Photographing Birds On A Cloudy Day ?

[PhotographyGal]

Hello,
I am visiting a nature reserve tomorrow and the forecast is cloudy and maybe a little rain.
I will be sat in hides for most of the day but for the light what setting should I focus on the most?

Should I stay on shutter speed priority for non-blurry shots or aperture priority for sharper shots?

Any help is great appreciated.
Thanks
Lauren

[RichardTaylor]

Unwanted blurry shots, due to subject or camera motion, are useless.

If the light is very low (and you are not using a flash).
(1) Aperture priority
(2) Maximum ISO
(3) Lens wide open
(4) Take what ever shutter speed you can get.

If the subject is perfectly stationary a tripod will help.

If you find you have light to spare, It is low light and not very low light, then consider reducing your ISO and/or aperture.

You may find this tutorial on exposure helpful.
Exposure (1) A balancing act

[Doug Sundseth]

You need a shutter speed somewhere in the 1/300 to 1/1000 range (smaller birds normally require faster shutter speeds) for birds in flight. Unless you really need to show something besides the bird, go with your widest aperture and push ISO until you get a fast-enough shutter speed. As noted, blurry pictures are useless.

Caveat, for very fast-moving birds, grabbing focus with a long lens and wide aperture can be an exercise in frustration. Depending on the distance, you might be able to zone focus, but that assumes that the birds will stay at about the same distance for most of your shooting time. For most of what I've shot, that assumption wouldn't be valid.

Good luck.

[PhotographyGal]

Okay thanks for your help will try it out tomorrow!

[Doug Sundseth]

Forgot to mention. If you're shooting birds against a daylit sky, It's quite likely that your camera will expose for the sky rather than the bird. You may need to dial in exposure compensation (if you're shooting in A/Av) or "overexpose" to get detail in the bird. In this case, it's likely that the sky will blow out.