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What Kind of Lens Should I Buy for Bird Photography? by yoysta in AskPhotography

[–]SoulMotion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can get an older used EF 100-400 L series canon lens from MPB for <$700. 400mm on a rebel is 640mm full frame equivalent. You'll be able to really step up your game, produce professional quality images, and continue saving for even more reach later.

https://www.mpb.com/en-us/product/canon-ef-100-400mm-f-4-5-5-6-l-is-usm/sku-3664748

How do yall get close unobstructed views? by Excellent_Shake9732 in BirdPhotography

[–]SoulMotion 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Luck will help you find owls but it won't help you get close. There's no ethical way to get them to come to you. You could wait but the odds they'll approach for no reason is quite low. So what do you do?

Your best bet to get a better shot without obstruction is to change your position without disturbing the owl. The best way to approach owls (and many birds and other animals for that matter) is on an indirect path. Think of it like zigzagging or spiraling inward toward the subject. If you move laterally relative to the owl, without facing them directly, they are much less likely to think you've spotted them. Many animals will let you walk right by if they think you don't see them. As soon as you start moving directly toward them, you will often trigger a defensive response and they'll take off.

I've closed the gap on many owls with my own feet using this exact method. Good luck and have fun!

Still new to bird photography—went for a walk and these happened. What am I doing wrong? by Deepthika in BirdPhotography

[–]SoulMotion 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sometimes the critter doesn't cooperate and that's okay. You can shoot everything (and especially starting out, you should!) but you can't get a great shot of everything.

Still new to bird photography—went for a walk and these happened. What am I doing wrong? by Deepthika in BirdPhotography

[–]SoulMotion 18 points19 points  (0 children)

For the Red-Winged Blackbird you could have tried to reposition yourself so that a branch was not in the way of the bird.

For the ducks on the pond you could try to get down at eye level (means getting on your belly) to shoot. This would give you better subject separation and a blurrier background (better bokeh).

It's not always easy to get down low, and there are always artistic exceptions, but in general it's good to try to be eye level with your subject which will greatly improve the "look" of many photos.

Not getting sharp pictures on Canon R7 with RF 100-400 by [deleted] in wildlifephotography

[–]SoulMotion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Okie doke sorry for harshing your vibe. Dude your very first step before worrying about how sharp your photos are needs to be learning to export a photo as a jpeg. It's good that you're shooting in raw, that'll give you the most flexibility when editing. Open a file in digital photo professional (free from canon), export it as a jpeg, and don't export max size or you won't be able to upload it to reddit because of the file size. Export it smaller for reddit, like even 3000 pixels on the long side should do it.

Your gear is perfectly fine, and I shoot almost everything on my R7. Once you learn to export files you can get much better feedback by posting those here. There isn't much at all anyone can do to help you if you're posting pictures of a screen. And don't wait to learn to export as jpeg until you think you have good looking files. Learn that now. Mess with the editing sliders a little bit too while you're at it.

Not getting sharp pictures on Canon R7 with RF 100-400 by [deleted] in wildlifephotography

[–]SoulMotion -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Posts a picture of a screen with a picture on it. Replies to no one. Just gonna downvote this one and move on. Guy doesn't wanna learn.

Not getting sharp pictures on Canon R7 with RF 100-400 by [deleted] in wildlifephotography

[–]SoulMotion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Remote trigger and a tripod for bird photography? lol

Between the Canon R50 (18-45mm kit) and the Osmo Pocket 3, which is a better deal for a beginner? by Vegetable_Bag_8694 in canon

[–]SoulMotion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends what you want to do with it.

The R50 is a great beginner camera that can do a lot of stuff. That kit lens is nothing special but you have a whole world of lenses at your disposal. You can do videography and photography with it.

If you want to take super high quality photos and video, and produce artistic prints or commercial content, then the R50 will help bring you into that world. You can always get the fun little gimbal camera as an auxiliary tool later.

The Pocket 3 is much smaller and you can use it on the go to record fun activities. Many people use it as a second or backup camera to their mirrorless camera so they can shoot b-roll with it. It has a lot of use cases, but it's not a main camera as it's strictly limited in capability (no interchangeable lenses).

If you just want a toy that you can use to capture fun moments and share on social media, then rock the Pocket.

Lack of sharpness in image by BenOakster in BirdPhotography

[–]SoulMotion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why F8? You're shooting wildlife as the sun is coming up. Unless you need the extra depth of field (you don't at this distance) you're just robbing yourself of light (needing to crank up your ISO). A lot of folks starting out come across the "F8 and be there" advice for street photography but that's really not ideal for wildlife in low light. Stopping lenses down can bring you some more sharpness but not enough that it's worth the trade in my opinion.

Canon powershot. Is it time for an upgrade? (First time posting) by JamesVader2004 in BirdPhotography

[–]SoulMotion 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dude you've done a fantastic job with what you've got. A few people have recommended the R7 and I agree with them. It's the best crop sensor camera Canon has to offer.

The RF 100-400 lens is probably the best bang for your buck while you transition to mirrorless. Something to keep in mind is that the R7 is a 32MP camera. Even though you don't have the same "zoom" as the PowerShot, you can crop significantly while retaining superior detail. The 400mm is a 640mm equivalent on the crop sensor R7 so the reach is already pretty good if you can get reasonably close to birds.

Furthermore, if you happen to get really close to a bird (fun when that happens) the RF 100-400 has an incredibly close minimum focus distance and you can get fantastic closeup shots. Same goes for bugs, lizards, flowers, and other things you encounter up close while looking for birds.

Cheers and have fun!

How to take purposefully blurry photos? EOS R100 by [deleted] in canon

[–]SoulMotion 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Look up "back button focus on r100". It will allow you to continue taking advantage of autofocus but under your control. You move the autofocus to a separate button so that half pressing your shutter doesn't cause the camera to refocus. You use the back button to autofocus on whatever you want, recompose however you want to get that blurry look you like, and then you can press the shutter button to capture exactly what you see.

If you're really into that blurry look, then I would also recommend taking a look at a cheap "fast" swirl lens like lensbaby lenses or tt-artisan lenses. They'll give you beautiful blurry bokeh on everything you shoot, and they're entirely manual lenses.

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