36 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
02 TRACK MOVING ANIMALS ACCURATELY
Go into your Canon camera’s Quick menu and change the AF mode to
AI Servo. This mode will keep focus on wherever you’ve placed the active
autofocus point, so long as you are half-pressing the shutter button, or
AF-ON button if you set up back-button focusing (see panel). The middle
AF point is, usually, the most responsive and accurate phase-detect AF
point on DSLRs, but some models have a Zone AF mode that allows you
to set a group of AF points that the camera can switch between to
focus on. This is useful for fast-moving wildlife.01 BANISH THE BLUR
Wild animals aren’t best known for sitting still and posing for pictures, so
quick subjects like squirrels and birds require a few settings to ensure
sharp shots. The first is opening your aperture to a wide value such as
f/2.8 to let in as much available light as possible. Then increase your ISO
until you get a shutter speed of 1/2000 sec or faster. Shooting at such a
speed will reduce the possibility of camera-shake and also freeze the fast
moving subject. Now activate your Continuous High drive mode so you
can take a burst of shots in quick succession.WINTERWILDLIFE
Capture charmingly cheeky
squirrels with these tips
Secret
squirrels
ed squirrels look cute and
adorable all-year round, but
they look particularly vibrant in
winter when their alluring coats
make them pop out from a
snowy white backdrop.
Unsurprisingly though, they’re very fast...
so for this technique we’ll be covering
how to maintain a pin-sharp focus on
unpredictable subjects and optimize the
autofocus performance for moving
subjects by customizing your Canon
DSLR, or mirrorless, camera’s settings.
Due to declining numbers, red
squirrels can only be seen in Northern
parts of the UK and small pockets of the
South, or Northern Ireland, so venture to
a wildlife park in one of these places
where they’re known to be regularly
sighted. If that’s not practical, the skills
you’ll learn here can be easily transferred
to any other fast moving animals such as
owls, foxes mallards, robins and so on.R
Flying squirrel! Set up your
Canon’s focusing modes
for tack-sharp action shots