Your essential D-SLR settings

Wildlife

Shooting twitchy wildlife means faster

shutter speeds to freeze them in motion

heres nothing more annoying

than capturing what you
think is a great action shot
of wildlife in your garden or at your
local park, only to find that, when
you get home to take a closer look
on your computer, your subject isnt
in sharp focus. The key to capturing
successful wildlife shots is to
understand the behaviour and
habitat of your subject, and a little
patience also goes a very long way.

Tv mode
W

After all, the best wildlife shots

are rarely taken on the spur of the
moment. Do your research and go
prepared to camp out in camouflage
for a few hours. To ensure youve got
shake-free shots, we begin with the
vital go-to settings on your D-SLR to
help you capture winning shots. For
sports photography, you can use
similar settings and techniques.

hen shooting moving subjects you need to take control

of the shutter speed by setting Shutter Priority (Tv)
mode; your camera will then select an appropriate aperture to
capture a balanced exposure, allowing you to concentrate on
the composition. You can capture pin-sharp shots by freezing
movement with a fast shutter speed, or set a slower shutter
speed and pan the camera to track your subject so they
remain focused while the background turns into a blurry
streak, helping give the impression of movement. As a rule,
your shutter speed should be at least as fast as the reciprocal
of your effective focal length so 1/200 sec for a 200mm
lens. But if using an APS-C-sensor camera, dont forget the
1.6x crop factor, which would mean 1/320 sec (200x1.6).

34 | PhotoPlus November 2014

A telephoto lens is vita

l for
capturing wildlife, but
even if
your subject is station
ary youll
need a fast shutter spe
ed to
counteract camera sha
ke

AI Servo AF mode
P

Ben Hall

hotographing wildlife on the go can be challenging, but

luckily your Canon camera has an AF mode designed
specifically for tracking those twitchy creatures for accurate
focusing. Switch to AI Servo mode and line
up your AF points over your subject and
half-press the shutter button to start
focus tracking and press fully to
take a photo when your subject is
in the right place. Unfortunately in
this mode the camera wont beep
and the confirmation light in the
viewfinder will not light when you
achieve focus, however, each time
you do half-press the shutter button
the AF point youre using will flash when
you achieve initial focus. Bear in mind that
when using AI Servo AF, the central AF point is the most
sensitive and accurate, regardless of what lens youre using.

High-speed
drive mode
A

I Servo mode goes hand-in-hand with

the burst mode on your Canon camera
to fire off shots in quick succession. Many
D-SLRs have a High-speed Continuous drive
mode in addition to the regular Continuous
mode; from the 700D, which fires up to five
frames-per-second (fps), to the new 7D Mk II
with a whopping 10fps. Whatever the burst
rate, having a sequence of shots to choose
from gives you a better chance of success!

Wildlife
& sports
settings
1 Exposure mode
Tv
2 ISO
400
3 AF setup
AF area selection
Standard
4 Picture style
5 White balance
Daylight
6 Metering mode Centre-weighted Average
7 Image quality
JPEG
8 AF mode
AI Servo
9 Drive mode
High-speed Continuous

Which lens?
Canon EF 300mm
f/4L IS USM
For wildlife or sports photography, youll need a
long telephoto lens around the 300-500mm range,
to enable you to fill the frame while keeping your
distance from your subject to avoid scaring them off.
A long focal length also compresses the perspective,
creating beautifully diffused backgrounds that will
really make your subject stand out. Whether your budget can cater for a super-fast pro-level f/2.8 lens
or a more affordable f/4 lens, using it at its widest aperture will enable you to use a fast shutter speed,
which is ideal for shooting wildlife on the move. When shooting handheld, lenses with built in stabiliser
will let you use a shutter speed three or four stops slower than is usually safe to avoid camera shake.
Teamed with the widest available aperture it gives you the advantage of being able to shoot in low light
without having to increase your ISO too much, therefore keeping noise to a minimum.

PhotoPlus November 2014 | 35