So there it was at the end of our cul-du-sac above the Milwaukee River. Hoped in the truck quickly. There were several of them flying above. It is a turkey vulture.
My issue - I couldn't seem to focus - AGAIN!
I tried Manual, I tried AUTO, I tried different settings (as quickly as I could). This is the best of the group and it STINKS!
Let's play here you are......
You are not planning on taking a picture but all of a sudden a vulture flies above your head, you lift your camera, your settings are at _______ and snap away! Please fill in the blank.
I'll have a different picture I'll post for today July 20 on a subject that doesn't know how to fly.
I have the same problem with birds. A lot of the issue comes from not having a long enough lens.
Try switching to AF-C instead of AF-S, like you used for panning. That allows the camera to lock on to the bird and adjust the focus as the bird moves. Manual is almost a lost cause when shooting anything moving because you can't focus fast enough.
When shooting hummers I usually set my camera to "S" knowing that I have to have a quick enough shutter speed to freeze the action and let the camera choose the aperture. The other thing to check is to make sure that the shutter speed you have chosen is not too fast for the available light. When shooting hummers I start in the afternoon and may be able to use a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second but as the sun gets lower if I try to shoot at that speed the camera says that it can't go to a low enough aperture and doesn't want to focus. So I adjust my shutter speed lower. Hope this make sense.
And to answer your question about what setting my camera is on all the time? It is set to P. That is in case I grab the camera to shoot some animal in the backyard I stand a chance of getting a decent shot. Don't know how many shots I have lost because I left the camera on M f/22 at 1/800 and got a completely black photo. Or left the camera on bracketing and end up with exposures of 0,+2,+1,-1,-2. Did that yesterday by mistake.
I have exactly the same problem and appreciate you bringing it up, @lstasel has some very good suggestions which I shall try too! BTW, from a failed bird in flight photographer I think this is pretty good!
Looking at your exif you could have afforded to have given away some speed in the interests of greater DoF...if you had time to reset. If you didn't have time to reset then you are going to have to chase that focus point until it's on the bird. (actually you're going to have to do that anyway). I'm not familiar with the 5100 but just check if there's a setting which will give you a pattern of focus points across a wider area (some cameras do this on auto). If you can find that setting then it could be a good "go to"one for emergencies
same problem i encountered when we were in niagara falls three weekends ago. more than a hundred bird shots, and they all came up like this, or worse. i miss the zoom capability of the point and shoot, but it is a lost cause if the object is moving. great to have all the kind tips on here. must go to the beaches tomorrow and practice on my enemies the seagulls. kathy, i'd still say this is a great shot because at least you got the colours! yay!
When capturing birds in motion, I use continuous focus, much like you would trying to capture children at play. You just cant quite anticipate where they will end up, so it's hard to use manual focus, not knowing the actual focal point. I often leave my camera set at that, because I can easily change to manual for my still shots, but when you have a subject you are not expecting you often don't have time to make the necessary adjustment.
Try switching to AF-C instead of AF-S, like you used for panning. That allows the camera to lock on to the bird and adjust the focus as the bird moves. Manual is almost a lost cause when shooting anything moving because you can't focus fast enough.
When shooting hummers I usually set my camera to "S" knowing that I have to have a quick enough shutter speed to freeze the action and let the camera choose the aperture. The other thing to check is to make sure that the shutter speed you have chosen is not too fast for the available light. When shooting hummers I start in the afternoon and may be able to use a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second but as the sun gets lower if I try to shoot at that speed the camera says that it can't go to a low enough aperture and doesn't want to focus. So I adjust my shutter speed lower. Hope this make sense.
And to answer your question about what setting my camera is on all the time? It is set to P. That is in case I grab the camera to shoot some animal in the backyard I stand a chance of getting a decent shot. Don't know how many shots I have lost because I left the camera on M f/22 at 1/800 and got a completely black photo. Or left the camera on bracketing and end up with exposures of 0,+2,+1,-1,-2. Did that yesterday by mistake.