F/A-18 Hornet

[jlequerica]

Hi Gang,

I would like to get some suggestions on how to improve my limited photographic skills.

I started taking pictures back in June and this picture was my second outing (first taking pictures of moving objects) with a 400 mm lens.

I know I didn't get the entire airplane in the shot, he was pretty close up .

Any hints on how to improve the sharpness of my images. The lens doesn't have IS and I wasn't using a tripod. I was using autofocus and trying to pan and scan. The picture was shot in JPEG, would I get better results with RAW?

EXIF data
Canon EOS Rebel T3i
400 mm
F11.0
Exp 1/1250 sec
ISO 400
5184 x 3456

Thanks for your help
John

[sk66]

I don't really see any significant focus issues at this size. There's a bit of OOF which is probably due to technique/ SS.

Shooting in raw isn't going to help with image sharpness, but your in-camera jpeg sharpening settings might not be where you want it.

[djscott]

Ok, hand hold a 400mm lens and keeping it sharp. What lens was this, is it a zoom or a fixed 400mm. If it's a fixed 400mm, that's a lot of weight to keep steady.

That shutter speed should have been more than enough, a minimum 1/400th at that focal length.

Your auto focus could have been hunting for focus. You can try setting up back button focus on your camera. Some people like it some don't.

What focus mode we you using One Shot, AI Servo? Servo would be constantly trying to keep the subject in focus and if the plane was coming towards you at all closing the distance between you and it, focal plane (no pun intended) is changing.

I would have loved to see this photo with both wings entirely in the shot. But all in all, I think the shot works. It's a little soft but not bad.