Bird Photography

[Abhijit Rao]

Also:
Freezing frame => Higher shutter
Higher shutter => more light
more light => usually widest aperture (unless very bright conditions)

We may not care much about DoF for birding but unless it is very bright you will end up with a wide aperture. And even in bright conditions, you will get higher shutter speeds with the wide aperture, which will improve the chances of sharp photos.

But bright conditions are not challenging in this aspect, are they? It's the lower light which is really challenging.

In lower light to get higher shutter speeds one will need either of the two :
a) wider aperture - for which there is a physical limitation
b) higher ISO - this is our only other param then

So it's a game between noise (higher ISO) or shake (slower shutter speeds).

... and for me, getting the eyes in sharp focus. My camera does not do that for me.

my doubt over aperture priority is this- lets say i am shooting wideopen and yet due to auto iso setting, my shutter won't become fast as i want due to sudden change of condition, then what do i do ?

In Aperture Priority mode when your shutter speed varies, assuming the ISO is manual, changing conditions can be tackled by ISO adjustment. If both shutter speed and ISO are floating you're almost in Auto mode, dependent on the camera's ability to "read the scene".

For any control, you need at least two of the three (SS/A/ISO) to be constant, else your "keeper rate" will fall drastically. You'll get some shots but much fewer than when you're in control.

For bird photography shutter speed is vital, to freeze motion - even static birds move constantly. You need to fix aperture to achieve the correct DOF (else you might get the head in focus and the beak blurred or such like undesirable results). What you can leave floating - especially while panning for Birds in flight, is ISO, because backgrounds change and Auto ISO can compensate.

So, Manual mode with or without Auto ISO is my recommendation for birding. Having said that, some birders I know quite successfully shoot at Aperture priority with a healthy keeper rate. They have developed ways to compensate the lack of a fixed shutter speed using other techniques, but that is another topic.

i agree with you totally, hence i started the topic in the 1st place. for birds, freezing motion is the biggest priority, probably even more than DoF. that dictates that we have Shutter in our control and hence Shutter priority will be more helpful since aperture priority cannot control freezing motion.

My take-

apart from controlling light in a triangle, aperture, iso and shutter have following functions
Shutter- controlling motion, freezing, getting motion blur etc
Aperture- Controlling DoF
ISO- Image quality.

going by this logic for birds , i need motion, then depth and then quality under control.
so either go Full manual with Auto-ISO or then Shutter Priority with Auto-ISO again.

[Abhishek Paranjape]

Continuing on exactly what you said, that the camera cannot give you sharp photos, you have to control it and you can keep it in control by changing the shutter speed yourself. Aperture priority won't allow you to do that directly.
Hence my argument about how why shutter priority or full manual should get preference over aperture priority.

[Abhijit Rao]

Yes indeed. As the aperture is irrelevant (mostly) here, Shutter priority should work better for birding and wildlife. Being primarily a landscape and street photographer I have always used Aperture-priority and I suppose I got used to dealing with shutter indirectly. Let's see if I can remember to try Shutter priority next time birding. :-D.  Interesting discussion.