What am I doing wrong

[DHA]

Went to Wings and Wheels today, granted it was my first time shooting planes in the air but pretty much all of my aerial shots came out crap.

E.g.



I had the camera in shutter priority with continuous focus on. ISO was 400 or 800 (800 in this case). White balance set for cloudy day. But the photos are not sharp at all. Is it a) my technique or b) my lens? (I am using a 55-200mm and it was at 200mm in this photo)

Cheers

Edited by DHA on Sunday 30th August 20:15

[Gemm]

First of all, white balance is nothing to do with sharpness. It could be a mixture of various aspects. Shutter speed could be too slow; AF may not be fast enough; It could well be your technique, etc. If you post the full EXIF, it may be easier to analyse it.

[SamHH]

It's hard to see anything from such a small photo; it looks perfectly sharp at that resolution.

Anyway, the two main culprits you'd expect for a "not sharp enough" photo are too slow a shutter speed or mis-focussing.

What shutter speed were you using? Using shutter priority is no more likely to result in a sharp photo than using any other mode; you still need to select a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the motion.

As for focussing, you're using the correct mode, but one possible area for improvement is to set the camera to only take a photo when correct focus is achieved. If your camera can do this, it'll probably be called "focus priority" or something like that and will be able to be used in conjunction with continuous focus. This won't allow your camera to focus any faster or more accurately though. That is down to the performance of the camera and the lens. You can help it along a bit with good technique but sometimes you will be limited by what the equipment can do.

If neither the shutter speed nor the focussing are the problem, then the optical ability of the lens is the next thing to consider. However, if you're happy with it's performance when photographing stationary subjects, it's probably not this: it won't suddenly get worse when you photograph a moving subject.

[DHA]

Shutter speed was 1/250. I had the camera on continual focus mode, but was in continuous shooting mode - could that be the issue? The camera didn't have time to refocus for every shot?

Edited by DHA on Sunday 30th August 21:23

[lewis1]

could also be the points of focus.

[SamHH]

DHA said:

Shutter speed was 1/250. I had the camera on continual focus mode, but was in continuous shooting mode - could that be the issue? The camera didn't have time to refocus for every shot?

Edited by DHA on Sunday 30th August 21:23

Could be either of those things. Try experimenting with different settings and see what happens.

[Disco_Biscuit]

Probably a case of to high iso speed and to slow shutter speed, what kit are you using? if its entry level stuff with kit lenses your proabably asking to much from it.

Read Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson it will help you understand what your trying to achieve with your camera.

[M-J-B]

FWIW I think that's a pretty good shot!

Hope you don't mind me adding to the thread, I too was at W & W and had a pretty poor day - the light was awful and I struggled to get any decent results.

All taken with a 50D, 70-200 + 1.4x converter.



Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/14.0
Focal Length: 98 mm
Exposure: 0.00
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire



Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 270 mm
Exposure: +1.20
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

Mind you, there was a bit of car porn about also worth looking at



It makes me appreciate yet again, that you (I mean me!) can spend a small fortune on equipment, but if you don't know what your doing you may as well not bother!

More of my day here

Edited by M-J-B on Monday 31st August 10:12

[M-J-B]

FWIW I think that's a pretty good shot!

Hope you don't mind me adding to the thread, I too was at W & W and had a pretty poor day - the light was awful and I struggled to get any decent results.

All taken with a 50D, 70-200 + 1.4x converter.



Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 125 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: +1/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire



Camera: Canon EOS 50D
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 270 mm
Exposure: +1.20
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire

Mind you, there was a bit of car porn about also worth looking at



It makes me appreciate yet again, that you (I mean me!) can spend a small fortune on equipment, but if you don't know what your doing you may as well not bother!

More of my day here

Edited by M-J-B on Monday 31st August 10:13

[Gnits]

Worth seeing if it is the lens - some zooms do not focus that well at all!

[DHA]

Shot on my Nikon D90 using a 55-200mm lens. I suspect it might have been a shutter speed/ISO/my crapness combo.

I don't think it is the lens as here is an example of it at 200mm on a stationary object and it looks pretty sharp to me.

[M-J-B]

I'm sure it was just a really dull day didn't help anybody!

I'd like to see some of the better photo's pre processed just to confirm that PS is the photographers friend