In low-light conditions as I was finishing work earlier this week, I saw many wallabies, including this juvenile with its mother. This is my preferred capture, because it portrays the dynamics of the animal best. Problem is, my AF tracking had not managed to keep up with the rapid movement (or maybe it was operator error ). Some say that perfectly sharp focus is not always necessary, and point to some of the work of Ansel Adams, for example.
This is what I have been able to do in darktable, and I believe monochrome definitely helps emphasize the animal over the distracting background. I would be delighted to see what you all might be able to achieve. Or again, on whether in your opinion it is better to abandon this due to the amount that the focus is off.
Perfect focus might not be necessary, especially for a moving object because this enhances the impression of speed. However, when a moving object is out of focus, a sharp (and therefore static) background is a good contrast.
Also, I think, this image would have benefited greatly from more context. One thing could have been the size in contrast to its mother. Also the animal seems to be in an urban setting which might give an interesting view.
Just some theoretical points. I know how difficult it is to put this into practice .
I also shoot with a Nikon (D750) and had a look at the D7200 user manual to see if there’s an overlap in functionality that might help you in the future;
So, assuming you don’t already know this, I would advise the following:
set camera mode to A (Aperature prio auto),
make sure AF-C priority selection (a1) is set to Release,
set Focus tracking (a3) to 2, maybe 1,
set AF-Area mode to AF-C + d9 or d21,
set up lowest possible ISO and EV step values (b1 + b2)
set Auto ISO sensitivity control to ON (ISO sensitivity settings). Specific numbers you need to determine yourself. Depends on the camera/lens and general environment. I use 1250, ON, 6400 and AUTO (+faster) as a base,
set Easy ISO (d8) to off (might hinder Auto ISO),
set Easy exposure compensation (b3) to off (might hinder Auto ISO),
Use one of your user settings (U1/U2) to safe this for speed set-up.
You only need to switch to U1/2 and set Release mode to Ch (or Cl) and you are good to go. You can still have aperture control via the sub-command dial and all that.
The exact numbers/settings might need some testing and tuning, but I do think it is a good base to work from if you need to shoot fast(er) moving objects. The a1 setting will mean that not all shots will be 100% focused, but that isn’t always needed and it gives the camera’s AF time to catch up.
Anyway, hope this helps a bit…
EDIT: Pulled the above one into Krita and did some more work on it (also using G’MIC):
Thank you for the detailed feedback.
I do use my U1 for a combination of settings for my wildlife photography. I use almost identical settings to your recommendations.
What I had not yet explored was using AUTO (+faster) as minimum shutter speed when using Auto ISO Sensitivity. Thank you for that tip!
Both files: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)
Hi Thomas … ye have asked, ye shall receive.
If you note the timestamps, you will see that the shot of the mother and juvenile from behind with the juvenile in the air is less than a second after the original focus-challenged playraw. And in that one the mother is in good focus but the joey a little too near.
If you have not witnessed it, you may be amazed by how rapidly and how much these creatures accelerate. Birds that I photograph tend to have a short snap of acceleration and then fly almost constant velocity; not so these marsupials.
The later pic of the two sitting (well, almost - the joey has just landed and his tail hasn’t touched down yet) has the joey sharp and the mother nearly so - shooting wide-open at 290mm doesn’t give a lot of DoF. I suppose one could argue for a smaller aperture; I seldom shoot multiple subjects, however, and I suppose I get lazy.
As for urban environment - to my mind the electrical substation in these two is more of a distraction than the water tank in the original shot.
). Some say that perfectly sharp focus is not always necessary, and point to some of the work of Ansel Adams, for example.
“having character” is what a realtor might say about an old house that is falling apart. I’m not sure whether or not that was your intention, Dave?
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