Matt Kloskowski: Fast Action, Razor Sharp Bird Photography |

[@anaphylaxis2548]

I frequently click "Auto" to see how I like it. Sometimes I keep it, sometimes I don't. I'll bet that many photographers do this too. Thank you for all of the useful information and beautiful images that you shared.

[@paramisdundee3717]

Thank you very much! Shutter speed was a huge help for me, saved me a lot of trial an error. Auto ISO = game changer! Embrace the chaos, great advice!

[@BandH]

Glad it was helpful for you!

[@swarupbanerjee6720]

This is one of the best videos I have seen … not only for wildlife photography, but also for photography in general …. Matt explains thy ‘why’s’ of things … why we do certain things the way we do ….

[@billfortney7028]

Nice job, young man! Matt is not only a world class photographer, but a world class teacher as well! I’m proud of you Matt!

[@peterb.7437]

Thanks B&H and Matt for this wonderful video, you’re one of my favorite photographers/instructors. A lot of KZbinrs/wildlife photographers spend too much on gears/content but I love it that you concentrate on teaching and providing tips. For others is it always bragging what they have or gears

[@davidhardy879]

Very well done sir ! One of the most straight forward and quantitatively HELPFUL seminars I have watched !! Thank you , Matt and thank you , B&H !

[@boatman222345]

Excellent advice! And as always given in a modest, good hearted, and crystal clear style.

[@danielattias1525]

Amazing video, Thank you Matt, please make some more .

[@wildescapebybrij]

Matt is brutally honest in his answers. I loved it. I have personally faced many similar situations during photography and absolutely agree with his point of view. There is a lot to learn from this video. Thank you.

[@BandH]

Glad you found it helpful and honest!

[@SkylarkFields]

One of the most helpful videos I have seen, thank you!

[@Aliquot1914]

I prefer back button focus for the one reason that I can hold the camera alot more stable when composing a shot which eliminates camera shake and my photos are razor sharp

[@Jonathantuba]

As a more elderly photographer, I appreciated the comment about using stool to get down low. I must try that out. Must also try Topaz DeNoise

[@axeslinger43]

One of the best tutorials I have ever seen

[@DmitriDonRU]

QR code has been disabled for some reason

[@Methodical2]

@10:12. Glad someone acknowledged this.

[@robertthomas9043]

It good to see one of your presentations again. I forget just how good your are at making things make sense. Much appreciated.

[@thethirdman225]

Great tutorial, Matt. I'm so glad you brought up this myth of needing an f/2.8 lens because "you have to get the background out of focus". Next thing everyone is arguing about the out of focus effects of the lens instead of what kind of bird it is... I just ordered a 200-600 (I have an old A7R, which is still amazing and an A7 III) and this is really motivating me to get cracking on wildlife photography.

[@stevemcmillan2213]

You are missing the point somewhat. It's not always the gear but the person behind the camera that makes the difference. It also helps when you have a 6k camera body with a lightning frame rate.

[@thethirdman225]

@@stevemcmillan2213 So it _is_ about the gear then. Look, I’m a retired videographer and my takeaway from this was the position of the camera: up sun and upwind and I have already used that to good effect. Learning to trust the gear is new to me but it works. But long-winded discussions about background blur are anathema to photography. They discourage people from trying. Not that that has any affect on me. Decades of experience tells me that it’s not that important and it’s better to just get a shot than it is to not shoot something because the background won’t have sufficient blur. Again, the position of the camera is more important than a $20,000 lens. But learning to trust the gear this way… that’s new to me. I have always tried to compensate for my lack of trust.

[@jackbrumby1892]

Thanks a lot, Matt. I use a Nikon Z9. Best thing for me with birds are the Function Buttons. Using Back button focus, F1 set to 3D tracking; F2 set to Single point focus; F3 set to FX/DX switch. Cheers.

[@MythicalVigilante]

Great video. My skills improved ten fold after watching. Thank you.

[@Allen_Thayer]

Thank you! Your links don't work any longer though to the pdf guide

[@davidligon6088]

Your shots are excellent, at video resolution. I shoot with an A7RIV (no Bird Eye AF, of course). If I shoot using the smallest aperture and Zone AF, on the 100-400 or 200-600, most of my shots have sharp backs or wings with fuzzy eyes, unless the bird is pretty far away. I find f8 or small spot focus on the eye, with tracking, pretty much the only thing that works for non-flying birds, or birds in trees. You might address when, and when not to use tracking mode. It took me a while to figure out it does not work for BIF. Finally, I also use Topaz. Some tips from my experience. 1) Lightroom automatically adds sharpening to my AWR images, which introduces and accentuates noise - turn Lightroom sharpening off before using Topaz. 2) Topaz has a tendency to add artifacts in textures, like feathers, hair, or grass that are not unidirectional (parallel), or in areas like sand that it thinks are noise. You really need to scour the whole image to detect this and either reduce the Denoise amount or change the Denoise method. 3) I find Low Light works best for feathers without making them look plastic and maintaining detail the majority of the time.

[@Youtube_Race]

Best lecture

[@QVL75]

Awesome video, Matt. Thanks!

[@gregm6894]

Very informative video with a lot of good tips. I shoot with the Olympus E-M1x and one feature I really like is that I have all my BIF settings programmed to the 'Custom 1(C1)' setting on my Mode Dial. Then I have programmed a 'Function' Button on the back to toggle 'C1' on and off. So, for example, if I am out at a pond doing a shot of a dragonfly, and am in Aperture Priority, ISO 200, single point AF, Single frame Drive mode, etc., and I see a Green Heron who's about to snag a fish, I simple press my Function Button and all my setting instantly change to C-AF w/Bird Tracking, Shutter speed priority @ 1/2500 Sec, Auto ISO, Silent Shutter @ 18 FPS, 'Pro Capture' etc. -- it's an awesome feature.

[@nh6405]

Thank you for such a great video information. Love your video. Can we save this to a custom menu?

[@sarahbatsford4791]

Many thanks Matt. Just starting bird photography so your video was such a great help.

[@BandH]

Glad this video helped you get out there and photograph!

[@thethirdman225]

3:25 What focus mode is that, please Matt? I'm guessing this isn't available in the A7 III...? An A1 function?

[@hbarwick1]

HI Matt. I enjoy your teaching on bird photography. I purchased your composition series and am going thru that. Have you tested the new sony a6700? IF so would recommend for hobbyist that enjoys birds in flight ect upgrading to this camera from my current sony a7riv ( I love it its just file sizes are hugh) thks

[@shupingyin8082]

Great video. Very helpful

[@thomaslablanc8900]

Pleasure to meet you at Fort DeSoto. Saw you shooting into the sun and thought this guy must be a rookie. Found out you teach and are a great photographer. Talking to you I found out about your courses. Then you let me use your A1. Wow! Thanks for your giving your knowledge to us rookies. My photos are really looking good.

[@rubenzamora8764]

Awesome video It's very informative. Does anyone know how can I get the pdf book?

[@robertharvey2580]

Back button AF is still ideal with the R7 (and probably other camera bodies that struggle with focus pulsing) when using subject tracking.

[@brianelbers4755]

It’s the difference of understanding how this works if you want to learn more watch Simon dtremont he explains correctly what it does don’t think the teacher in this video does made me laugh to hear that when he needs more megapixels he uses photoshop , you can’t increase megapixels after an exposure is taken this was towards the end of the video

[@robertharvey2580]

@@brianelbers4755 Simon’s channel is great! Like a lot of a folks, I’ve learned a ton from him.

[@MattKloskowski]

@@brianelbers4755 Hi. I use Photoshop to increase pixel count when necessary for printing? Why is that bad? I've got 48 inch prints and not one person has ever noticed an issue with them.

[@NurIsmailMohammed]

Excellent Matt!

[@sarahmitchell4729]

Superb video.

[@neildash8371]

trying to find the Bird photography tips PDF Field guide to buy it online. Can't find it anywhere.

[@ronaldrappaport6197]

Thanks much, I learned so much listening to you . But now I have to rethink everything,

[@onlyonestinger]

I use a Sony A9 , I love the electronic Shutter. great video as When my birds are in the sky I use Wide focus zone and eye detection, when they get in trees I finally realized I needed Zone focus area. The only issue with using Auto ISO is the noise introduced into the shot.

[@kropaganda]

The best explanation I saw on yt thank you so much!!!

[@grega9220]

As always.. good stuff Matt.

[@christianjforbes]

Life sure was different before a roll of film could be exhausted in a few seconds and focus was all but guaranteed.

[@lynnekrueger9056]

In my effort to up my wildlife/bird photography game I hopped on You Tube. Your Lightning hockey intro sucked me right in. Go Bolts! As a resident of STP I made my way to North Beach at Fort DeSoto a few times only to be really disappointed in my photos. This video really filled in the blanks for me. I can't wait to head there again to put your advice in motion.

[@Tastewithnewdrinks]

Great review

[@TheAragonProduction]

EXCELLENT Video! Learned a lot today from you. Thanks!

[@harrycampbell2668]

Absolutely brilliant just subscribed to your channel 👏👏

[@BandH]

Thanks for the sub! (:

[@lbrophy14]

Hi Matt what allowance do you make for the light you are shooting in?

[@MarkStevensC]

Thank you for excellent discussion! I pulled out my D850 with Tamron 150-600mm and tried out what you mentioned. No softness with images captured!

[@thomaseriksson6256]

What about with lens shall I get a 400mmF2.8 or a 500mmF5.6 for birds and animal photo?

[@Mangolite]

Hi Matt, I still have a Photoshop T-shirt at NAPP in Florida that you and Scott Kelby signed over a decade ago.

[@stevemcmillan2213]

The link doesn't work for me, it says it's not secure.

[@joselima7655]

Super useful, thank you!

[@mikechapman1280]

Is the bird tips link still working? Says scan has reached its limits? Thanks for great talk.

[@BandH]

Here is the direct link: www.mattk.photos/birdtips

[@mikechapman1280]

@@BandH Thanks.

[@R8135003]

Great presentation as alway Matt. Be lucky stay safe.

[@memelissa2]

Loved this video!! Great info! Thanks!!

[@sutv6754]

When Calculating Shutter Speed you say 1 over the focal length. I have a M43 with a 100 to 400 Panasonic lens. So would I use the full frame equivalent from my calculation. I mostly zoom in all the way so that is 400mm but in full frame terms 800. That's my question. Which number should I use to calculate my shutter speed starting point. Thanks

[@lbrophy14]

I’d like to know this too - thanks

[@memcrew1]

The sensor size doesn’t matter.

[@sutv6754]

@@memcrew1 LOL. There was indeed a question in my question. So what number will I use when I do the 1 over the focal length?

[@memcrew1]

@@sutv6754 you are supposed to double the focal range. 70mm=1/140; 135mm=1/270 etc

[@sutv6754]

@@memcrew1 I got that part so I understand. So if I'm shooting with my 42.5 with my micro 3/4 lens I'd use a shutter of 85. I think I got it now. Thank you.

[@thegroove2000]

So its OK to get a darker exposure, then raise it in post?.

[@snap-n-shoot]

You can recover detail form darker shadowy areas better than blown out over exposed images which can lose detail.

[@just1smothie]

If you shoot in AI-Servo with a Canon and set it to zone while using back button focus, your spots will follow the subject, I tried to find the course online, but it says 404 not found. Thank you for the tips, it was pretty informative.

[@firdausyusoff3784]

useful info ❤❤❤

[@MichaelTerndrup]

Thank you for this always love learning

[@JstnW]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[@snap-n-shoot]

I would only question one thing. Sure sharpness is important but shutter speed is not the only thing that determines sharpness. Even the most advanced lenses have a sweetspot Aperture sharpness. Being fully open is not the sharpest Aperture of a lens. It is usually around 1-2 stops down from wide open even a bit more for some. My 600mm F4 Nikon lens is sharpest at around F7.1. not at F4. I will shoot it at F7.1 with a slightly faster shutter speed and higher ISO and always get sharper out of the camera images than at F4. I will use F4 if in a forest or woods where I need the light and to get the shot. Every lens I have tested and Calibrated is sharpest around the 2 stops down from open.

[@pappalamma]

Yep, it's not about the Sony "deliberately" making their lenses less sharp at the wide open, it's more about physics, I would say. Sigh (to the video, to be clear).

[@GAGANSINGH-td1kb]

Great Video. Thanks

[@surfnow.]

magnificent

[@Kit2Canada]

Excellent, thank you!

[@DavidTpitCabrera]

Awesome tips! Thank you for sharing 👏

[@BoulderSoccerChannel]

I'm a beginner and far from expert...very far. Auto ISO might be a good alternative for even lit subjects. Snow will require to use exposure compensation or the whites will all look grey. Am I correct?

[@gregm6894]

You are partially correct. Your in-camera reflectance meter will bias toward under exposure in most snowy scenes, but that is true in any 'auto exposure' mode you are in, regardless of ISO setting -- thus you will generally have to do some positive exposure compensation, regardless of ISO setting.

[@mpollard3874]

Great info. One question I didn’t hear asked. Do you shoot in JPG or RAW? And does that make a difference in the sharpness of the photo. I always shoot JPG but wondered if I should try RAW. Thanks, Maxx

[@gregm6894]

I am a JPG shooter also. I would say that you need to answer your own question. Experiment with various shots by simply shooting RAW + JPG, process them both to the best of your ability and see if there is a discernible difference based on your most demanding output criteria -- i.e. large prints, web/shared images, etc. For me personally, I have learned to enhance JPG files to a point where I can't see a noticeable difference, even in large prints. For years I shot corporate conferences where my clients wanted either on-site upload of files, or incredibly short turnaround time on prints -- so I was forced to shoot JPG's to meet demands. RAW files became redundant and ended up in the trash bin. Clearly RAW files give you to most to work with, and over sharpening JPG's will create artifacts, so you have to be careful -- but the solution is to get it right at capture.

[@mpollard3874]

@@gregm6894 Thanks for your input. Maxx

[@ekevanderzee9538]

Jpg follows from raw. There is no way a photo will be worse in raw than in jpg. Youbwill just have to tweak yourself. Only things jpgs are good for are speed, "proof" of unedited stuff like news, size and less editing yourself.

[@brianelbers4755]

Raw is like a negative jpg is a formatted image you can only make minor adjustments in photoshop on jpg photos when shooting in raw you can make lots of adjustments in Lightroom try shooting in both and compare your exposures then take them into Lightroom and you can see the difference on what you can adjust you have more range in raw

[@sprayhawk808]

Such a timely vid for me. EOS R5 is 1 month new to me (from a 5Div) and I'm cutting my teeth on it. Looks like I'm going to try a slightly different approach this weekend at the lake!

[@Mpactpics]

Thank you.

[@mikek1681]

Great video of course, and thanks Matt. One thing you didn't talk about -- DOF. At 600mm, there isn't much. I'm shooting a 600/f/4 with a 2x tele, so the camera (Canon) stops down to f/8. DOF is less than an inch, so I have to go to f/11 before I can hope to get the whole bird reasonably sharp. Any suggestions?

[@BandH]

Please e-mail us: [e-mail] >Mark

[@ekevanderzee9538]

Less than an inch? It depends on the distance to the subject. And long distance is why you have the 1200 mm on. At 50 meters, the DOF ar f8 is 70 cm. And 50 meters is not far away. There's an app for that.

[@ConcealedWeapon]

Some people with lots of money get the latest and greatest without needing it or understanding how to use it. I'd recommend get rid of the extender and master the lens alone, you're using your lens as a macro.

[@mikek1681]

Huh? We're talking about a 600mm here.@@ConcealedWeapon

[@mikek1681]

Yes....thanks. The DOF Calculator says 7 inches. @@ekevanderzee9538

[@VR360gamezome]

Super thanks for sharing

[@pierrelaviolette670]

I’m pretty advanced but learned some new stuff anyway, thanks for sharing

[@PaulMoorePhotography]

Thanks Matt and B&H for this. I generally use Tv mode for my wildlife but having watched this I think I'll change. It answered some questions that I been asking myself for a while now ... 😉👍

[@krisztiannagyszeder1095]

I'm have A99 M2 with 70-400ssmg2 lens I'm struggling take sharp images with or without tripod or fast shutter speed 4000/s I'm getting give up

[@Jimmy_Cavallo]

💥 Out of all due respect. Sincerely…. 3:20 based on my gear and my shooting technique this to me is cheating. I’m not used to seeing a mirrorless camera and that focus locking and tracking feature. At this point it’s what I call “spray and pray” by holding the shutter down at that ultra high rate per second and taking a 50-70 frame burst in only a few seconds. There has to be a keeper out of that many shots of one moment. I hardly ever shoot in continuous and if I do I’m holding the shutter down for maybe 2-3 frames then waiting for another moment to capture. I’m shooting with a Nikon D7200 and a Tamron 150-600 G2. Many times I choose a single focus point (1 dot) because the less focus points the faster it locks on and if I don’t hold that dot on the subject I’m getting rocks or trees in focus. I come from the film days where the mindset was “one shot one kill” when pressing the shutter expecting to get it right every time. In just that one moment that I pointed out you would have blown through 2 rolls of 36. I guess I need to switch to a mirrorless and just keep the subject anywhere in the frame and allow the focus tracking to dart around and do all of the work as I fire off 20 frames per second. In 63 frames I’m sure I’ll have at least one keeper. I’ve spent all day, about 6-7 hours at a place called Conowingo dam in Maryland where eagles are swooping down all day and latching onto fish and flying off. Sometimes another eagle would latch onto the fish in air hanging upside down in air in an attempt to steal the fish. By the time the day was over I shot about 220 - 280 images. “One shot one kill” coming from a guy that must keep his eye on the ball or else go home with a bunch of misses and I have no interest in having a bunch of 12 TB drives to house a bunch of 1800 frame outings. Continuous focus lock… takes all of the skill out of being a shooter. That opening eagle shot had the most clutter free background so that focus tracking feature had the easiest job of locking on and tracking those two eagles in air. I’m thinking that you should not have shown the viewfinder screen because it showed how automated it is to shoot with a mirrorless with that focus lock and follow feature at 2000 frames per second bursts.

[@AlexGac]

With respect to you sir, your comment is the kind of reply that discourages new entrants to photography. There is certainly nothing wrong with taking one photo and earning one perfect image-- indeed, that's certainly worth celebrating! But, the days in the darkroom have past, and the methods for achieving great images have changed. No one will stop you from practicing the legacy ways of photography, but there's no reason to disparage modern methods.

[@Jimmy_Cavallo]

@@AlexGac I thank you for sharing your thoughts. I know many people personally who are avid wildlife photographers. A couple of them are Sony shooters and I’ve had deep conversations with them. The one constant thing that I have personally found out about them is that they all blast away in continuous shutter mode and go home with roughly 1 - 2000 images after an outing. I’ve never said this directly to them but that’s what I refer to as “spray and pray”. We’ve talked briefly and it seems that what they refer to as “keepers” is anywhere to equal to what I call my keepers to less than. I’ve been shooting digital for over 18 years now so as a professional portrait photographer the digital world is not new to me and even compared to my studio shooter friends I still find that I shoot less images per session than them. Again. It all goes back to my film days where the film and developing costs where a factor unlike now where it’s nothing more than hard drive space so I’m driven to make every shot count. Young people now know nothing about the film days so they just blast away. I’m actually hoping that my words are offering enlightenment to new budding shooters to sort of follow suit to my philosophy of shooting. “One shot one kill”. I love that line from the movie Sniper… Peace. And happy shooting and make them all count. All “keepers”.

[@ekevanderzee9538]

Cheating? Are there rules? Most people just want results.

[@Jimmy_Cavallo]

@@ekevanderzee9538 blast off 287 frames of one scene and I’m sure you’ll come home with one keeper. That’s just not my style and that takes very little skill to do so.

[@ekevanderzee9538]

@@Jimmy_Cavallo sure. When you usebwords like “ heating” that comes across that you think something is unfair or against some rules that exost spmewhere. This is just a choice. On his part and on yours.

[@aryansindia7615]

Great video 😌

[@eccotecc7499]

Hi Matt, Great presentation...I'm wondering if I missed your thoughts regarding the catch light in a bird's eye. Thanks again for a very informative presentation.

[@remingtonjohn4727]

Hi Matt, I know this is all about shooting birds and such, I'm curious, would these settings for birds also work for shooting rodeos and/or any sports related activities? You also mentioned that you shoot with a mirrorless camera, do you shoot camera RAW or JPEG? (I shoot camera RAW. I was amazed at how many FPS you were getting when the birds were dancing around fighting each other.) Yesterday, I went to a rodeo and got over 2000 pictures and when i went to edit them, I couldn't figure out why 420 shots were out of focus, so I went searching the settings for my Nikon D750 and I had inadvertently set my camera to AF-S priority and to live mode. It should have been AF-C and not in Live mode. If I could, I'd probably buy a Nikon Z9 Mirrorless Camera (CDN $6999.99) as I want to shoot an 8-second ride (Bronc, Bareback, Saddle Bronc, etc) and my Nikon D750 will only shoot 5 FPS for about 4 seconds before it has to rebuffer. BTW, awesome video, I learned so much...

[@thegroove2000]

My camera just cried looking at those high iso numbers. I need another camera body ha ha.

[@phanxquang]

Do you shoot raw?

[@JGZphotography]

Bird photography is a lot of fun, but good modern tools are important. Today's mirrorless cameras have faster on-point tracking focus keener than the DSLRs. For those shooting older DSLRs, the presentation affirms that equipment must be upgraded to newest technologies, otherwise you might be adressing the wrong crowd on improving their photography keepers, though it is important that the exposure triangle is understood when shooting in all Manual mode. Auto ISO in Manual mode is often recommended, just depends what controls you want to give up. Everyone wants to know camera settings, but the setting are very different for different situations. Understanding the exposure triangle is a must-know first, then focus settings, and imprtantly the coordinated use of the back-focus button.

[@nordic5490]

As high iso shooting becomes normal with newer cameras and denoising software, consider this: 1 - If your camera shot clean to iso 1M would you even consider iso ? No, of course you wouldnt, you would leave it on auto in the field. You would set the shutter speed and apeture to create the look you were after. Leave your iso on auto, but, keep an eye on it - there are practical limits. 2 - plenty of pro birders advise that back button focus is not desirable for small fast moving birds. I shoot tonnes of dragon flys in flight,and would never consider back button focus. Back to 1, there is no way I would shoot dragonflys in flight with manual iso. They only have to change positipn slightly, and the light has changed.

[@JGZphotography]

@@nordic5490 First to consider, ISO 1000000? I agree on auto ISO during outdoor daylight. For very late twilight evening, set for the desired exposure triangle, even use bracketing for stacking images for stills, not in flight. I have my back-button set for focus+tracking on my mirrorless Canon R3. Maybe not so good for dragonflies and songbirds in flight, but works well on large birds in smooth flight, like geese or the Thunderbirds. Older DSLRs don't have the faster focus and tracking technologies, so this adds to the difficulty in using back focus when using small AF zones. Different models of cameras will have their limitations, and the person holding the camera must learn the skills for tracking birds in flight.

[@memcrew1]

@@JGZphotography DSLR’s don’t have fast focus and tracking? Tell that to the guys shooting birds/wildlife for years before the mirrorless cams became a thing.

[@JGZphotography]

@@memcrew1 While not as keen as mirrorless. My R3s outperforms my 1DX2, which has fast focus point switching using a large AF zone, but the eye-tracking on the R3 and other mirrorless cams now raises eyebrows to higher heights.

[@RalfWeyer]

Great video with lots of valuable information 👍. The only part I’d beg to differ is the back button AF. I’m only into photography since a few years, so I don’t come from the film era. But I still find back button AF very useful, since it allows me to focus on my subject and even when either the subjects or I’m moving I don’t have to worry neither about accidentally taking a photo or losing AF. But I know this is completely personal preference, so to each their own 😉

[@sh8736]

I like it on occasions too and will disable the shutter button from focus as I’ve found otherwise when I press the shutter button it un focuses, but it depends, if it’s a small bird it’s useful an aircraft not so much. Also for dance I find it easier to get the focus locked on with back button and follow the dancer maybe for minutes before taking a shot, too easy with the shutter release button to take multiple pictures and fill the buffer. I also use the crop button on the high res camera bodies. The bird eye auto focus works better on a smaller area and some times I don’t want the large file size. Wish Sony had the raw file size selector like Nikon does 😀

[@sarahbatsford4791]

I always use back button & never had a problem with it 😁

[@austinjk24]

Nailed it , after a string of a couple hundred photos .. ha ha

[@jeffwatson5909]

I recently bought a Canon R 7. I enjoy wildlife photography and just getting into bird photography since my camera will be able to shoot moving birds. I have primarily been shooting whitetail deer with my older 100-400 mm 5.6 lens. Thanks very much for your very informative video. This is the best bird photography video I have seen!

[@ibp2007]

Are razor sharp photos sharper that pin sharp photos?

[@ekevanderzee9538]

They are sharper along the edges, not ust the eye.

[@memcrew1]

I think they’re different terms for the same thing.

[@selianboy8508]

Emperor's New Clothes comes to mind when watching this video... does not anyone else see the CRONIC quality of the images shown throughout this video... am I the only one who worries about the chromatic aberration in pretty much EVERY photo Matt shows? I trust (and personally believe btw) that this is all about KZbin compression and all that. But the quality of ALL the images shown simply makes me realise why I do not use Sony cameras! Holy Maloney... the quality is absolutely awful!!! Edit: having now watched the entirety of this video, quite honestly, the quality of all the images is absolutely appalling! If you are wondering, after 40 years of professional photography, I really do know what I am talking about... with one caveat - KZbin compression! Even though the chromatic abortion has absolutely nothing to do with compression of images. Edit 2: at 43:14 (and this is one of the better ones) the brilliantly timed shot of the eagle is destroyed by the quality of the image... Emperor's New Clothes! Edit 3: 47:58 back-button focusing... what absolute rubbish Matt talks about! Sorry, but BBF is almost MANDATORY as a technique. Focus and recompose... what absolute tripe! THAT is what we USED to do before we had BBF. Matt is absolutely correct at 49:20 as the "entire industry" is correct! But to give Matt some credit... he is absolutely correct in saying 49:26 that "you can't go wrong in using it [BBF]." However, you can go very wrong if you do not! PARTICULARLY since at 49:08 he actually demonstrates BBF with his thumb! Does Matt realise that his thumb is not a finger?

[@tomveilleux9325]

You cannot believe that a Sony system is responsible for the purple you see in the video. I have been shooting Sony for years and the purple is easily compensated for in a compensated jpg or via post-processing of a raw file. I shoot BIF and never use BBF. Why not? Because the birds do not necessarily stay in the same focal plane if you are tracking them for anything longer than a take-off. The use of AF-C (continuous) during a burst mode works well to keep the moving subject in focus as the focal plane changes. You sound like you would have reservations about using an AF lens too.

[@ZX-6R]

How is it possible to do presentations like that and show images with enormous chromatic aberations on every picture???

[@juhichouhan8798]

It has all what i wanted to know! So nicely related to the experience and struggles of photographers who are still learning. Thank you for this video 🙏

[@adam6727]

I think there's something wrong with my camera. These birds look just as sharp as any other birds I've ever seen.

[@marvinspates924]

I really enjoy Matt's presentation! I have seen a lot of his videos about photoshop! Being a Sony shooter myself I understand a lot of what he was talking about. Lol I live in Tampa, I have never bump into him in person at Fort DeSoto! It's just a matter of time! Thank you Matt, and thank you B&H!!!!👍👍👍

[@randomstuff53078]

Sometimes the lowest F stop number isn't always the sharpest for your lens

[@nordic5490]

Correct. Most lenses - even my RF100-500MM, are sharper by stopping down a couple of notches, eg, for me, stop down from f7.1 to f9. Also, stop down a bit so more of the bird is in focus

[@thegroove2000]

So true. Each camera and lens is different. Mine gets sharper around f4 and depending on the focal length.

[@snap-n-shoot]

Yup. On average the sharpest aperture is around 2 stops down from wide open edge to edge.

[@ekevanderzee9538]

Yes. But... the gain from stopping down one stop has to be compensated by doubling your shutter. Att these action speeds, that more than negates the benefit.

[@JoeS5263]

Well, it's been a year since this video came out. So he didn't know about the S5 II, or the G9 II.

[@JoeS5263]

I should have said "Excellent video!" even though a year old.

[@whatmeworry2006]

Go Rangers!

[@leonardbertaux6897]

Wow, I’ve never seen birds sit so still……….

[@SolamenteVees]

Me, 1 second into the video- Buy a Sony

[@markcrossno3007]

Makes me wonder about the secrets he’s keeping secret. 😎. Just kidding….kinda.

[@limboigah]

“Half hour or so”(x2)

[@maxbashyrov5785]

ISO is not a part of exposure.