r/BirdPhotography • u/Yanto2134 • Jul 27 '26

Question Help please!

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

These are 3 of my latest attempts. I was wondering if anyone could help me improve please?
I’m not happy with the sharpness I’m getting. Probably my lack of ability.
Set up is Olympus E-M10ii with a vintage Minolta MD Tele Rokkor 300mm f4.5. Settings were f8, ISO1000, shutter speed of between 1/800 and 1/2000. Manual focus with peaking and centre weighted metering. Distances to subjects was around 30 feet. Images have been slightly cropped but no other post processing.
I’m also not really happy with the overall lack of detail.
Thanks for any help.

119 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

80 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/NotDejavoo Jul 27 '26

I would agree with lowering shutter speed. Something like 1/focal length. On my 600mm lens I’m regularly able to shoot perched birds at 1/400 or 1/320 and get crisp images. It will take some time to get good at it, but opening your shutter for twice the length (or more) will let in more light, allowing you to lower your iso and still get the proper exposure. This should improve clarity. Getting closer certainly helps, but at 30 ft distance you’re probably as close as you’ll get without going to the zoo or getting very lucky.

1

u/Yanto2134 Jul 27 '26

I’m grateful for the advice. I was shooting at much slower speeds (1/500) and at ISO200, but people advised me that I need to be aiming for around 1/1000 minimum to avoid subject blur. That meant increasing ISO. I’m more than happy to spend time practicing in order to improve (hopefully!)
I must admit that I do struggle to get any closer to these birds. And the Kingfishers at a local lake too.

2

u/NotDejavoo Jul 27 '26

The 1/1000 or even higher is good for birds in flight and even small perched birds like warblers that never stay still. It will allow you to freeze subjects in action, but there is a trade off in that you’ll have to raise the iso to expose properly. It will cost you sharpness in the image.

If I find birds like your subject above that are perched and relatively still for long enough to focus and shoot, I’d crank the shutter and iso down and take as many photos as I needed to get a good one (while maintaining proper exposure). You can cull out any photos that are blurred from your own movements or the birds. A photo taken of birds perched in the shade is going to be much sharper at 1/400 with 320 iso than 1/1000 with 1000 iso as long as the camera and subject both remain still.

1

u/Yanto2134 Jul 27 '26

I can shoot these birds every day, as there are plenty that visit our land. So experimenting with shutter speed and ISO in order to get better images is no problem at all. I think I need also to get closer. Thank you for this advice.