We take our photo safari guests up in aircraft over Iceland,
Kenya, Tasmania, Kangaroo Island - wherever we possibly can- and the trick is to get a fast enough shutter speed that you
don’t get blurry photos from all the movement and vibrations.
Just how fast a shutter speed you need to use depends on how
much everything’s moving and how much you’re zoomed in,
but from a buffeting, doors-off helicopter, I like to shoot at
around 1/2000s. Shooting from a car with a standard range
lens, you can often get away with perhaps 1/500s. Set it up
just like ‘bird mode’ above, but you probably don’t need the
pre-set overexposure, the continuous drive mode or the multi-
point focus as you should still be able to select your
subject accurately.
‘Leaping Dolphin Mode’
I know they don’t look the same, but as far as I’m concerned,
when shooting from a boat, dolphins (and breaching whales) are
basically birds! They move fast, they can appear from anywhere
at any time, and if you’re a fraction of a second late, they’re
gone. With this in mind, I pretty much use my ‘Bird Mode’ as
explained above, to shoot dolphins. I find you can usually even
leave the exposure-compensation cranked up a little, as the water
and splash are usually bright like the sky.Saving Custom Modes
Once you’ve set up your camera in the normal way, with the
correct mode (for example, Tv mode) and all the settings you
want to save, go into your camera menu, find ‘Custom Shooting
Mode' or 'User Settings’ or a similarly described location. Again,
note that this should not be confused with ‘Custom Functions’
which are for altering defaults and configuring details of your
camera’s operation. After finding it, you can then select ‘Register/
Store/Save Settings’ (or similar), and that’s it. If your camera
lets you store more than one custom mode, you’ll then be asked
which slot to save it into, such as ‘C1’, ‘C2, or ‘C3’. It’s pretty
straight forward.
Tip for using multiple Custom Modes: If your camera lets you
save several custom modes, and they’re accessed by rotating the
camera’s big mode dial on top, it’s a good idea to save your most
common custom mode into the last space (often C3). Why?
Because then you don’t even need to look at which mode you’re
selecting when you need that mode - just twist the mode dial
all the way around until it stops! I keep ‘bird mode’ on my C3,
because it’s the situation that demands the fastest set up time.
Normally I don’t find myself climbing into a helicopter at split-
second notice, so my ‘shooting from chopper mode’ is in C2.62 AUSTRALIANPHOTOGRAPHY.COM AUSTRALIAN PHOTOGRAPHY + DIGITAL JULY 2015
BELOW
Whistling to catch the attention of any nearby wild
African Fish Eagles, the local Kenyan fishermen
throw a fish into the lake - with a bit of local balsa
in its mouth for flotation. Usually, either the eagle is
not interested or the fish sinks, but if an eagle does
swoop in, ‘bird mode’ custom mode greatly improves
your chances of catching the right moment. Canon
EOS-1D X, 200-400mm lens @ 400mm, in-built 1.4x
extender, 1/4000s @ f/8, ISO 1600, handheld from
boat. Curves, levels, minor cropping, vignetting, &
sharpening adjustment in Lightroom CC.RIGHT
Sitting beside the pilot while my Kenyan photo safari
clients shot out the open side of the aircraft, I pointed
out this aesthetic line of migrating wildebeest coming
up beside a tree. I like the simplicity, as they march
single file across the endless expanse of dry grass.
‘Car/helicopter mode’ is ideal for this type of image.
Canon EOS-D X, 100-400mm lens @ 235mm,
1/4000s @ f/5, ISO 1000. Curves, levels, clarity &
minor vignetting adjustment in Lightroom CC.HOW TO Use Custom Modes