# Dang! What Happened?



## The Machine (Jun 4, 2007)

I went to shoot some birds and was real excited about it, cuz i had done a better job the second time around, was seeing alot of nice birds thought i had got some great pics to my dismay, when i loaded them to my computer they were dark, some were ok, but most of them were bad. The only time that i did look at my LCD Monitor the pic was good so i thought the rest were coming ok. I'm cleaning them up so i could share, but real disappointed. I had the ISO at 100-200, Shutter at 500, aperature 8, so my question what did I do wrong this is my second time only messing with ISO, Shutter, Aperature, i would usually shoot with the set modes, last time that i shared pics my ISO was 400-800, cuz it was cloudy, shutter 320, aperature 8, here is a picture of my clear and what i had on most of my shots taken.


----------



## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

Yep they are very underexposed. What camera, mode, metering settings were you using, what did the light-meter indicate?


----------



## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

No solution for yore camera...but Infraview can be your friend....


----------



## mkk (May 7, 2009)

For moving objects try shooting in sport mode. Then review your pics and see what settings your camera used and go from there


----------



## Jerry-rigged (May 21, 2004)

Sounds like you were shooting full manual? Maybe try setting the ISO to AUTO so the camera can help keep the exposure correct, while you still get the high shutter speed and DOF of f8.

Before you go shoot birds again, might spend some time indoors with the camera, set up a test shoot, and slowly bump the ISO to find where you should set the upper ISO limit for the AUTO-ISO setting. Otherwise, the camera could select something silly like ISO 24,000 and ruin you pics with noise.


----------



## The Machine (Jun 4, 2007)

Thank you all, i have a canon rebel xti, shot manuel, indicator -2, ive cleaned some of the pics and i have some pretty birds to share, i still have alot of work to do, took alot of pics.


----------



## stargazer (May 24, 2004)

-2 is indicating an under exposure. 0 is what the camera thinks the correct exposure is.
Here are my basic settings for birds

*Mode* AV
*Apt* _ 1-1 1/2 stops above min apt ( I use 7.1 mostly)
*Shutter speed* S/B equal to or above the focal length of the lens ( 400mm lens, shutter at 1/400 or above) With an apt of 7.1, try and keep the shutter at 1/1000.
*ISO*, use what ISO that will keep the shutter within the above parameter.
So try these the next time and see what you get.
Manual is good, but I have never been good enough the use that in the field on birds. Lighting changes so much that you spend a lot of time adjusting the camera, when using AV all you have to mess with is the ISO setting.
Hope this helps.
Also in some cases, when the birds are under a canopy like you have your feeder, you might need to go to a flash/ better beamer setup to provide enough light to keep the ISO low enough to avoid excessive sensor noise.


----------



## The Machine (Jun 4, 2007)

Thx stargazer i will definitely use those settings, i've been working on my pics and there are some nice ones, i just took so many that, that it will take some time, can't wait to share.


----------



## LandPirate (Jun 5, 2009)

Try using Spot Metering.

Also use the single center focus point.


----------

