The sun illuminates this flock. 

We're here.  

Trio 

Photography Adventure: Sandhill Cranes

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a trip to Northern Indiana (the Jasper-Pulaski fish and wildlife area) to view the sandhill crane migration (see my December archives for last year's entry on this same subject). November is a peak month for the cranes to come together. The flocks descending on this little field number in the thousands. The noise is breathtaking. Watching them leaves pause for questions such as, how do birds fly thousands of miles and know where to meet along the way? They must understand the difference between a gun and a camera because the viewing platform was packed with photographers that were shoulder to shoulder and the birds didn't hesitate to land and perform their dances for us.

I enjoy seeing the photographers and discussing techniques and equipment with them. Most photographers this day were using Canon's with long lenses (400 mm or more). A few were using spotting scopes. One gentleman had a spotting scope with a camera mount attached for a small 3x pocket point and shoot camera. A neat innovation but he explained that vinyetting (dark edges around the outside of the frame) is a problem with this set up.

So how do you get a good shot of birds in flight near sundown? ISO, ISO, ISO. Set your ISO between 800 and 3200, depending how dim the light is. I like 1600 the most. This allows you to freeze the action in lower light conditions. What about shutter speed and F stop you may ask. It depends how much light there is, so here is a little trick. Set the ISO high, then put the camera in program mode, push the shutter button half way down and see what settings the camera chooses. Take a shot and see if you like the results (digital screen viewing). If you like what you are getting you can keep shooting in program mode (program mode does a pretty darn good job). If you prefer the shot a little brighter or darker, go out of program mode to shutter speed priority, choose the speed program did and adjust it higher to make the shot darker or lower to make the shot brighter. Remember though the longer the shutter is open the more blur you will get. Sometimes that makes for nice artistic shots so don't totally rule blur out.

Now let's talk about focus choices. Focus options vary on different models of cameras but most have single or continuous. Single focus allows you to compose on a subject, move the camera and retain the original focal point to adjust your composition. This is NOT what you want for moving subjects. Continuos allows the camera to refocus as the subject moves. Here is the tradeoff. As light gets lower the time it takes the camera to focus can increase. It could eventually get so dark that the camera can't focus. If this happens switch to manual focus, pick a spot to focus on, and wait for a bird to enter the spot in focus. My favorite focus method for moving subjects though is AIServo. This is available on Canon SLRs. AIServo is a smart focus technology that not only tracks a moving subject, it calculates, based on the speed of the pan, where the subject will be next. Although it doesn't hit the mark every time, most of the time it does a great job. To get best results with AIServo focus, pan evenly at a steady pace.

That leaves metering mode. Metering the light for wildlife is critical to getting the shot you want. The default metering mode for most cameras is area metering. Area metering looks at all the available light for the frame, and adjusts the brightness accordingly. The problem with this method is backlit subjects, especially birds that only take up a small portion of the frame, will become sillouettes. Sometimes that looks nice and artistic and you want that effect, but not all the time. The answer is to spot meter. Unfortunately not all cameras have a spot meter mode. Spot metering will also brighten the background and can blow out the sky, so consider how much cloud cover there is and see what works best for you. The other alternatives are center weighted or evaluative. With center weighted the camera meters only the center area. With evaluative it averages across areas. Spot metering is one featuer that the Canon 30D has but the 20D did not have. Some point and shoot cameras have it though. Don't be afraid to adjust your settings and see what the results are.

Here are a couple links where you can learn more about the Sandhill Cranes:
http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/publications/scranes.htmMichigan Sandhill Crane

site:http://www.michiganaudubon.org/bakersanctuary/crane.htmgeopic

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