Need Help on Sharpness, Bird in Flight

[SQWIB]

Canon EOS 7D
EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM Telephoto Lens
IS Mode 1
Time of day 10:00am
Light Condition full sun, no humidity

Handheld
AI Servo, High Speed continuous shooting.

F-stop - f/5.6
Exposure - 1/800
ISO - 100
Exposure Bias - 0 Step
Focal Length - 300mm
Metering Mode - Center Weighted Average
Focus Mode - Spot
Flash Mode - No Flash, Compulsory
Exposure Program - Manual
White Balance - Daylight

Other than Post Processing what could I have done to make this image sharper?
I know the composition is bad.

[gptwins]

First I am going to refer you back you your Owner's manual because I do not know the functionality of your particular camera so you will need to look it up.

1. Faster shutter speed -- to reduce the motion blur. You did very well her but the little bugger is is moving quickly.

2. Continuous focusing. Turn on your matrix focusing and use continuous focusing. This will allow your camera to continue to focus as the bird moves in and out of focus.

3. Continuous shutter. You can try setting your camera to take multiple pictures and then allow the bird to fly into focus zone. You may use with in conjunction with manual or continuous focus.

4. Finally some camera have what Nikon call 3-D Active Matrix. That is just a bunch of words to say that the camera tries to predict where the subject is going to be and focuses to that point. That is how I got the following image:

[larlyboi]

Hi.

Upping iso to 400-800 would have allowed 2 things.

1. Smaller aperture (5.6 is max, not usually sharpest. That is 2-3 stops away)
2. Increasing shutter speed. I read that at 300mm you might need somewhere in the region of 1/1000-1/2500 to freeze very fast action.

EPS: Tips for learning how to photograph Birds in Flight

[SQWIB]

Thanks guys

I will try upping ISO, shutter speed and smaller aperture.
As far as the Continuous focusing goes, I have tried AF Point expansion and zone AF with no success, so far the best I can do is with SPOT

And heres a few other settings

AI Servo Mode
Manual Selection: AF SPOT
C.Fn III-1 AI Servo Tracking Sensitivity – Set to (Slow)
C.Fn III-2 AI Servo 1st/2nd Image Priority – Set to 0 (AF Priority / Tracking Priority)
C.Fn III-3 AI Servo AF Tracking Method – Set to 0 (Main Focus Point Priority)
C.Fn III-4 Lens Drive When AF Impossible – Set to 1 (Focus Search Off)

[inkista]

Also, with continuous shooting, short controlled bursts work better than long spray'n'pray ones. When I'm shooting birds in flight, I rarely burst more than three or four frames at a time.

Also, getting an EF 400mm f/5.6L USM could help you shoot at f/5.6, but that would be really expensive and there's no IS.

Don't be afraid to crop and sharpen in post.


Canon 50D. EF 400mm f/5.6L USM. iso 800, f/5.6, 1/640s.

Mostly, I think your settings are spot on, aside from the iso limiting you aperture and shutter speed wise. I'd also recommend shooting with both eyes open so you can track the bird more easily, and consider learning how to back-button autofocus.

[SQWIB]

Thanks for everyone's input.
So from the responses, I am guessing motion blur due to a slow shutter speed?

Maybe this is a topic meant for another thread but I shot this in Raw also and wanted to know if it is possible to fix motion blur in Digital Photo Professional?

[Doug Sundseth]

RAW helps with dynamic range, white balance, and color gamut if you set it up that way. It doesn't help with motion blur or focus.