Working on my animal shots

[Brownbear]

I'm trying to improve the focus, exposure and sharpness of my photos.

Nikon D80 Nikor 45-200 mm lens
Manual F5 to F9, iso 160 -450 SS 500-640 No exposure comp


All feedback truly appreciated.

Some shots of a white goat (akin to trying to get the exposure right on white ducks) and I think my exposure is good because I can see the hairs on the goat? However I think the first goat photo is soft, ie; not as sharp as the others. Perhaps it is motion blur? (hand held) Is this the case?







[IMG]http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g375/ChristinaStobbs/goats/1-02-06-duckscowsgoats-6.jpg[/IMG





[IMG]http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g375/ChristinaStobbs/goats/1-02-06-duckscowsgoats-6.jpg[/IMG













Just for fun

[Shadowman]

Very nice series. Motion blur and subject movement will mar your best exposure efforts. Did you shoot in burst mode, this would help offset both.

[Brownbear]

Thank you. Good to know. I shot in continuous auto focus... the same as burst mode?

[Geoff F]

Good photos with the exposure nicely under control.

[Otavio]

Very nice shots, Christina! I like them all. Nice Dof and exposure.

[Loose Canon]

Thank you. Good to know. I shot in continuous auto focus... the same as burst mode?

Hi Christina!

I don’t speak Nikonese fluently but continuous autofocus is not the same as burst mode.

The burst mode should shoot multiple frames as long as you hold down the shutter release until you reach the max frame rate (say, 4-6, 8 or whatever your camera can do in frames per second). But you would need to keep your focus point in your viewfinder on your focus point of the subject while you are shooting.

A good strategy to set your drive to burst rather than single shot when shooting fast moving things such as sports, wildlife, whatever moves!

In a lot of situations I will keep my camera on this setting. Gives the option of shooting just a single shot, or keeping the shutter release depressed to give burst shooting (I’ve heard it called “spray and pray”, “machine gun”, etc.)!

When you find it on your camera, keep your release depressed, you will hear it shooting multiple frames.

Very cool thing to use in some circumstances!

[Bobobird]

Good series of shots.

About motion blur - It could be many things. I would not worry about it too much unless the majority of your shots come out like that which is clearly not the case.

[Brownbear]

Thank you everyone for your comments and advice.

Terry, thank you for clarifying burst mode. I did not use burst mode for these photos but I have used it in the past. I was not familiar with the terminology and I always thought that it was brought up on my camera when I held the shutter button half way down (sometimes it worked and sometimes not)... I looked it up and I just learned that I need to press a little button with 3 rectangles (3 shots) on my camera to set it to burst consistently. Thank you.