[missbirdphotos] Re: latest pics

Neat finale shot!  I watched a grebe swallow a crappie one day that I thought I knew that it had no hope of downing, but after many, many minutes of struggle the crappie (like the crayfish) went down!
 
I agree that a fast shutter speed is often necessary to freeze action, particularly in wildlife shots.  Since active wildlife, particularly small birds, often move from one light condition to another, I find myself shooting not shooting in manual as much as I have for other subjects.  If things are relatively "normal", I may even shoot in P (Program) mode where I can simply adjust exposure compensation for minor exposure "issues".  I find myself shooting in A or Aperture Priority mode quite a bit.  For full frame bird shots, most of the time I would like my aperture to to be around f/8ish to have most of the bird in focus.  However, because of low light (even with supplemental fill flash), I often shoot at shallower depths of field until the light level increases.  I often start off with my aperture at f/4 or f/5.6, and then watch the light.  I keep an eye on my shutter speeds, and if my shutter speed starts creeping up, I close down the aperture a bit.  I continue this until the light gets bright enough for me to use the aperture I want (assuming the light ever gets that bright...).  Like Frank, I let my ISO float with my minimum shutter speed at 1/60th or 1/200th depending on what I'm doing.
 
Good luck!

Robert Smith
336-339-3497
rsmithent@xxxxxxx
www.photobiologist.com