So I picked up a 40D and a 400f/5.6 as my poor mans wildlife setup. I have to say I am most impressed. Up until now 99% of my photography has been landscapes, so I'm sure my technique will get better as I go along, but any words of wisdom as to what setting you use or anything like that would be appreciated. I was at ISO 400 for most of these, but I really think I could have been at 200 as it was a very sunny day out. Either way it was a lot of fun.
roberto, I think you want as much shutter speed as you can get for BIF and I tried to look at the info on the last photo but there is none embeded so I am guessing that you may have your EV not quite right as the birds seem a little light and maybe if you didn't try spot metering you could give it a go as you are looseing the whites and I am sure it is due to that bright blue sky. When I first got a new 40D I took it right out of the box set a new battery in it and just changed the fine JPG to Raw and shot from there to see how it looked and it was really fine with very little PP. The seting was standard and the sharpness was at 3 and everything else at 0 and the raws looked great. All I ever needed to do was watch my EV when shooting and on some I changed the WB in the PP just to see the difference and if I liked it I left it. Keep trying
Lou
I have the same set-up as you and am also quite pleased. I agree with Lou about needing as high a shutter speed as possible (our Canons do handle high ISO VERY well!) and you may need to watch your metering and/or histograms in order to retain your highlights. I think your #4 is the best of the bunch. Definitely not bad for a first stab!!
Thanks for all the help. I was shooting most of the day in JPEG, and now regret it. Having never shot with a setup like this I wanted to make sure I didn't miss any shots because my buffer filled up, but 17 RAW shots is a lot more than I thought it would be. As far as my metering goes I didn't have it set to "spot", but I will try that next time. Even at 5.6 my shutter speeds were plenty high. Definitely high enough to drop to ISO down to 200 to help eliminate some noise. Luckily all the guys are only about 45 minutes from my house, so I'll definitely be back there practicing soon.
