Bird Photography

I finally managed to escape the gymnasium today and headed out to try to capture some of the birds that overwinter near our home in Woodinville, WA.

Bald Eagle, Spencer Island, Washington

All Canon gear: 40D, 300mm f/2.8L IS (on, mode 2), 2x extender, ISO800, 1/2700, f/10, (manual),center focus point selected

I find that photographing birds is one of the most technically challenging endeavors (didn't I just get done saying that photographing gymnastics is challenging?!). Birds are always small...and farther away in the viewfinder than they seem when you are looking directly at them. The best photos are often of the birds in flight...and it's tough to keep the bird in the center of the viewfinder or centered on one of the focusing points...long enough for the camera to lock on the focus of the bird.

Snow Geese, Skagit Valley flats near Conway, Washington

All Canon gear: 40D, 300mm f/2.8L IS (on, mode 2), 2x extender, ISO800, 1/5300, f/10, (manual), center focus point selected

I generally shoot birds with the autofocus on, and select the center focusing point (though not always). Oh how I yearn for the 45 focus points of the 1D MarkIII (or 1Ds Mark III)! I'm currently using a Canon 40D for birds, and it has only 9 focus points...probably my most significant criticism of the camera (but then again, it doesn't cost as much as a 1D Mark III or 1Ds Mark III.

Snow Goose, Skagit Valley flats near Conway, WA

All Canon gear: 40D, 300mm f/2.8L IS (on, mode 2), 2x extender, ISO800, 1/5300, f/10, (manual), center focus point selected

I headed out the door at 5:30 AM, since this was to be a sunny day, and sunrise is just after 7:00 AM here now. It turned out that leaving the clear air of my lot in Woodinville, I headed downhill a few hundred feet and directly into dense fog. Driving through Everett, WA in the dark without a map in dense fog was challenging, but finally, I managed to make it to Spencer Island...a wildlife refuge just northeast of Everett. Arriving at my shooting location before the sun had come over the horizon (around 6:30 AM), I was greeted by a cacophony of birds in the marsh. A huge Great Blue Heron took off from the marsh near where I was headed...but of course, I didn't have my camera ready to go...and in the dense fog, it probably wouldn't have mattered much.



I headed back home around 9:00 AM, then picked up my family for the drive up to the Skagit valley, where we saw Bald Eagles, Snow Geese, Trumpeter Swans, Tundra Swans, Great Blue Herons, Bufflehead ducks, and a lot of birds I don't know the identities of (okay, I admit...shame on me!).



Here are some photos from that shoot:



Richard

Gymnastics Photography - A Few Pointers

During the winter months, when my kids are busy with music lessons, gymnastics, soccer, and other activities that seem to keep me indoors far too much, I often take photos of their sports teams.

One of my sons is a fairly serious gymnast, so I have now traveled to many gymnastics meets (he's on a USA Gymnastics (USAG) team) with my camera gear.

NOTE: These photos are essentially "unretouched", these are the full-frame images without any cropping.

Canon 40D, Canon 135mm f2.0 lens, ISO3200, f2.0, 1/320 prefocused (autofocus off)

Shot from a Gitzo carbon-fiber tripod, Acratech Ballhead

My first attemts at gymnastics photography were not pretty, and I found myself searching the internet for advice. I found a few helpful websites, and some wonderful people even wrote me with their advice. I've posted some of my advice on my website at:

http://www.touchinglightphotography.com/Order/Tips/GymnasticsPhotoTips.htm

In updating my "tips" for gymnastics photography, I have to add that I now have some new equipment, which has had a significant impact on my success rate.

Canon 40D, Canon 135mm f2.0 lens, ISO3200, f/2.0, 1/500, prefocused (autofocus off)

Shot from a Manfrotto monopod, Acratech ballhead

The Short Story

To keep it simple, here's my summary recommendation for equipment and settings (note, you MUST NOT use flash (according to USA Gymnastics rules, for the safety of the gymnasts), so be sure you know how to keep your camera's flash from firing!). Also, unless you are USA Gymnastics safety certified, you are NOT allowed on the gymnastic floor while gymnasts are performing...don't argue with the officials...those are the rules!)

• Camera: Canon 40D (or equivalent crop-sensor camera)...the 40D has a 1.6x crop factor, and has a 6.5 frame-per-second frame rate (pretty fast)
• Lens: Canon 135mm f2.0 "prime" lens (about $650 street price) or similar wide-aperture moderate telephoto prime lens. If you must use a zoom, try a professional (expensive) zoom like the Canon 70-200mm f2.8 ... which is fairly heavy, but a beautiful lens!
• ISO (light sensitivity): 3200 (stopping the action is probably more important to getting clear images than low noise). In a brightly lit gym, you might be able to get away with ISO 800 or 1600 if the light is bright enough (see shutter speed, below)
• Aperture: f/2.0, Aperture priority setting on camera (Av) (or the "brightest" aperture you can use)
• Shutter Speed: let the aperture priority setting pick the fastest speed available. You will want a shutter speed of 1/500 to 1/1000 or faster if at all possible with the light available to you. If you can only shoot at 1/250...it's tough, but you will still get some good photos if you take them when the gymnast is motionless (reversing direction in a gymnastics move)
• NOTE: Dimly lit gymnastics events are difficult to photograph with anything less than ISO3200 and f2.8 (or the equivalent combination...e.g. ISO1600 f2.0, ISO800 f1.4, etc.). I recommend "prime" (non-zoom) moderate telephotos because you can get a wide-aperture lens that isn't huge. Note that the typical f/4 - f/5.6 telephoto zooms ... typical "consumer" zooms, just don't let in enough light to take good gymnastics photos in most gyms. If you have tried to take photos of your son or daughter using an f/4 to f5.6 zoom...getting poor quality images is likely the fault of your equipment, not you! In most gyms, you MUST use a wide-aperture lens and an SLR camera... the typical point and shoot digital camera simply isn't fast enough to capture a gymnast at the right moment, and the small sensors used are often "high-noise" at higher ISO settings...and they rarely enable an ISO above 800 or so.
• You may find using a monopod helpful, however, it is usually the gymnast's motion that must be frozen. Neither a monopod nor an "image stabilized" (IS) lens will stop the motion of the gymnast. IS may help if you are shooting a long and hard-t0-hold telephoto.
• For floor exersize, shut off your auto focus, and stand perpendicular to the direction of travel for the gymnast, so they stay the same distance from you. Prefocus your lens and leave it (unless you are using a camera like the Canon 1D MKIII that has 45 autofocus points). Otherwise, you run a high risk of focusing on the back wall rather than the gymnast when they move out of the center of your image! Floor is tough to photograph!

The Longer Story...

About a year ago, I "went whole hog" and rented a Canon 200mm f1.8 (!) lens to use with my Canon 5D body. The lens was awesome (and HEAVY!), and drew stares from all of the jealous parents, but alas, the lens is no longer made by Canon (they now sell a 200 mm f2.0 lens which is virtually equivalent), and the f1.8 lens runs around $5500 on E-Bay auctions (used).

In thinking about my options, I finally settled on purchasing a 135mm f2.0 "prime" lens, since the big issue with gymnastics photography is light. I also purchased a Canon 40D, which is a fantastic "crop sensor" camera, that due to the smaller sensor, changes the "apparent focal length" of the 135mm lens to 210mm. Therefore, what I have now is essentially the equivalent of the lens I rented, when I put the 135 f2.0 lens on my Canon 40D to get an effective 210mm f2.0 lens.

This combination has proven to be fantastic for the gymnastics photos, and allows me to let in enough light at f2.0 to keep the shutter speed sufficiently high to stop the motion, even in a dimly lit gymnasium (though I've encountered gyms where even f2.0 is not sufficient).

This past weekend (2/2/2008), I shot a gymnastics event in a fairly darkly lit gym, and used the 135 f2.0 for nearly all shots, and they came out great (more about my settings in another post). The single exception, was photos of the parallel bars, where my best shots were shot straight on (from the end of the bars) from across the gym, using my Canon 40D and a 300mm f2.8 lens (another awesome Canon lens!). Both the 135 f2.0 and the 300mm f2.8 provide sufficient depth of field wide-open to keep the gymnasts sharp, while providing a nice background blur ("bokeh").

Canon 40D, Canon 300mm f2.8L lens, ISO3200, f/2.8, 1/250, Servo autofocus

Shot from a Manfrotto Monopod with a Acratech Ballhead and a Wimberly Side-Arm

For this event, I shot everything at ISO3200, with noise reduction off (to keep the frame rate high), then did post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CS2 with an action I wrote that provided noise sharpening, curve adjustment, color balancing, and sharpening.

My overriding advice for shooting gymnastics...

1) Use the highest ISO you can on your camera (stopping action is critical for sharpness...even more important than digital noise)
2) Use a prime lens, since you will be able to afford (and carry) a prime with a wider aperture ... the zooms will cost you light, and will add weight (I could make a pun here but will refrain)
3) NOTE: f2.8 is marginal, f2.0 is about as good as it gets in anything over 50mm
4) Use the aperture priority setting setting the lens to the widest aperture available...that way, the camera will pick the fastest shutter speed it can under the light conditions.
5) Don't shoot too tight...but do be close enough so your subject fills a large part of the frame. Shooting too tight will prevent you from having enough room to crop, and you run the risk of shooting "headless" gymnasts.

At 6.5 fps and with acceptable digital noise even at ISO3200, plus the 1.6x crop factor, make the Canon 40D an ideal camera for this application (I even shot more than 1500 shots on a single battery charge!...yes, that many images in a single event)

Good luck, and don't hesitate to write with your questions.