moon (55-200 m mount)and macro (M mount 28mm lens with the built in light)
along with the astro and macro my other main hunt is wildlife / birds, have a an ef mount for the m body so looking for a decent zoom to 400mm, trying to keep under £500 for that so might be a while, been looking at sigma and tamron for that, i'm London based, looking to move to south west in the next year or two.
Hi there, and thanks for the comment. I have an M50 but have to admit I haven't really used it for photography yet! Just for video.
@@PaulMiguelPhotography yeah your blogging cam is my entry level cam :)
Thank you, I wish I had watched this last week when I was in Washington DC shooting some Canada geese and pileated woodpeckers in some really dull lighting conditions. I ended up with some of my photos looking like your owl photo. I’ve always shot birds in flight at 1/ 2000 or higher. I’ve never even considered lowering my shutter speed. I’m going to try this. Your last image on the end blew my mind at 1/60 with a 400 mm lens!!
I know Tony Northrup touched on this once on shooting at a shutter speed lower than the minimal focal range, but he didn’t really elaborate on it.
Thank you for a very interesting video.
PS, topaz Denoise is the bomb!!
It’s not that magical though that it can recover photos like your owl and my woodpeckers LOL
Loved your comment. It's all about trying. I've found some birds in flight I can use less than 1/1000 - others need to be 1/2000. It depends. Interesting username you have there..?
Top Tips there Paul. I learned it the hard way that Underexposing the image at the expense of lower ISO makes the image more noisy in exchange. Where a 2/3 or a full stop over exposed image looks cleaner even at double the previous iso.
I used to use Manual Focus with Auto ISO primarily with range set. But as I cant Exposure Compensate in this mode so nowadays Im liking the Aperture Priority Mode better. Realizing why many Pros use it. Cheers.
You get it Zaber! Yes, you can overexpose too - something I didn't mention. You have a good understanding of this. I often favour Aperture Priority, but also Manual.
Cheers Paul..some great tips especially as my lens @500mm only goes to F6.3 .so straight away shutter speed becomes an issue in poor light..so to see speeds of 320th or even a 60th giving quality images gives me hope and and something to try out..
Thanks for the feedback Martin. Yes, it can be tough.. definitely worth trying some slower shutter speeds - you might be surprised!
iso is the way digital cameras stretch an image inside the camera , it does not increase the amount of light your camera is catching , opening the aperture and longer exposure length is the only way to increase the amount of light hitting the censor .
Thanks for that explanation Jamie. Always something I've struggled to explain myself. I understand what you are saying.
Another good tip is expose for the sky, use iso manual and raise or lower iso so that the sky is +1 EV. That way when you lower to pan you should have a slightly - exposure or if shooting a bird direct up in sky it will be +1 exposure. Best of both worlds
Sometimes a shaky, grainy image is all one can manage to get, but even then it is better than nothing.
Hi Paul. I always enjoy your videos. I have a question regarding this video. Around 7:18, you mention that you like tapping the shutter button to re-engage the focus. If you are shooting Canon and you stay in AI-SERVO mode, why would this be necessary?
Yes I’m in Servo mode. This technique shouldn’t really be necessary with high quality equipment but I find at times it can help as it allows the autofocus to lock on quickly if the bird deviates from its path. And potentially the autofocus might not track as well in low light. I don’t always do it though.
Hi Paul, I am very sorry to have to correct you so soon into your video but actually varying the Iso on your camera does not alter the sensitivity of the sensor!, all that you can achieve is to amplify the readout from the sensor not the light hitting it!, the only things that improve to image are variations in shutter speed and aperture. Because the higher shutter speed is needed to get un-blurred picture of moving subjects the only real alternative is a wider aperture, each 'stop' of aperture will allow you one more 'stop' of shutter speed. In all cases it is better to achieve the highest level of exposure that you can get onto you sensor to maximise the signal to noise ratio. Pretty much all of the other points that you raise are O.K., only the other day I was talking with a gentleman who had been taking picture of racing horses with a Hassleblad camera onto film, probably medium format, where the maximum shutter speed on the telephoto lens that he was using was one five hundredth of a second and he had very sharp clear shots, he also stressed the importance of good technique!. Cheers, Richard.
Not a problem Richard, I don't claim to be an expert on everything. Hopefully your comment will help some people who are interested in this subject in more depth.
Hi Paul, thank you for your quick response, as you suggest I was hoping that my comment might be useful to others, there is so much mis-understanding and confusion out there!, I think it is very sad that the industry does not feel obliged to be properly informative, allowing advertisers so much latitude!.Cheers, Richard. @@PaulMiguelPhotography
Thank you Paul! Great Video! Paul, what do you think about Câmeras with MFT Sensor for Birds, like die Oly EM1 ii, or EM1 X or G9 with lenses like Oly 300 f4 or Leica 100-400? Would you recomend the M43 System?
Hi. I'm afraid I can't comment on those - I've never used them and don't know too much about them. I know however quite a few people who have switched from Canon or Nikon to Olympus and are happy.
There are so many incompatible things to consider in DSLR photography like ISO and noise, shutter speed and sharpness, aperture and depth of field, etc. You have to give up one to enjoy one. It’s actually a balancing act for priorities. And that’s the beauty indulging in the art of photography. Shooting film before, I used to wish a camera feature that can view the photo taken before it goes to print. We have it now in DSLRs. I do not know if this made me a better photographer. And in the future, those incompatibilities I mentioned might no longer be issues. Will photography be still considered an art?
Merry Christmas Paul.
And to you Jeff. Thank you
Download my Digital Guide to Birds in Flight: koji.to/k/9vb5
Great video otherwise things can get quite expensive in terms of gear for low light a Sony A9II with 400mm f2.8 on a gimbal head would be very useful for example
Yes - Sony A9 has great reviews. For many people it's a case of making the most of what you've got.
Where do you stand on using flash, maybe a better beamer, (Fresnel lens)? Worthwhile for small birds, but not for raptors and most especially not for owls. Just curious about your opinions on the topic.
I don't yet have a flash setup, but considering my options while planning for macro sessions when not birding.
It's a great question. Personally, I do not agree with using full power flash on owls - and I guess not for raptors. As for a bit of fill-in flash, I've always thought that it is not strong enough to cause a problem, but maybe it can? I like the idea of the better beamer for fill-flash - I find it's just more extra stuff and I'm often happy with the exposure without the flash.
I use f8 because of my subject af on 25 fps. Requires f8 for the mode to work. Should I just keep it at auto iso? Shutter doesn't go lower than 1/320. 800mm fl.
The only hobby where you’re encouraged to “shoot it in the face.”
📷 🥸
Nice overview Paul. It can be quite a challenge frequently here in the UK for us wildlife photographers. It sounds like you have been a photographer for a long time like me & you mentioned shutter speeds that 'freeze' moving subjects. I have a theory that a slower shutter speed could freeze action on a film SLR better than a DSLR. When I worked in a college teaching photography a colleague seemed to agree with this theory too. As you pointed out, 1/500th sec on a film SLR would usually be fine to freeze action whereas it may need 1/1000th sec on a DSLR. Any more thoughts on this?
What about exposure compensation?
Hi ! When shoot on high ISO like 3200 on a flying shot, doesn't it give you noise in the image 🤔
yes it will. it depends on the camera how bad. That's why sometimes I would go for a slower shutter speed - to keep ISO down.
Is the 400mm ok now?
Also, I didn't know of overexpose trick. Might try that next time
It works fine but the hood won’t go down! If you can overexposed a little it will help reduce noise.
one my problem is noise my nevv sigma 150 600mm contemporary....
Vladimir Ognyanov Topaz Denoise is your solution
Not my Style but great video 👍
hearded bullfinch ;-)
Paul, you talk but you don't tell us anything .......