Best Camera Settings For Tracking Your Subjects

You like photographing birds, but in tracking their movements, you struggle with camera settings. In this premium video, Outdoor Photography Guide’s David Johnston helps you with that issue.

Because they are often in motion, birds and wild animals are unpredictable. David suggests you use continuous autofocus, which allows you to freeze birds in flight. To avoid camera shake, it also helps if your camera and lens has image stabilization.

You should set your camera to Continuous Shooting. This tells the camera to capture continuous shots as it tracks your subject. Some cameras can take 120 frames per second. You also need to set your camera to a fast shutter speed – minimum, 1/3000 second. David encourages setting your aperture wider than f 8 and bumping up the ISO to 12,000 or higher. In the end, the goal is sharply focused subjects, regardless of image noise.