Camera Settings for Tiger Photography
As an amateur in Wildlife & Tiger photography, we seldom realize the importance of understanding completely the camera settings in our pricey gear. With my 15 years of experience in Tiger photography, here are some valuable lessons and techniques about camera settings you may use to freeze the moment.
I : Choose the Right Camera Mode for Tigers
Aperture or Aperture Priority
From the options of Auto – Manual – Shutter/Shutter Priority – Aperture/Aperture Priority, you may get confused about which one to select. Most of the time beginners use Auto mode and some expert individuals use Manual mode to photograph tigers.
The three parameters ISO sensitivity, Aperture size, and Shutter speed of the exposure triangle can be controlled by the photographer according to his will on Manual mode and according to the camera’s will on Auto. But honestly, these are not the best modes, especially for photographing big cats in changing lighting conditions.
Instead use, Aperture Priority mode, where the inbuilt light meter of the camera decides the shutter speed, and you get three controls to set – One to adjust the aperture, second to adjust the ISO sensitivity, and third to adjust Exposure compensation to over or underexpose the photo. Ideally, with large apertures like f/2.8, and f/4 you can get excellent separation of a tiger from foreground and background. So, set it to 2.8, 4, or 5.6, and you can also keep ISO in the range of 400 to 6400 depending upon the intensity of ambient light. Then, let the camera decide the shutter speed, and if you feel it’s less then, increase the ISO sensitivity.
Another useful tip, if you want control of aperture and shutter speed according to your will is to select Manual mode and keep ISO to Auto. In this way, you can set aperture to f/2.8 or f/4 and shutter to a minimum of 1/640th of a second and let the camera automatically decide the ISO. Both settings will give the right exposure except in Aperture Priority mode – you don’t have control over shutter speed and in Manual mode – you don’t have control over your ISO.
So, choose wisely. I generally use Aperture Priority mode most of the time except for Birds in Flight, where I use Manual mode with Auto ISO setting.
II: Metering Mode
Evaluative/Matrix/Multi-zone metering as mentioned in different camera brands is the right metering mode to photograph Tigers, (even though the Camera also has Centre-weighted, Spot, and Partial metering on Menu options). This metering mode evaluates the average exposure value of the entire frame/scene to create an image. It makes sure that the camera will automatically adjust to the right exposure setting even when the ambient light shows greater contrast.
In Short:
This metering mode reduces the chance of exposure mistakes by photographers unless the tiger is heavily backlit. And even if the tiger is backlit, you get a nice silhouette photograph.
III: White Balance
When shooting RAW, you have the advantage of adjusting its temperature slider during post-processing in Adobe Photoshop CC or in Lightroom. In such scenarios, white balance seldom matters. Else when shooting in JPEG file format, during early mornings and late evenings keep your Kelvin temp. around 5800 – 6400 K and during the rest of the bright days its perfect between 5200 – 5600 K.
IV: Focus Mode
There are two major types of Autofocus setting modes in DSLR & Mirrorless cameras. Single or Continuous Autofocus. Depending upon the camera brand you use, it may be written as
Canon – One-Shot or AI Servo
Nikon – AF-S or AF-C
Sony – AFS or AFC
Auto Focus – Single Shot or Continuous
(Can be changed from Camera Menu settings)
Single shot AF means that the Camera’s focus will not move away from the “focused point or focused area” where it is placed (even if the subject moves away from that) whereas, in Continuous AF, the camera tries to keep on focusing – refocusing, trying to capture any movement of your subject near the “focused point or focused area” where it is placed.
In Short:
Keep your camera setting to Continuous AF for the best results of moving tigers. Single-shot AF is good when there is no movement from Tiger and it is static.
Manual Focus
(Can be changed from Lens)
The third Focus mode is Manual Focus which I haven’t included above. As it says, this setting gives the photographer freedom to focus according to his wish manually.
It’s very useful in situations where camera AF is unable to focus on the eye of the Tiger when a lot of clutter or foliage is present in front. This setting is done from the lens; by switching off the lens mode (mentioned in every lens) from AF to MF. Then by rotating the lens ring desired focus can be achieved by zoom in or zoom out as per the situation.
Focus Area
Focus area (FA)is that part of your frame that the camera is commanded/set to focus on. It can range from a single point to the entire frame and is shown as white brackets within the frame. With the latest AI technology, and eye AF (for humans, birds, mammals, vehicles, airplanes, insects, etc) the camera automatically focuses on the desired FA.
Where to Use FA??
In situations where Tiger is moving frequently and unpredictably and you are unable to keep Focus Point on it, then it’s better to let FA take control and set the bracket to a bigger area.
FA is also helpful for Birds in Flight (BIF) photography.
Focus Point
The point that is focused (to something) in the frame is called the Focus point. It can be either a ‘single green/red square point’ or a combination/cluster of 2 or more points.
Earlier DSLRs had anything ranging from 9 to 45 AF points. Out of that 45 AF points, you can either select just one or a set of 9 or expandable focus points. With mirrorless, you can have single and expandable focus points, which automatically expand its focusing range to the nearby focus points.
In Short:
Keep it to a single or expandable focus point and let it be focused on the eye of the tiger. If the tiger is in the open, you may select “wide FA” and switch to “animal eye AF” and the focus point will automatically detect the eye of the tiger and keep it focused most of the time. Incredible isn’t it?
V: Back Button Focus
The back button focus (in most semi-professional and professional cameras) is marked as AF-On or AF button. It’s usually placed next to the right-hand side of the eyepiece making it easier for photographers to operate using their thumb.
So, what’s the use of the Back button focus?
Well, usually when you click a photo you will press the shutter button half and let it focus (where your focus point is). And once it is focused, you press the shutter button completely. Now this process involves two steps.
Step I: You half-press the shutter to focus
Step II: You then full press to click
But imagine, you half-pressed the shutter and focused on the eye of the tiger and the tiger moved a bit. In that case, you need to refocus again by half-pressing the shutter again. And this continues as the tiger moves. Tedious isn’t it?
So, by using the Back button focus this issue is resolved. You now have a designated button called AF-On for this. Press AF-On once, and it will focus on the point selected. You can use the shutter button ONLY to release the shutter to click the photo once focused.
In Short:
AF-On is also helpful in keeping a continuous focus on moving subjects when pressed all the time.
